Oh,well...think it depends on the trick !

I went to quiltart group meeting today, and surveyed the group and the two quilt shop workers where we met. 5 ladies pull the thread from the top and 3 snip the thread and pull it through the needle area. Perhaps the younger quilters will follow the advice from their teachers, stores, or service people, but it seems like we seasoned quilters will not break from what we have always done. (Do I dare say, it's hard to reach an old dog new tricks?)

Dawn

Aw Lk2stch your puppy is gorgeous x

Bernina tells me to pull the cut off thread thru the machine....I prob'ly do that half the time...too many yrs
pulling the other way !! I forget ! And , like most, hate to waste all that thread !!
And it really does add up !! Aurafil here varies from place to place...$9 to $14 Like Dawn..
our small shops have to charge more I mail order mostly !

I just bought a new machine and when I went thru my classes they told us to cut it and pull it thru the machine. You could damage your tension plates of your machine if you pulled it from the top

Oh my gosh, Becky! You are so sweet to offer to send thread to me! I did find an online store that sells it for a little over $10 a spool. I will settle for that. I think volume is the key, and our small shop up here in northwest Montana, just doesn't sell enough for a better price break. Perhaps I need to put Aurifil thread on my list for Houston Festival!

I didn't intend to scare any new quilters. Nor jinx seasoned ones! I just wanted to know what y'all did and why. Many of us have pulled the thread out from the top for the past 30 years or more, with no problem. Others have had problems with their tension, or lint in the machine, but it may not even be related to the thread pull. I think the key to pulling the thread from the top is be sure the foot is up (releases the tension discs) keep the needle area clean of lint, and have the thread not be in the needle.

But, I think we are about 50/50 as to whether we pull it from the top or from the bottom. And, I'm sure it depends on the machine! Interesting discussion! Thanks for all of your input!

Dawn

I guess I am set in my ways too. (And thrifty!) I make sure the presser foot is up and pull thread back up to the top and rewind on spool. I think I have seen my Bernina dealer do this also. I will ask her the next time I see her. She is also a repair service tech so she should know which is best. On my longarm, I do like Rosemary, cut the thread at the spool and tie on the new thread and pull it through. That is what was taught by the Gammill Co.

Well, I had no clue about this! Yikes. I have noticed linty stuff up in the inside....no wonder! I guess I'll start unthreading the right way now.....drat.

(I keep reminding myself that thread is at least a good deal less expensive for me here than it was in Brazil!)

If you want Dawn, I will buy for you some threads will send it via the mail, will write on the envelope gift as well value of 7 $ so they will not charge you extra money.
this way you will enjoy the price in Europe (you will pay my sister that lives in the NY) .

Or if you want you can visit Europe....enjoy the quilt world here, and buy a lot of threads

becky
The Netherlands

Straight after reading this my top thread got jammed, first time ever and broke off pulling it through from bottom and then top. Luckily released it from up and down army thing when side removed. Scared of reading any more topics

Once when I came back to my sewing machine after a day or two break and went to remove the spool, but didn't realize it was still threaded. It did do something to the insides. Had to take her in to get it sorted. I have noticed that if foot is down there is tension on the thread and you can't pull from the top. So I am not sure if that happened that time. Otherwise, I often still gently pull from the top to remove in order to save thread. Sometimes I will cut at spool and remove from bottom.

Yep as per Bernina serve pull down thru the tensions disks, cleans and pulls along any fuzz or loose thread.

The Bernina service people definitely say to cut the thread before the tension disks and pull it out through the front. But I've always pulled it up through the top and wound it back on the spool and have never had a problem with either of my machines. I got the sense that it wasn't a lint issue, but that the thread would do some damage to the tension disks, but I never asked the details since I'm pretty stubborn about continuing to do things my way.

Yes Dawn, that's the same size - 1300 metre spools. But I must say I really love the Aurifil thread and so do all my machines.