There are only so many toys and gadgets I can justify buying for my fiber crafts before I start to feel guilty. Of course I can rationalize any purchase...I need everything I have, right? Well, as my weaving has grown and become a little more involved, I have enjoyed using boat shuttles over stick shuttles for some projects. With boat shuttles come bobbins. With bobbins comes the need to wind them. Now, if you are using a thick yarn or thread, this is no big deal to do by hand. However, if you are using a fine yarn or thread, this can be a laborious process by hand. The need for a bobbin winder starts to grow. However, I can save the expense of a bobbin winder for another gadget, because if you have a drill or hand-held electric mixer, you have a bobbin winder. (I use a drill, so for this post I will detail how to use one as a bobbin winder. I hope, should you be lacking in the drill department but flush in the hand-held electric mixer department, you will easily be able to translate the idea.) Materials: Drill Double Pointed Knitting Needle (a wooden pencil works, too) Bobbin Thread
*Notes: Your drill battery will run out fairly fast. Drills are not really intended for high-speed continuous use, I don't think. To remedy this issue, it is handy to have a second battery for your drill charged and ready to go...just in case. Also, it does not really matter if you use the drill set to forward or reverse, but whichever direction you choose, you should keep it the same for the whole bobbin. (Otherwise you will start to unwind your wound bobbin, and that is not at all what we want.) Lastly, do not use a double pointed needle that is particularly expensive or very special to you, your drill may leave little marks on it. It will still be functional as a needle, but I would hate for something you care about to be damaged in this process. Pencils really do work fine.
7 Comments
Susan
12/4/2018 11:53:32 pm
Thanks so much. I should have thought of this. Much more aggravation with the way I'm going, i might have. Thanks again. Susan
Reply
Marilyn Lane
1/13/2020 05:21:30 pm
Lovely, My husband came up this very suggestion to outfit my very own electric drill to wind my bobbins. The alternative was quite costly.
Reply
Jerri Mansapit
11/21/2020 02:48:11 pm
What a great solution! My sewing machine bobbin winder quit working so I was looking for a way to manually wind bobbins. This is quick and easy to do. Thank you for sharing!
Reply
Kitterztoo
2/19/2021 10:30:38 pm
Hey, Jerri, Simplicity makes the Sidewinder, which is a stand-alone sewing machine bobbin winder. A lot less bulkier and very handy.
Reply
5/17/2021 04:57:11 pm
Thank you so much! My little side winder broke and when I opened it up and saw how it was made I didn’t want another. I rarely use the machine that doesn’t wind it’s own bobbin. So I googled and up popped your great idea. I used a wooden dowel and worked great!
Reply
Amanda
1/8/2022 01:06:05 pm
So easy! Great idea!! You just saved me a lot of money!
Reply
Leave a Reply. |
Archives
February 2022
Categories |