Bobbin Work is even more exciting with the right Sulky stabilizer!

Yesterday, I showed you the effects of using decorative stitching on 4 different Sulky stabilizers. Today, I’m testing Sulky Tear-Easy, Sulky Soft ‘n Sheer Cut-Away and Sulky Heat-Away Clear Film stabilizers while doing decorative bobbin work.

To prepare for bobbin work, you must remove the regular bobbin case and replace it with one designed for bobbin work. Check the manual to see what you need to do for your machine. My machine uses the gray bobbin case shown on the left, along with the special needle plate cover shown in the picture. My regular bobbin case and cover are on the right. When doing bobbin work, the decorative stitches are made using whatever thread you use in the bobbin. You can use heavy-weight thread, perle cotton, embroidery floss, fine wool etc. These are all products that you would not be able to thread through a regular needle. You must also wind the bobbin by hand but not more than 80% full.

For bobbin work, you need to have a suitable stabilizer on the back of the fabric. I tried 3 different Sulky stabilizers – Sulky Tear-Easy, Sulky Soft ‘n Sheer Cut-Away and Sulky Heat-Away Clear Film – to see what worked best for me. I did the same stitches on cotton fabric using these stabilizers plus one fabric with no stabilizer.

Let’s start stitching!

As always, when trying a new technique, do some practice samples first. Make notes right on the fabric. It’s great to have that information for future projects.

It’s best to use a fairly simple, open-type stitch. You also need to make the stitch wider and longer and increase the upper thread tension.

For your first sample, pin the Tear-Easy stabilizer on the wrong side of your fabric.

You will be stitching on the wrong side of the fabric. Bring bobbin thread to the top.

Because you’ll be bringing a heavy thread to the back of your work to start, you may have to make a small hole in the fabric with an awl or similar tool.

When you’ve finished stitching, bring the bobbin thread to the top. Don’t use the automatic thread-cutting feature if you have it on your machine. Leave a long length of thread that can be darned in after sewing is finished. Here’s how my stitching looks on the Sulky Tear-Easy on the back.

Here’s how it looks on the front.

Make some similar samples using Sulky Soft ‘n Sheer Cut-Away and Sulky Heat-Away Clear Film. Sulky Heat-Away Clear Film, can be placed on either the back or the front because after applying heat, the Heat-Away Clear Film will completely disappear. With the Tear-Easy and the Soft ‘n Sheer Cut-Away, there will be some stabilizer left on the fabric, so it must be placed on the wrong side of the fabric.

Here’s how my samples looked after stitching.

For my QUILTsocial blog post in November 2019, I did an article on bobbin work when I made some Christmas gift bags. You might like to check it out for more ideas.

Join me again tomorrow when I’ll show you some of the magic you can create with Sulky Solvy Water Soluble Stabilizer!

This is part 3 of 5 in this series

Go back to part 2: Testing 4 Sulky stabilizers with decorative stitching | The Result?

Go to part 4: The magic of Sulky Solvy in the world of fibre art