It has driven me batty! I am going to pick up the single stitch plate today, and see how that works. It's also newly oiled and newly needled. I haven't really played around with the tension on this machine but ill look into that too. It's always been set at the regular 3 setting. Do you guys find that tension can really vary that much if you're just using standard quilting fabric? Nothing fancy, nothing heavy or light? Normal unexciting Gutermann thread?