The day I sold my HQ Avanté sewing machine I had mixed feelings, I was sad to let go of such a wonderful machine but at the same time I was glad she was going to a loving house once I met the new owner, a kind Canadian lady.
Some weeks passed and finally I decided to buy an HQ Sweet Sixteen Machine. Once my machine arrived I started to play with it and since I like to change threads constantly I had some difficulty with the tension. No matter what I did, how many times I loosened or tighten the bobbin case, or the spring in the top, I couldn't find the right tension.
I tried pre-wound bobbins fromBobbin Central which have a *magnetic* ring. I decided to order some and give them a try. It worked! Let me show you what I did:
When I ordered my machine I asked for an extra bobbin case (I always do that with every sewing machine I have, so I can play around). I took out the backlash spring and replaced it with the magna glide pre-wound bobbin. I chose a hot pink color and only use this one for this exercise; what I changed was the upper thread for each feather.
You can see on this sample, I practiced feathers with: LYI 40 weight thread, Signature 40 weight thread, Kingtut 40 weight thread, Sew easy 50 weight thread, Kimono silk 100 weight thread, Lava 30 weight thread and Glide 40 weight thread.
You can see the back side. Once the bobbin thread was balanced it was not difficult to adjust the tension for the upper thread! I was so happy and confident that I decided to start a small project using all these colorful and yummy threads.
With a temporary marker, I marked a design (in this case one of my stencils) on a light colored fabric, sandwiched with batting and a backing fabric.
I chose to work freely without much planning. Once the bird was finished, I quilted the background with glide thread on top.
I am very happy with this discovery! I'm a happy customer :)
