Originally Posted by Daylesewblessed

Concerning holding the threads back: the neighborhood girls I have helped with sewing actually think the bed joining area crack that runs all the way to the back of the machine is the place where you are supposed to slip your thread tails before starting to sew. It wastes a bit of thread, but that sure beats thread jams and also the problem of the needle coming unthreaded because of forgetting to leave the take up leave all the way up.