Originally Posted by
carol45
The guy who services my machine told me the following: With the presser foot up, the tension disks are not together, so you can pull the thread in either direction without doing any harm.
My guy says the same thing, plus, with no resistance on the thread from the discs, there is no lint left behind. Any lint in the disc area is from thread going through the 'right' way under pressure, not the 'wrong' way pressure free, same with the bobbin.
I'll stick with unthreading from the top, presser foot up, and delinting the discs with pipe cleaners when I delint the bobbin area. In half a century of sewing, I've never had tension issues on any machine from doing it this way and see no reason to change now. Were I to buy a fussy new machine, I might reconsider.
Regarding the bobbin suggestion from Jan, think about this:
If you believe thread leaves excess lint when being pulled back towards the spool, thus assuming it has a nap (which modern thread doesn't), then why would bobbin thread leave more lint when being pulled back through the bobbin casing? It's not logical.
Bobbin thread is wound in the opposite direction than spool thread so it normally feeds through the machine in the opposite direction. It would leave
less lint going backwards, not more, because 'backward' for the bobbin is 'forward' from the spool. Makes no sense at all. Moot point since the quantity of thread lint left behind is not affected by direction of pull, only by pressure applied.
Bottom line, do whatever you decide is best for you considering your machine, your warranty, and your dealer's counsel.