I have a Janome 6600 and have a problem with Gutterman thread - it is not taut enough - the uptake lever - located above the needle - the lever that moves up and down as you sew - drops the Gutterman thread as there is slack in the thread. The only way I solved this problem was getting a thread caddy and setting it to the right of the machine. I set the spool of thread on the thread caddy (a banana holder works for this also) and thread the machine from the caddy. It helps to keep the thread taut.