Originally Posted by monopas

I think Cari might be right. That's what I thought when I read the first post. On mine when I finish I rotate the handwheel towards me until the needle and thread arm are all the way up, and it makes a very subtle click. That's when I know that the stitch is done and the threads will pull smoothly out. Or I take up the foot and then rotate the wheel until the needle is out and the thread frees up. Same with all of the vertical bobbin machines I have, but I didn't know it was a thing before I started on vintage machines and I'd never seen it mentioned explicitly in the manuals.

The semi-vintage electronic Pfaff I use has a feature that does it automatically when you flip the foot lever up. It was creepy the first time I did it accidentally.

Originally Posted by miriam

Yes this is true but the thread should still not pull out. The tension is off if it does that.

Originally Posted by Cari-in-Oly

Miriam I was going by what she said about the top thread being hard to pull when she lifted the presser foot to remove the fabric. Nothing to do with tension, everything to do with the stitch not being fully formed.

Cari

Originally Posted by celwood

I would start by moving the handwheel a little. This happens to me and jiggling does the trick

Originally Posted by ArchaicArcane

Or the tension release pin not pushing the tension disks apart, which is what initially prompted the suggestion to look at the tensioner. It's less address ing tension as what's behind the tensioner, requiring the tensioner to be disassembled to get to.

i agree it can be the position of the take up lever and the state of the stitch, buttheother bears evaluation too.