Sewing, Repairing and Reducing Waste

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A place to share ideas, knowledge and creations with textiles. The focus is on reducing waste, whether that be sewing from the scraps left from other projects, using the end of rolls and remnants, or repairing and remaking finished pieces.

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[answered] Front-load bobbins -- any advantages? Or only downsides? (slrpnk.net)

submitted 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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I watched several sewing videos in preparation to buy a machine. The consensus is that drop-in bobbins are easier for beginners than front-load. Well I’m the kind of person who wants to get to the /expert/ stage & if that means doing things the hard way, so be it. But then the question is, what are the advantages of front-loads?

Youtube video id rbhfilt68vI titled “TESTED Best Sewing Machines for Beginners” suggests that front-load bobbins are more likely to get tangled and jammed. That sounds like an anti-feature for both beginners and experienced users. So why do front-load bobbin designs even exist?

(edit)

I think I got my answer. Video F7GTjrc-m5w says front-loading enables the machine to go faster and also enables you to switch bobbins mid-task.

I care more about jamming than speed. But the mid-task swapping sounds useful because I don’t suppose you can predict when it will run out. So I guess I need to consider how much stock to put into the comment about jamming.

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

You might have to help the motor along through the thickest parts by turning the hand wheel. No big deal, since it's only for a handful of stitches.

Yes, a free arm is of course helpful, but if you had to shorten the legs so far up that it wouldn't fit, you would need to cut it off anyway. You can't keep 15 or 20 cm of fabric inside the pant legs.