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.
In about a thousand years of sewing I've done it this way, too; just pulled the spool off and the thread out, have never cut the thread. I've never had any tension problems on any of my machines. But as ghostrider says, I've always done it when the foot was up. I think it would be impossible to do it that way with the foot down, anyway.