I wasn’t exactly frothing at the mouth but I did have temper tantrum, yelling and swearing at Marian yesterday.
Marian is my sewing machine given to me by my mother-in-law, Marian. I often wonder when she’s giving me a hard time if it’s Marian’ spirit fucking with me. Sorry to use that word but I can’t think of a better one.
As all sewers know, the bobbin tension is crucial. I can look perfect on top as you sew merrily along not knowing it’s making big loops on the underside. It will do this for no apparent reason.
Because it happens a lot, I have a piece of test fabric so I can check the tension. I do this when I change the bobbin or when more folds or adding ties make the fabric thicker. Since I was using thread from another project, I’ve been loading the bobbin only so much at a time, worried I might run out of thread and have to use another colour.
This apron order has been going well until yesterday. Marian was in a bad mood. Maybe she feels me thinking about her son which I still do a lot. Sewing the hem of the apron the tension went wonky. When this happens the thread pulls out easily; long strands of thread wasted and thrown away. I can see the end of the spool is nigh.
I adjusted the tension (fiddled is more like it) tested it on the scrap, same number of folds, and it was fine. Went to sew…… big loops underneath. I did this three times! Three times it was good on the scrap then big loops when I sewed the apron. Same fabric, same number of folds.
That’s when I screamed and swore at Marian (the machine) but rather than froth at the mouth I went for a walk in the woods.
monicle's chronicles 
Good timing on this post! I have an industrial sewing machine that I use for work and a smaller machine I use for clothing, alterations, etc. I’ve learned to control the speed on the industrial and use it for almost everything now. Yesterday, as I was finishing up some pillows, my machine went wonky. It wouldn’t stop running! And you don’t want to run over your finger with one of those! Had to call someone to come look at it but he is busy and said he would work me in in a few days. These machines run on a motor with a clutch and he said that is probably the problem. (The clutch) Anyway, I feel like I’ve lost an arm with my machine out of order! Maybe I can write…~Elle PS – unthread your machine and rethread it. Sometimes that will work for that tension problem. Also changing thread sometimes helps. Have the same thread in bobbin and on top. Good luck!
A clutch on a sewing machine! wow!
Thanks for the advice!