How to start a stitch

[manzana]

Thanks for the great advice on this forum! I am making a lot of long stitches with a sewing machine. But the start and end of my stitches are pretty bad. The book says to back stitch a little when you start and end. Supposedly, this keeps the end of the stitch from unravelling. But I am still reluctant to cut the thread near the stitch for fear of coming out. I make groteque knots out of the needle and bobbin thread. I even considered a dab of super glue! I would really appreciate some advice.

Apple in Austin

[Cedar Tree]

You will have to get used to a tiny reverse at both the beginning and the end of each stitch, to, as you said, keep it from unravelling. Then you can trim the threads closely with no worries, or knots.

Cedar Tree

[TedB]

To start, go forward 0.5 - 1 inches, then back the same amount, and then just keep heading forward. That's all there is too it. If you are feeling paranoid, you can do it twice, but there really is no need. Practice with some scraps and try to pull the seam apart or unravel the thread. Don't try anything crazy like tying knots or using glue. Stick to what works.

[manzana]

Thanks a lot folks! I will try it tonight .

regards, Apple in Austin

[Pencil Pusher]

So how does the sewing machine work? It just seems like it pushes thread through a hole, without the over/under I do with the thread and needle. It obviously works, but how? So the thread is through the needle on sewing machine too, thread feeds through needle as it travels up and down to release thread into the material, but if it releases thread on the up and down cycle in the same hole, what keeps that from 'pulling'?

I guess it's Sewing 101, but I've never really understood what keeps the fabric together with the thread going into and out of the fabric from the same hole. Is it the density of the fabric that keeps tension on the thread? Which makes me wonder further about the ends of the thread (ugh, lack of sewing terms here... whatever the final product is called after laying down a line of thread and cutting the thread... that line of finished thread), which are most susceptible to a 'pull'.

-Dazed and confused on the sewing machine

[manzana]

I agree that these machines are really awesome in their simplicity, since they can rapidly make a seam which will last many years. There is another roll of thread under the part you can see on a bobbin. This thing has to be rewound with thread (A pain) every so often. Anyway the thread from the bobbin is very cleverly looped around the thread which is being fed down through the needle. Seems to me they could invent a machine with no bobbin. I am sure it has been attempted.

I anxiously went home last night and started making b-u-t-ful stitches with no dangling thread as described above. Then the bobbin jammed and the needle snapped in 2 pieces! Apparently the thread I am using is way too heavy for my little Walmart sewing machine.

cheers, Apple in austin (wearing my new aviator shirt with APPALACHIAN TRAIL CONFERENCE embroidered on the left chest. Cost $35 delivered from WearGuard)

[Pencil Pusher]

Does that bobbin underneath somehow thread the loop the needle pushes through the fabric?

Okay, I was being very lazy. I've got this book, "The New Way Things Work" which has some great diagrams (which was sitting all of four feet behind me). So now my questions are answered. Apparently there's some hook contraption that feeds the bobbin thread below. The hook rotates as the needle goes up and down and hooks the loop the needle pushes through the fabric, around the bobbin thread which serves to act as the 'block' preventing the thread from pulling back through the hole as the needle moves upwards through it. Pretty nifty.