There are a couple different techniques you can use to solve this problem. Which one you go with depends on whether you’re working with a top stitch or a regular seam. Obviously, a regular seam is much easier to make right, but the method for fixing a top stitch that ran out isn’t that hard either. The most important thing to remember is to not get frustrated, go slow, and make sure you do a neat job to finish up your project. Here are some simple solutions so you can get back to sewing.

What To Do With A Regular Seam

It’s definitely not the end of the world if you run out of bobbin thread while sewing a regular seam. It’s a pretty easy thing to fix, and you won’t have to worry so much about lining up the needle just right.

In this case, you do not need to remove the unfinished stitching, you can simply refill your bobbin and start sewing again a few inches back from where your stitch ran out last time. Make a small lock stitch on your seam allowance.

Then and come back over your stitching and continue with your seam (overlapping a few inches of the stitching that ran out). This will let you finish your project up without having to worry about starting over or having a thread come loose. When you’re done with your seam, unfold and open up your material to make sure it looks okay.

If you open it up and find that you didn’t quite go deep enough, just go back and do another lock stitch, this time going deeper into the seam where you ran out of your bobbin thread.

What To Do With Decorative Top Stitching

If you run out of bobbin thread while your doing a top stitch, you’ll want to step away from your machine for a minute, reload your thread, and then get your scissors. You’ll need to carefully cut and remove the stitch that ran out on you. Cut from the backside of the material just to be safe, and take your time removing it.

The trick is to make sure you start your stitch with the needle going into the holes that you made the first time you started sewing. It’s important to make sure you’re on track with the original holes so that you don’t have two sets of holes in the fabric. Drop your needle slowly as you position the fabric to make sure it’s right inside one of the holes before you begin sewing again.

Start with your lock stitch, re-confirm that the existing holes will right on track in front of the needle, and then continue sewing. As you go along, be very careful to keep the fabric positioned so the first set of holes is being used. Once you get past the point where your thread ran out last time, simply continue sewing as normal and finish up your project.

Why It’s Important

For top stitching that’s going to be visible in your project, lining your needle up with the first set of holes is essential for aesthetic purposes. Creating a second set of holes will lead to a messy looking project. Taking the time to line up your needle to ensure that you don’t create more holes than necessary will give a clean, finished, and professional look to your entire project, so take the time to do it right.

Tips and Advice

Fixing a regular seam is much simpler than doing a top stitch, simply because you can just run back a few inches rather than having to pull out your entire unfinished stitch. However, just because a regular seam won’t be visible, that’s no excuse to be sloppy. Pay close attention to what you’re doing and keep your re-stitch inline with your first attempt. This will make sure that all of your edges are nice and straight and that your material looks its best for the finished project.

In the end, the best solution is to prevent it from happening at all, which is why it’s so important to develop the habit of checking your bobbin thread every time you sit down to sew. Taking a few seconds to make sure that your bobbin has enough thread before you start on a project can end up saving you a lot of time re-stitching seams that ran out on you.

But, nobody’s perfect. In the event that this does happen to you, whether on a regular seam or a top stitch, you now know the solution and will be able to finish your project confidently without taking a huge step back.

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