Well, thanks so much for all the posts so far.
I tried sewing with it a little bit today. It only once made a funny clunking noise down near the bobbin area or lower. ?
I readjusted the thread tension...while working, and it was fine. The foot pedal didn't hum and procrastinate or anything. I only sewed for about 5 minutes, though.
The problem doesn't happen when I first start out. Right when you get going good and in the middle of something. When I first start out, I do "practice" on a scrap. Of course the darned thing would mess up on the real thing.
I was working on a button hole on the back of the cherry dress I made when it started eating the fabric.
I fixed it and it did it again! Now you know why I only showed the front of the dress in the pics. I used snap tape, finally. That turned out to be a mistake, also. But it functions.
My bobbin stops threading when it is full.
I'm using the bobbins that came with the machine and was careful only to use those. THe ones in my old machine were the exact same, so I have borrowed. That's all I have. It says in the manual to not use the metal bobbins. (or "bobbers" as one woman I met in TN was calling them).
I cannot hold onto my lower thread or even pull it back when I start sewing bc it is a drop in bobbin, and to thread the lower bobbin, I have to wind it around a little area and it cuts off. The top is self-threading. I pull out enough and let it dangle behind the machine. It always stays.
Maybe it didn't that time, but I was way into sewing...
I still didn't get to talk to anyone at brother today. I'm going to email them again.