Blackberry

I can't figure out what the problem is with my singer 15-91. It makes absolutely wonderful stitches but I can only sew about 10 blocks together before it jerks the spool and makes a birdsnest on the bobbin side. Sometimes it jerks the spool so much that it winds thread around the spool holder. Sometimes it breaks the needle thread and other times it does not. I put in a new needle, I rethreaded the upper part, I took out the bobbin and checked the manual to be sure it was in correctly. I just don't know what else to do. I am thinking I might need to take the tension apart but that scares me a little bit even thought the manual has fairly good directions. Does anyone else have this problem or know what might be the solution. I dearly love sewing on this Singer and I don't want to give that up but it is very disgusting to be sewing along and this happens. Here is a picture of what the underside or bobbin side looks like. The top part is normal.

barny

Check the edges of your bobbin to make sure it is smooth. Then check your thread spool to make sure the thread isn't catching in the slit on the spool edge used to park the thread when not in use. Barny

kitsykeel

I was going to suggest the same thing as Barney. In the past, before I figured out that the thread was catching in the slit on the spool, I would get so frustrated. Hopefully it is something as simple as that. When that happened I would flip the spool over and that seems to work. Good luck.

coloradosky

I have to do this with most of the machines I have when using plastic spools with the jagged teeth for holding the end of the thread. I wish we had the wooden spools back. They felt far more balanced and handled the thread coming off the spools better.

Pat M.

Put a cut off straw on the spool holder. I slit the straw so it will fit inside the spool of thread. Some pictures I have seen use a small spring on the spool holder but I could not find one. Mine is a little longer than the spool of thread.
Have you changed your needle lately? Is the thread the same in bobbin and on spool holder?

elizajo

First of all, do you have the felt circle on the spool to reduce friction?
I have a 15-91 that I use as back-up and for straight-line quilting with a walking foot. It was doing this same thing on me Saturday. I had to switch from the large Gutterman cotton thread spools to the small ones due to thread color. Those spools are really light weight. They spin around more than the other kind in a kind of loosey-goosey way. Reducing the stitch length helped, but I think the straw idea mentioned above would work also.