When I bought my Bernina 180E the dealer said to clip the thread at the spool and pull the thread out from the needle.
Never pull the thread out from the spool. He said it leaves lint
in the machine from the thread. When doing machine embroidery you may change threads 15-20 times a design.

Pressure foot up ( tension disc open) to thread, then I floss my thread (back & forth) then pressure foot down to thread the needle. I was a dealer repairwoman.

I have threaded my bernina with the pressure foot down but the stiching wasn't good. I had to rethread with the foot up and it did fine. I never had to have it serviced because of this, but I guess it could mess up the timing if you constantly did it wrong.

I have always threaded with the pressure foot up. I do not know if it makes a difference.

Threading the machine with the pressure foot up or down will not damage the machine. Just be sure to raise the pressure foot either before threading or after threading to release the tention discs. This will allow thread to seat giving thread proper tention. If you don't release the tention by raising the pressure foot at some point after threading machine, before sewing, your first stitches may be jumbled or distorted.

Good grief! I have been sewing for some 40 years and never heard this advice re threading my machine with the presser foot up! Wow! Reading as much as I have time for on this board had given me soooo many valuable tips! Thanks a million million times everyone!

Many new machines of today should be threaded with the needle bar up so the tension discs are open for the thread to get aligned in the tension. Yes, you can damage your machine because when trying to sew without the thread in the tensions you cause the bobbin thread to be pulled so hard that the bobbin gets dislodged and causes needle breakage and bad gouges on your bobbin case which in turn causes more problems when trying to get good quality stitches. If the needle breaks with enough pressure on the needle bar, you can throw the machine out of time. Machines of today are not like the machines of yesteryear. They do many more things than just straight and zig-zag stitching, so have to be so precise to do each task. Also always try to pull your thread out from the needle when changing threads so you don't pull lint up into your tensions. Just a trick to keep the tensions clean.

Good Luck

Suzy

That's what I've been told re every sewing machine I've ever bought. And it says that in the manuals, too. It doesn't say WHY, but why wouldn't you do what the manual says?

You are so right. Cutting your thread and pulling it forward is like flossing your teeth it gets rid of the lint. (I sold Bernina machines for 10 years and had a lot of training )

Interesting