Hi dnorton, thank you for answering. There is a little silver tab there and I tried using it and all it does is flop. I can turn the knob but the silver thing just flops, so if I hold the knob with my hand I get a zig zag and I was wondering if that is what that silver thing was supposed to do. What gets me is I bought this machine as a reconditioned machine. Right now I need to find another belt for it because the belt broke. So won't be sewing with it for a while. I was happy with the way it did sew but not happy finding out it doesn't work properly!