Originally Posted by
quiltedsunshine
I am a sewing machine mechanic, and I realize that not everyone fully understands how to use a sewing machine. There are simple things to notice like pulling the top thread out of the needle plate hole before starting to sew, or holding your thread tail/s as you start to sew, keeping the bobbin area clean and oiled, not manually turning the handwheel, etc.
I have to ask, because I have never heard of it, why would you avoid manually turning the handwheel? It seems like that would be necessary if you were doing something like checking the needle drop location for applique and other location-specific sewing.