Per my quilting teacher- bad tension can be caused by the top thread not being caught in the tension mechanism correctly. To solve -rethread the top thread with the presser foot up. after threading the needle drop the presser foot and gently pull the top thread. If the needle bends then it is threaded correctly in the tension plate. If the thread just pulls it is not correct and needs to be rethreaded. Teacher said the the tension is like too plates back to back. When the foot is up the plates are apart and when the foot it down then the plates are together and that is what controls the tension.

Thank you for sharing this tip with us :D:D:D

My machine won't even thread the needle at all if the pressure foot and the needle aren't in their most upright position when I thread it. So it's a good habit to get into for all sewers.

Still try the thread pulling test.

Thank you!!

My foot has to be down in order to thread it correctly. I read the book, plus the dealer also made it a point to tell me.

Pressure foot up when going from thread spool to threader or last thread guide, then pressure foot down for me on both my Pfaff and Brother machines.

Thank you for that little tidbit, good to know...

I bought a Kenmore several months ago. Mom liked it so well, she bought the same model. However, we were both having intermittent problems with excess thread on the bottom, especially when quilting. We knew it was a tension problem, but couldn't figure out how to fix it. I finally did a search on the internet and found this tip. That was a couple weeks ago and, so far, we haven't had the problem. Apparently, everything was fine if we "accidentally" threaded with the foot up, but had trouble when we "accidentally" threaded with the foot down.

We are now both back to LOVING our Kenmores!

this is not an issue with foot up or down when threading but rather if top thread catched in tesion mechanism correctly. If having tension problem try this test to see if top thread is caught correctly.