Specialty Bobbin Work — A New Twist on an Old Technique

Specialty Bobbin Work — A New Twist on an Old Technique

The Specialty Bobbin Case was originally designed for decorative sewing — allowing you to load a heavier decorative thread into the bobbin and stitch from the wrong side of the fabric, creating beautifully textured, dimensional stitch effects on the right side.

But here's the exciting part: this same technique works brilliantly for machine embroidery, too!

Designs built from running stitches — including many quilt designs — are perfect candidates for this method. The Creativate Library even includes designs created specifically with Specialty Bobbin Work in mind.

Always test first. Before working on your actual project, stitch a sample on a scrap piece of the same fabric to check tension, thread weight, and stitch quality.

Browse Specialty Bobbin Work designs here.

What You'll Need

• Your embroidery machine with the correct embroidery foot attached
• Specialty Bobbin Case loaded with your chosen decorative thread
• Fabric and stabilizer
• A scrap piece of fabric for testing

How To Do It

1. Set up your machine for embroidery and attach the correct embroidery foot.
2. Hoop your fabric right side down, with a piece of stabilizer placed on top.
3. Adjust your settings — in the Temporary Embroidery settings, turn off the Automatic Thread Cutter and Automatic Jump Stitch Trim. Set the machine to its lowest speed.
4. Advance to the first stitch using the step stitch-by-stitch buttons.
5. Bring up the lower thread — hold the top thread and turn the handwheel one full turn toward you. Once both threads are up, hold them together and start the embroidery.
6. Trim the threads when the machine stops and prompts you to do so.
7. Press Start/Stop to complete the embroidery.
8. Check your tension — if the stitches look loose or uneven on the right side, increase the top tension slightly and test again on a scrap.

Learn more about the Specialty Bobbin Case for Husqvarna Viking här.