I think I may be a little help to you. I had the same problem with the thread breaking all the time. I now thread it with the thread going through one of the towers on the spool think then I put it through a little whole that is in the plastic thing that is by the thread tower. After that I thread it just like the directions say. Totally no thread breakage now. As far as the one foot goes I think it might be the pressure of the foot itself. I hope that some how this will help you. Just hang in there. I was so discouraged with the machine I have and sad to because my son bought it for me. Please let me know if this helped at all. Love in Christ, Delpha (Dee)