Bobbin Along

Picture it: you’re deep in the zone — chain piecing, quilting, stitching on a binding, whatever it is — everything humming along. Then you glance down and realize there’s not a stitch to be found. Your bobbin ran out and you never even noticed. And that little bobbin alarm that always seems to go off too early? Decided to take a vacation for this one.

I call that Bobbin Along. 😄

Bobbin Along is the next in my series of free fusible appliqué lettering blocks — a little nod to every quilter who’s kept right on sewing over an empty bobbin and wondered why nothing was holding together.

👉 Download Bobbin Along here: https://tourmalinethymequilts.com/product/bobbin-along/

Missed the earlier blocks in the series? Grab them here:
👉 Spooling Around — $2
👉 Quilt On — $2
👉 So Sew — $2

Bobbin Along turned out to be a fun little project for the afternoon. Here’s how it came together.

I started by tracing the design onto freezer paper, then fused the freezer paper to the front of the fabric and fusible to the back.

The bobbin went down first, with a blanket stitch in matching thread. And the best part? I cut out the holes instead of fusing lighter fabric circles on top. The background shows right through.

Then I fused the letters on top. For the stitching, I paired a 40 wt lavender thread with Superior’s Glitter thread, both in the same 80/12 universal needle. I did have to adjust the threads a little to make sure the glitter showed all the time, and I lowered the tension a bit so it wouldn’t break.

To finish, I quilted a little echo around the design with just the glitter thread, using the same needle and a 2.5 straight stitch. Again, I lowered the tension just a little!

And I couldn’t resist the button to dot the i again. 😄

Want to see it all come together?

Let’s see what you create!

Happy Quilting!