Originally Posted by smagruder
I always turn it off, place needle down and pressure foot down....safety first, no matter what is going on.
same here.... and on most machines a little safety trick if children or animals are in the house is to move the bobbin winder to winding position as that inactivates the needle...this is good to do if walking across the room to press a seam, just be sure to move it back before you try to sew or the needle will not move.