I was so happy to see this article on thumb tabs as I have never heard of this before. The Cleveland machine that I recently found has the tab hanging down and I wondered why it was designed this way. After reading the article I sat down and raised the presser foot but pushed in on the tab and the thread came to an immediate stop. I readjusted and then pulled out on the tab after raising the presser foot and sure enough the piece of material pulled thru so smoothly. Thanks again.