There was a article this week about what you use for a thread holder. Hopefully I am attaching one that my husband made for me. It's a copy of one that someone else made at our quilt group. It is a block of wood with a dowel rod (with a small cup hook at the top for running the tread through) and a smaller dowel rod for the spool of thread to sit on. I have a Viking Rose, and as you can see I leave the top up and thread as normal.