Originally designed for serging, the Bob & Serge also works brilliantly for small machine embroidery designs and fast color changes on a regular sewing machine. In fact, two or more machines can share one of these handy accessories if need be.
Shaped like a half-moon, the durable Bob & Serge, made by Sew Dear of Waverly, Iowa, snugs right onto the auxiliary thread holder of my Brother Innovis 2500D. This makes thread changes on a machine that already threads itself even easier. However, the Bob & Serge fits just about any sewing machine with an upright thread holder, self-threading or not, transforming your supply from one color to up to five different thread colors.
Here is a secret: I buy beautiful machine embroidery thread for pennies on the dollar by ordering from overseas sources on eBay. Because the best deals in deeply discounted thread are packaged in low-tech "spools" that allow the strands to fall loose and tangle up due to the relentless vibration in high-speed stitching, my penny-saving solution is to prewind the discounted thread onto bobbins before using it.
For each 1100-yard unit of quality thread, I save a minimum of $4 per spool using this technique. If your sewing machine has a good bobbin-winding mechanism, it will do this little bit of work for you in a snap, and the money saved on thread will more than pay for it in a snap, too.
Once the bobbins are wound, they can be stored in the Bob "n Serge five at a time for as long as you like. Each spindle has its own thread hole, so when making a color change, I just snip each thread off about an inch from its own hole and leave the end dangling horizontally over the edge of the gadget, easy to grab the next time it is needed.
In this way I can keep one black, one white, one off-white, and two favorite colors loaded and ready to go at all times. This gadget saves me time and money, but even more importantly, it makes my work area more inviting and more convenient every time I sew.
My only complaint about this product is the advertising - why do they think it only works for sergers? Serge & Bob is available from Clotilde, of course, at $14.95 USD or less and she provides a nice photo here:
It is also available on Punch with Judy's delightful Australian mail order site for AUD$25.95.
