Proper way to remove thread from your machine
 

I just found out today that I shouldn't just pull the thread backwards through the tension disks when removing the spool. Apparently you risk damaging delicate tension disks, cut the thread between the spool and the tension lever and pull downwards from the needle area.

We just had a machine repair guy come to our last guild meeting who gave a presentation about machine maintenance and he said the same thing! Most of us had never heard this either, but I have been cutting my thread at the spool and pulling it out the needle now.

Thanks for the information. I have heard that before and I keep forgetting. BrendaK

Good to know. Thanks.

when I worked in sewing factories many many years ago that's one of the first things they tell you.

thanks for the reminder

I have yet to be convinced that it makes any difference so long as the foot is raised to release all resistance as the thread passes between the tension discs. If the tension discs are disengaged, how can something as thin as a piece of thread passing untouched between them cause a problem?

I think a more logical rule would be this one...foot down, cut up; foot up, cut down. :)

What other words of wisdom did they share with you?

My Bernina teacher taught this with my machine class. It really is very little waste of thread compared to the damages the other way could cause.

Judy in Phx, AZ

I am with you on this issue. If fact I have a machine that is 60 plus years old and can tell you the thread was never removed from the spool end and no damage was ever done. I can understand if the foot in down so the disks are together ... it would damage... but its also much harder to pull the thread in any direction when the foot is down.

In the old days I always just pulled the thread out back through the tension disks (with the presser foot up). However, now I've been told otherwise, and I'm also sewing on a much more delicate (electronic) machine, I cut, raise presser foot and pull through bottom (after unthreading from the needle).
Can't hurt and may save!

The guy in our guild presentation said it had to do with the way the thread plys are twisted together---they are designed to glide smoothly in the direction from spool to needle; but when pulled 'backward' up through the tension discs that small bits of the thread gets shredded off and will eventually cause problems. News to me!

My mom told me to do this 50+ years ago, so this is always the way I've done it!

I took a class on machine maintenance and that is what they told me....cut the thread and pull it through the needle.

I'm with you .....learned this in Home Ec class 50+ years ago and been doing it that way ever since.

This is the way I've always done it, don't remember anyone telling me to do it this way, just makes sense to me to keep everything moving in the same direction.

I've heard this before, and I do try to remember to do this. However, last night I was embroidering and my thread frayed. When I looked, it was up inside the machine somewhere, and the only thing I could do was to pull it back through the machine towards the spool. Seemed to work OK afterwards, but I didn't like doing that. Just had no choice.

I'm with you. I asked my machine salesman/repair person about this and he didn't think it made any difference. Until I notice something has gone wrong, I probably will still pull it back to the thread.

I had a lesson on my embroidery machine and the gal told me to put new thread at the spool with a knot then pull thru the disc and can even go thru the needle you would want the foot up of course so the disks would be open and this is also the way I change thread on my longarm.

This is the way most non-air-threading sergers are recommended to have thread changed as well.

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"

Agree with both of you 100%. There is no way that thread under no tension harms the metal tension disks. When my foot is up, my tension disks separate enough that I can see between them, so in no way is pulling thread (which comes through at that point with no resistance) can harm them. I think this is one of the "rules" that gets passed along that may have once had some validity in some cases, but is not universal nor is it necessary. As an engineer by trade, my feeling is if the disks are that sensitive, the wrong material has been used in manufacture of the disks.

No, wait. If you agree with the idea that thread leaves more lint when pulled backwards through the tension discs, then knotting the leading end when you hand stitch is doing exactly the same thing...pulling it backwards. You can't have it both ways.

Draw a line (the thread end) coming off the base of a big squiggle (the spool). Make the end of the line an arrowhead (the 'grain' of the thread). On your machine the arrow points down through the discs and into the needle...sewing in the direction of the 'point'. Fine and dandy.

Take that same arrow and tie a knot directly behind the point, right inside the <. Now pull off the rest of the thread, cut it and start sewing. You're pulling backwards, against the point of the arrow. See it? For handwork, knot the end you cut not the leading end, and you'll sew the same way it goes through your machine. :)

I have been telling people for years to cut between machine and thread spool, the reason they say this when sewing with an industrial machine is that you change thread by cutting there and then knot new thread on and raise presser foot then pull thread through to needle so all you are left with is threading needle. This method is faster avoids miss threading machine and helps you make new good habits since yes pulling thread through backwards will leave lint in tension disc area which requires a machine tear down to fix.

My Bernina manual says the same thing.

When i got my bernina 830 that was the first thing I was told and apparently it's the most important piece of information! So I always do it with her but not with my janome's ..oooops I thought it was just for the new berninas maybe I'll be kind to my janome's and start to cut at spool pull from needle as well :-)

With the way the new processing methods of making thread there is no right or wrong end anymore. There is right a and wrong way the thread feeds off the spool.

You certainly are correct. I don't remember where I heard this.
Actually I do very little hand sewing, and I'm with the people who say it doesn't make that much difference anymore. So, carry on!

And if that's the case, doesn't it debunk the 'pulling it backwards off the machine leaves more lint' idea?

I heard this information before when I purchased my Bernina. IMHO they just wanted me to buy more thread. Not only did it not make a difference....it was a real waste of thread. Especially if you are embroiderying and using a lot of different colors, I thought. So......I did NOT cut the thread and pull down through the needle. Yesterday I paid $30.00 to have the shredded thread and lint cleaned out of my 830 Bernina. I LEARNED MY LESSON!!! I now pull the thread down through the needle as I was told. Funny the tech that fixed my machine knew exactly what I had not been doing. The machine would stitch 8 or 9 stitches and then stop. Fortunately I could turn off the sensor and finish my project, before taking my machine in to be "fixed".

I never knew this! Thank you!