I felt the same about my Mom's FW up until I've had to live here with my Mom and Dad. I've had to use the stupid thing. One of the things I learned along the way is that you have to be very careful to keep the bobbin thread out of the loop of the needle thread in the bobbin area when moving fabric in and out. It is VERY easy to do. Simply put the thread take up lever all the way to the top when you remove or add fabric every single time. It saves a lot of grief.