Empty bobbin

We can send a man to the moon but we can't figure out how to avoid running out of bobbin thread. sigh. Most of the time that's only an inconvenience. Occasionally it is really noticeable. I have matured a bit as a quilter and now bury threads in this situation, to conceal the thread change. This is generally the ONLY time I bury threads because it adds about 5 minutes per bobbin. On an 8 bobbin quilt, that's an additional 40 minutes and I don't have my pricing structured to cover that.

1. Pick the 'ending' threads out back to within a few stitches of a pointy place in the quilting design - things will hide better here. Pull up your new bobbin thread and start stitching at the point. Very carefully stitch over top of the 'ending' few stitches. This will prevent the 'ending' stitches from coming out.

2. Clip off the tiny tails of the 'ending' threads. Tie your beginning threads using a quilter's knot. The knot should be about 1/8" away from the quilt top.

3. Thread this tied set of threads into a needle (I use a self threading needle to keep myself from going totally crazy). Insert the needle right at or one stitch away from where you began.

4. Travel between the quilt layers to maybe an inch away. Make sure you are between the layers!

5. Tug until the knot 'pops' into the quilt sandwich. Clip off threads close enough that they will suck back into the sandwich. Ta da. The tiny spot of double stitching is only noticeable when someone takes a HIGH RESOLUTION photo for their blog and says "look here".