One thing I did get was Dreamlit shuttles. Lisa from Tatting Corner was our vendor again and she brought a lot of them for sale. I really like Lisa. She is just so helpful. By the way, she was being assisted by Kaye Judt. I had never met her before, but, well,she is a wonderful lady to talk to. I did get her new (signed) book. I bought one of each color shuttle (5 colors) and a matching set of bobbins for each.
Back to the shuttles, lets take a look. I had tried one while there and it feels good and has a good weight. Not heavy, not light, just right. In the photo you can see it pulls apart into 2 pieces with an oval bobbin. The pins either side of the magnets slide into each other snugly. The magnets are quite strong, but do not require Samson to separate them. This shuttle is very stable and solid. Please notice that on the bobbin is a small round indent in the top left corner.
I ask you to notice the indent because I decided to use it. Most of the bobbins I use have a small hole that I pass a thread end through to hold with a finger until I get the thread wound on it a bit. This new bobbin does not have a hole, but the indent looked like it would punch out. I used a needle on it and sure enough, it went through very easily. This would be a good place to do this because the plastic is a bit thinner here. On the inside, the plastic was sticking up so I used a utility knife and cleaned it up. Now I could pass the thread through to hold it. I roughly measured the thread I was winding on it to add to my thread chart. This thread is King Tut. I will do the other sizes later.
I found couple things about winding it.
- It will not work with my Side Winder. The hole in the center is bigger than a standard bobbin's hole.
- The holder for the bobbin will trap the thread you passed through the hole so you do not need to hold it with your finger.
- As you fill the bobbin, watch that the thread does not try to go between the bobbin and the holder.
- If you find the thread twisting as you wind, usually you have to put the bobbin in shuttle to let it hang and unwind. With this, you can slip the thread between the bobbin and holder and let it hang. Even with thread as thin as King Tut, the holder was tight enough not to let the bobbin unwind if you do this.
Excellent! thx for sharing your review & esp the 'hole' for fibers. Great tip
ReplyDeleteAnother nice thing is that once the bobbin is full, you can put it on HALF of the shuttle and wind more thread without "springing" the tips of the shuttle.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Tim! This is the info I needed. Now I know how to get my thread tied on to the bobbin!
ReplyDeleteDiane, you may want to make the hole bigger. I used a smaller needle, but after you punch it you could even use a steel yarn needle to make it fit size 10 or 20 if needed. I am sure you could use something else if you wanted, like a steel crochet hook.
DeleteThanks, Tim! I did use a crochet hook to open up the hole a little more, and I used a glass nail file to smooth out the roughness. It's funny, I didn't see that little indentation until I read your post. Thanks to my friend Carol, I saw your post yesterday afternoon. Otherwise, I wouldn't have been enlightened until this morning! ;-)
DeleteLong ago, someone posted about tying a loop of thread around a post or a bobbin. The thread is then tied to that loop.
ReplyDeleteIt is from fishermen. They have long done this to be able to use all of the line they've attached.
It's just another way to put thread on. I've liked it.
Linda R
I know of that method, I just don't do it. That would also work with this bobbin. Gina Butler has a video for that on YouTube.
DeleteHi Tim thanks for the tip! I wound mine for the first time and it was slip and slide until I wound some thread on. I found for size 20 thread it holds around 8 yards. Someone might be more exact, but that's what I roughly measured for an earring project. I like these shuttles!
ReplyDeleteCassandra, I wind probably a little tighter and I tend to almost overfill my shuttles. For size 20 I got 10 yards on. I admit it is measuring using my "wingspan" of 2 yards (I have long arms), but it is probably close enough. I am measuring and updating right now.
DeleteI agree those shuttles are wonderful. And so good to have met you in person!
ReplyDeleteAnd you! I am doing the Sonata with two of them. And King Tut thread, of course.
DeleteThanks for the tip. I like my "loading loops" and could not figure out how to tie one on. I found that the bobbins do not hold a lot of size 10 thread, but I'm sure they would hold enough size 20 for a good size snowflake.
ReplyDelete