thingsbuilt

Thanks for all the suggestions.. I was away for a few days. Yesterday I noticed the same ol' problem while completing a leather backpack. Roll of "U-bond" B-69 nylon thread, which pulls unevenly from the spool (as if it were wound while still hot in the factory, or something..) This plays havoc with my thread tension which I want to set and forget. On a top-stitch it looks fine until it becomes very tight-looking (pulling up the bobbin-stitch too much), and then it goes back to "ok." Used to loosen the tension when it was too tight, but then when the spool normalized itself- the tension would become too loose. I have car upholstery which I made last week and I can see a very loose inside stitch right from where I sit, while driving. It drives me insane. I'll try to find the brand mentioned in one of the suggestions here.. "Superior?"... however, as to my thread being 'old' I am not sure it is old.. I get these rolls from a large, busy supply house in downtown LA, (perhaps they have a lot of old stock?), and I learned years ago to NEVER buy thread in bins outside, because they are usually rotting. I will look into the "net" suggested above, but I am not sure I have seen one before. I did try to ask the proprietors of the thread supply about this problem by bringing half a roll back to them and showing that it didn't pull off the spool very easily, but they gave me that "I don't know what you are talking about" look. BTW I haven't ever had this problem with heavy cotton threads, but I used to prefer nylon because it is "unbreakable", and I sew through a lot of leather and canvas, and padding (I make old-car-themed backpacks)

Hello- I have been sewing off-and-on for small shops (and myself) for the last twenty years or so, and lately I am coming upon this particular problem: The thread (I use #69 Nylon thread for medium and heavy leather) is un-winding from the spool at an irregular rate as I sew. It's hard to describe, but the results definitely show. When I begin stitching together backpack pieces I have the tension set just right (Singer 111W walking-foot or Juki 555 with wheel-foot), and things are ok until I reach the middle of the spool. Then, it starts to unwind unevenly. As in-- it 'hangs' slightly as it is being unraveled (probably due to the mass-production of the spools) .... I cannot describe this very well to the thread vendors around here ("Huh?") but i just finished a complete upholstery replacement on my car and I can see the uneven thread tension in the stitch. I can even pull slightly the thread from the spool (up through the tree) and see how it is sometimes free, and sometimes not-so-free. Is it my brand of thread? Sometimes I see "U-line" labelled on the underside of the spool, other times I see only "Ace Sewing Machine" (a local place)... I am beginning to think that some thread is wound more cheaply, or something... I have doused the spool in oil to get it to unravel in a normal way.. but when you are assembling products to sell, the uneven tension shows up after the fact, and it does not look good. Has anyone else had uneven unraveling of the thread spool ? I am assuming a brand problem, but I get this blank look when I try to explain it to the thread dealer.. Meanwhile my stitching ends up looking really bad. thanks, steve in downtown Los ANgeles