When I first started sewing, I was around 8 years old, and my mother signed me up for classes at a local sewing center near us. Since then, it has always been one of my favorite hobbies, and I get a lot of gratification learning how to make things that I can use. One of the first things someone learns before sewing on a machine is how to thread it as you can’t really use it you don’t. Although most modern sewing machines have instructions on how to thread a sewing machine printed on the machine itself, I am one of those people who appreciate having visual pictures or videos to make sure I’m doing it right. So if you are also one of those people, you may find some use out of this.

The machine I am using is the Brother LB6800 Project Runway model, and I am using a red spool of thread, so it will be easier to see what I am doing. Many sewing machines tend to have similar steps in the threading process, so some steps may work with different models.

Step 1: Place Thread in Machine’s Spool Holder

On many machines, there will be a long rod called a spool holder that is meant to hold your thread. Slide the thread onto the spool holder, and slide a spool topper onto of the thread. The spool stopper is meant to keep your thread on the machine and in one place while you’re sewing. My machine came with a small white spool stopper as seen in the picture above, but if you don’t have one, many craft stores sell them.

P.S. At least for this particular model, I found that having the thread come from under the spool than over it prevents it from getting tangled around the spool holder when sewing. In one of the pictures, I have the thread coming over, but I recommend the other way.

Step 2:

Take your thread and hook it onto the metal hook labeled “1.” You’ll probably hear a small “clink” when it’s properly in there. Next, loop the thread under the step labeled “2.”

Step 3:

From step 2, take the thread through the indent on the right in the machine all the way down to where it says “3.” Then, loop the thread through the indent on the left until you see a metal hook. If you have a hard time seeing the hook, use the hand wheel on the side of your machine and turn it towards you until the hook is closer to the surface. Hook the thread onto the metal hook, and pull it back down through the indent unit it reaches the number “5.”

Step 4:

Next, hook the thread onto a second metal hook labeled “6.” Same as in step 1, you’ll hear a little “clink” when putting the thread in. On this machine, there is an automatic threader that will thread the needle for you instead of having to do it yourself manually. Take your thread, and place it through the divot and then the part of the threader labeled “7.” Then, lift the thread to the cutter labeled “8” on the side of the machine and cut your thread. This part isn’t really that necessary. It is simply used to shorten the length of the thread and can easily be skipped.

Step 5: Threading the Needle

In this step, we’ll be threading the actual needle. Like I mentioned in the previous step, my machine has a built-in threader, but if your machine doesn’t, all you have to do is start from the step labeled “6” on the machine and manually slip the thread through the eye (hole) of the needle and pull through.

To use the threader, push the small lever on the side of the machine labeled “9” down until you see the threader is completely down. Release the lever and pull the loop that was formed backwards until the thread is straight. After that final step, you have successfully finished threading the machine!

Step 6: Extra-Threading the Bobbin

If you were interested in learning how to thread your bobbin, I decided to give a quick tutorial on how to do that as well. For this machine, all you have to do is remove the cover to the bobbin container, pull the thread of the bobbin around the gray semi-circle that has the long arrow, do another loop over the gray hump, and cut the thread with the thread cutter at the very end of the hump.

Step 7: Extra-Threading the Bobbin (2nd Method)

If your sewing machine doesn’t look similar to the previous method but you still want to learn how to thread then bobbin, then here is a second method.

Hold the end of the thread that was threaded through the machine’s needle, turn the hand wheel towards you until the needle goes down into the bobbin container, keep turning to pull the needle back up, and use the needle thread you were holding to pull the bobbin thread through. The bobbin thread will be looped around the needle thread and you just have to completely pull it through to separate them (sometimes I use small scissors to help with this). After these steps, you should see two strands of thread as seen in the pictures.