Sounds like you've got a lot of ideas for your machine problem. I don't have that model, so I can't be much help. However, with the hole it created, do you have a small logo or emblem from one of the unused shirts you cut up that you could use? This has happened to me before, and I cut out a small logo (leaving about an inch all the way around the logo), placed it face-down to a piece of lightweight fusible interfacing (placed face-up), sewed all the way around the logo in a circle or square, and cut a slit in the interfacing and turned the logo right-side-out. Then I ironed it over the hole, and sewed it down. Worked like a charm, and nobody (but me) knew the difference!