Nancy, Skip,
I have this "thing" about back tacking my pieces. None of my treadle machines has a back tack or reverse. They are all oldies.
I can do it, but it's just a pain to me to do so. With an electric machine with a back tack I can nail them loose ends down good and tight and go on to the next one.
One of these days I'm gonna put a more modern machine in the treadle cabinet and see how I like it. But I'm a bit busy and distracted now.
Joe