ME TOO, I had not heard this either!! Bark Bark. :)

I was told that when I bought my machine. It also keeps any lint out of it's path. I also keep that piece of thread & have it is a decorative decanter. The thread add color, if you need a small piece of thread you have it right there.

I read that somewhere here on the board.. that is how I do my thread almost always (I do forget sometimes)

That's the way I do it. I was told that pulling the thread back to the spool caused more lint in the tension disks. It's a habit now.

I was taught this way back in the early 60's in Home Economics. Gosh, that was a long time ago!

I don't cut mine at the spool. I cut it where it goes into the top of the machine. Between that point and the spool it doesn't go anywhere. I guess I save a good 6-8" each time by not cutting it right at the spool.

Great tip, which I will use, as I have been guilty of pulling the thread out from the spool and not out the needle. I will try to remember this tip in the future.

When I worked for Jantzen Knitting Mills we were required to clip the thread near the spool, then tie it to the new thread with a surgeon's knot, and pull it all through the tension discs to keep them lint free. The increased size of the surgeon's knot pulls all lint from the tension discs was the way it was explained to me. All I know is I have never had any tension problems on any of my machines, so I guess it does work?

The guy who services my machine told me the following: With the presser foot up, the tension disks are not together, so you can pull the thread in either direction without doing any harm. If the presser foot is down, then you should only pull the thread through the needle end, because it's not good for the tension disks to have the thread go through them in the wrong direction. I'm not sure it would be good for the tension disks to have a knot go through them either, but that's just speculation on my part--it might clean lint out and be helpful, as some of you suggest.

When I got my first embroidery machine, they told me to always cut the thread at the spool and pull it down and out through the needle. They said never to pull it backward through the tension because it would leave lint and fuzz in the tension discs and mess up the tension. So I started doing this on all my machines. It makes sense.