OH can I cry with you,my machine is doing the same thing and then shredding the thread. Of course I am doing some intricate work and I changed the needles, bobbin, thread --no go. So then I decided that my top tension must be toast and now my machine is in sick bay. It is only about 20 so hope it can be revived. It is a great standby and I am so used to the " feel" of it I hate to change. Thanks for the info I would have not thought that the take up bar was too high< I will recheck that when I get my machine back from being serviced. Happy quilting !