I think it is a shame that these skills are being lost to us because the current trend is that one has to pay alot of money to learn these things these days instead of it being a valued subject at school as it once was. Being self taught takes a long time and practice as well.

Just a couple of months ago I had a thread problem with my Janome 7700. My repair man also told me about cutting the thread and pulling it through. He sounded as if I should know that piece of information. I had heard it from my cousin's husband awhile back who knew nothing about sewing machines so I didn't give it much thought. Always do it this way now. Evidently pieces of thread can get caught in the tension disk and then the thread hangs up. Who knew!

I try to do this but many times when the thread breaks the end is somewhere inside the machine. I have no choice but to raise the foot and pull it out from the top. Can't find the end otherwise.

When this happens on my Ruby Deluxe, I take the plastic piece off the front, find the end of the thread and pull it thru using tweezers to hang on to the end of the thread.

I was told the reason for pulling the thread thru was so I didn't pull lint back onto the disks.

That may possibly have been true long ago, but with the newer, thinner threads of today that are processed to be virtually lintless I'm still not swallowing it. The 'backward' pull-out is tension free with the foot up. No tension=no drag; no drag=no shredding; no shredding=no lint (aka small bits of thread).

Bobbin threads always run through the system 'backwards' because they're wound in reverse. Thread makers work hard to reduce linting for that reason and the better they get at it, the lower the 'need' to cut the top thread at the spool, my opinion of course.

I clean the disc area when I clean the bobbin area. Actually, I clean the entire thread path, upper and lower, and keep my machine covered when not in use to keep dust, cat hair, etc from finding their way inside it. Nope, 'backward pull-out' of my top machine thread is close to the very bottom of my worry list....right above a zombie apocalypse and invasion of body snatchers. :)

I was told that when I got my 1st embroidery machine in 2000. I try to remember to do that but it doesn't always happen. Seems like such a waste of thread to me but what the heck, the price of repair is more. As I always seem to have trouble threading my sergers plus its a pain to thread the quilt machine I tend to cut at the spool and tie on the new thread, pulling the thread thru to the needle. I figure it I'm going to waste the thread I might as waste it with a purpose.

I had never worried about this either until I bought my Bernina & that was the first thing the teacher told me + never use compressed air to clean out the bobbin area of your machine/serger. It blows crud deep inside & moisture from the aerosol can build up inside your machine & lead to rust. I firmly believe in being "safe rather than sorry" . I realize some people are going to say "I've been pulling my thread up from the needle for years & nothing has happened" but why risk it? Even if your remember only some of the time, it's worth not having a service call. Old habits are hard to break but why not try.

I have to agree with ghostrider. I have never had a problem with my Bernina (mid 90s) but I always have my presser foot up before removing the thread. Maybe it makes a difference on make of your DSM.

I have heard of the "right" way to thread a needle and knot it also. You thread the needle while the thread is still on the spool. Then knot that end. Now you pull off what you need from the spool and cut it. I don't always remember to do that, but it has the same reasoning behind it: the thread is meant to be pulled one way, and pulling the other way raises the fuzz on it.

I don't think it is rocket science. But I have had my thread "wear out" while I was sewing with it. The reason probably was that I knotted the wrong end of the thread and was pulling it through the wrong way with each stitch.

I'm with the better safe than sorry group so I pull out the bottom. However I don't worry if a thread breaks and I need to pull out the top. I figure once in awhile shouldn't be a problem. I have found that the thread I pull out is just the right size for quick hand stitching and will thread a few hand needles with some of the "leftovers"