Hiya, playing with a cheap mini sewing machine I was gifted. I haven’t used a sewing machine since Home Ec 20 years ago.

First question is so basic that it isn’t covered by any of the instructions I’ve read or watched. When I finish sewing a section, there are two threads hanging out of each end of the stitches. One is from my thread spool, the other from the bottom bobbin (according to my machine’s instructions). If I pull the bottom thread, it just comes straight out. The top thread is at least looped around the bottom thread. Am I supposed to tie these together at each end every time? Is there some trick I’m missing?

Second question is maybe about my specific machine. The loops of top thread that go around the bottom thread are really loose. Any guess what I’ve done wrong to cause that?

a piece of test fabric on a small sewing machine with a straight line of stitches. the loops are loose.

Thanks in advance.

  • evasive_chimpanzee@lemmy.worldEnglish
    2·
    3 months ago

    This appears to be a problem with regular tension (since it’s so loopy), but if you can’t get it right so that the two threads “meet in the middle of the fabric”, you could potentially need to adjust bobbin tension, too.

    On my machine, the bobbin tension is adjusted by a screw, and i guess whoever had it last thought that it was just an loose screw that needed to be tightened all the way. No matter how much increased tension in my top thread, the bobbin thread would still end up straight like this.