I've been watching Westalee tutorials and a Craftsy class on how to use the rulers; the Craftsy class insisted that you pull up the bottom thread, presumably to avoid having it get caught on the underneath. I have this machine, but was unable to attend the 4 hour class on using some of its fine points. The next class is next month for me. I'd suggest that for special stitching you sign up for a course where you bought the machine, as it has a lot of unfamiliar (to me) settings.