Bette,
I have found that when a machine sews like yours, generally the presser foot is not aligned with the feed dogs.
It's not hard to tell either, turn the hand wheel till the feed dogs are all the way up, then gently lower the foot on them and sight along both sides of the foot and dogs. The sides should be parallel with each other.
It's not hard to adjust the foot alignment, but you also have to be careful with the up and down placement of the presser foot shaft as well.
Joe