thanks for all hte suggestions. What has me puzzled is I put it on the 2 stitch and it works fine. but the needle is locked in one place. The regular setting allows me to move the needle from the left to the right for any width I want. THat is what is messing up. So if it is sewing okay in the 2 setting why isnt' it working in the 1 setting?
It can't be the timing or the tension if the other stitches work fine. But if I put it on the 00 setting which is the 1st stitch then it skips.
Yes I have the needle in correctly. You can see if it buts up against the top of the case and it is as far up as it goes.
I can use it for now with the 2 setting but I still would like to know why it is still skipping in the original setting. Not being able to use that setting means I can't use a 1/8" seam allowance which I often use. The 2 setting is a 1/4" seam allowance so it is workable. I just don't like having anything wrong with it.
I appreciate all the words of wisdom and will continue to try to figure this out.