Originally Posted by
ghostrider
So how does the machine manage to sew in reverse??
I've unthreaded a wide variety of sewing machines in the many decades since I first learned to use one. In fact, I've never once cut the thread and pulled it from the bottom. The tension only gets "messed up" if you pull backwards on the discs
when they are engaged...in other words, when the foot is down. If the foot is not down at the time, it doesn't matter if you unthread your machine frontwards, backwards or sideways.
I tend to agree with this. I never heard it until recently, so used my first brand new White machine for 20 years, never once pulling the thread out from the bottom. When I inherited my mom's Elna in 1986, I sold the White in a garage sale (Regret doing that!), and it was bought by a man who owned a tailor shop. He was delighted to get it because it was clean, well oiled, well maintained and ran like new. I don't know if you can generalize from that, but I've had the Elna since then and continued to pull the thread out "backwards", with the tension disengaged, as always, and I'd defy anyone to find any problem with this machine, which is now 45 years old. I also have a Bernina that is more than 40 years old - same story. Just because I keep hearing this, I've started pulling the thread out through the bottom on my new Singer, but I have to say it goes against the grain to do something that isn't borne out by all this experience.
Nevertheless, on this new machine and other new ones I've seen, there's no way to even
see the tension mechanism in ordinary use, so I tend to be a little less confident that there's nothing possibly getting stuck in there, and pulling the thread out the new way is not that burdensome. I guess I can afford to waste a few inches of thread each time, on the off chance that this might be a good thing. Thanks for starting this discussion!
Editing to add that when it sews in reverse the thread is still going the same direction, and so is the wheel. You can easily test this. Turning the wheel the wrong way is definitely a no-no.