annesthreads - your other machine, does it normally stop with the needle up automatically? I ask because a machine that comes unthreaded right at the beginning of the seam was usually started with the take up lever down. When you start sewing, the take up lever yanks the thread out of the needle. When we're used to machines that stop with the needle up all the time, these vintage machines can seem pretty persnickety.
Every time I go from my longarm - which can stop with needle up or needle down but I often set it to needle up - to one of my vintage machines, I find myself re-threading the needle a few times before I reprogram myself and make sure the needle's up before I start a seam. As a bonus, it usually helps with fabric removal too because the stitch is finished forming instead of the needle thread still being half way around the bobbin case.
