I have not been able to sew for a week, thread keeps breaking, skipped stitches, tension not right. I have cleaned the bobbin casing, put in a new needle three times, rethreaded the machine a million times, messed with both upper and lower tension, gave up sending it for repair. Went to sewing room last night to make sure everything was put back on the machine cause I was bringing it somewhere to have it looked at, so I said to myself, self lets just take a look one more time at the manual and see if we can't figure this out and low and behold there is the problem right in front of me. The flat part of the needle faces the rear of the machine. Leave it to me to figure out how to put a sqare peg into a round hole. How was I even getting the needle in? Anyway, my machine is working just fine now and I will go and wipe the mud off my face.