Unthreading Your Sewing Machine TIP
07-31-2013, 07:07 AM
#52
Junior Member
Join Date: Feb 2011
Location: Lititz, PA
Posts: 186
Pulling the thread from the top creates unnecessary lint and fuzz in the tension disks. If you pull it through the needle to unthread it doesn't cause any problems with the tension disks. Learned this from Nancy Zieman program many years ago.
07-31-2013, 08:10 AM
#54
Super Member
Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: Tallmadge, OH
Posts: 5,120
I didn't know this either until I bought my new Bernina. If the thread is not visible outwardly, there's a multi-purpose tool to use to open a part of the machine where you will see the thread there and you can just pull it out.
07-31-2013, 10:03 AM
#57
Member
Join Date: Jul 2013
Location: UK East Midlands
Posts: 5
I have a Janome 12000 and ever since I got a massive thread nest in the tension discs I have done this and the shop where I bought the machine from tells new customers to use the same method, cut the thread at the spool and draw it through the machine. If you are worried about the length of thread, Wind it on a piece of folded cardboard and use it for hand sewing
07-31-2013, 10:32 AM
#58
Senior Member
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: Ten Mile, Tennessee
Posts: 869
Thanks for the tip. My LQS owner told me the same thing, so I have learned to remove the thread that way on my Pffaff. It's an easy thing to do and if it helps keep my machine working properly, it's worth doing.
07-31-2013, 10:49 AM
#59
Junior Member
Join Date: Jan 2013
Posts: 138
So if you have been dong this pulling off the thread the "wrong" way how do you know if it has did any damage to the machine? I plan on taking mine soon to get serviced will they know if any damage has been done can it be fixed?
07-31-2013, 10:52 AM
#60
Super Member
Join Date: Jul 2010
Posts: 1,789
Originally Posted by ghostrider
Thank you!! 
What may have been true 40+ years ago about the looseness of thread twist, it's lint factor when pulled 'against the grain', and other such dire warnings, is no longer true today even with more sensitive machines.
Consider this, the thread on your bobbin is pulled against the grain 100% of the time because you're pulling from the end that was cut from the spool (it's wound in the reverse direction than the spool it came off of). If you have low lint in your bobbin area, as most of us do with today's threads, then pulling that thread, with the foot raised, 'backwards' for a couple inches a few times a day through the tension disc area is not going to do it any harm. No excess lint lodging itself deep in the guts of your baby, and no effect at all on tension regulators that are disengaged. There is no drag when you pull the thread backwards. It slips out effortlessly. It's not dragging barbs of loose thread ends across an immovable surface or forcing tension discs apart.
Relax, breathe, all is well with whichever way you choose to unthread your machine. Like most everything else with quilting, there is NO WRONG WAY to do it.
What may have been true 40+ years ago about the looseness of thread twist, it's lint factor when pulled 'against the grain', and other such dire warnings, is no longer true today even with more sensitive machines.
Consider this, the thread on your bobbin is pulled against the grain 100% of the time because you're pulling from the end that was cut from the spool (it's wound in the reverse direction than the spool it came off of). If you have low lint in your bobbin area, as most of us do with today's threads, then pulling that thread, with the foot raised, 'backwards' for a couple inches a few times a day through the tension disc area is not going to do it any harm. No excess lint lodging itself deep in the guts of your baby, and no effect at all on tension regulators that are disengaged. There is no drag when you pull the thread backwards. It slips out effortlessly. It's not dragging barbs of loose thread ends across an immovable surface or forcing tension discs apart.
Relax, breathe, all is well with whichever way you choose to unthread your machine. Like most everything else with quilting, there is NO WRONG WAY to do it.
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