My Morse Fotomatic has the knob yours does on the base at the right. It reads (from left to right) EMBR, SILK, NORM.
Yours appears to be in the middle which would be SILK, if yours reads the same as mine does. I wonder if this could have anything to do with your problem. Try turning the knob to NORM and see what happens.

Your machine has an auto buttonhole setting. I that engaged by any chance?
One part of that buttonhole feature runs totally in reverse.

Cathy

Even though I never heard of a machine going only in reverse, (OH, I had a car that did that once when I was a teen ), that repair man was an idiot. I always try to fix things , ANYTHING.. first before I bring it to be fixed. If the machine hasn't been used in a long time it could have "froze" in reverse or could be a spring like someone else had mentioned. Good luck

Even though I never heard of a machine going only in reverse, (OH, I had a car that did that once when I was a teen ), that repair man was an idiot. I always try to fix things , ANYTHING.. first before I bring it to be fixed. If the machine hasn't been used in a long time it could have "froze" in reverse or could be a spring like someone else had mentioned. Good luck...OH, btw Beautiful sewing machine

I think you should have another talk with the repair man or get a new one. I know in the shop where I worked, women would say "if I knew that it would be that much, I would have just bought a new machine". Perhaps your repairman didn't realize you wanted THIS ONE fixed, even though it might not be cost vs. value efficient .

I've had that conversation regarding certain machines. Each time the issue was some older plastic gear (not necessarily the same gear each time) had broken a tooth and the repair person was not hopeful of finding a replacement gear that would be in good condition. I think this is a primary reason so many people love the even older machines that are all metal and thus less likely to have this sort of issue.
If the repair person gives you the "not worth fixing" speech, find out why they are telling you that. Then you have a solid basis for deciding if you agree with them or not. Good luck!

I have a Kenmore that is only running in reverse. I must not be a repair person worth my salt - I haven't figured it out yet.

Naw,.. I think you just haven't strictly dedicated the time to it. :) You'll figure it out. The clue I had for the one I had was that the dogs were in the wrong place when the needle was down.

I suspect that the repair people being worth their salt is more about diagnosing a machine as "not worth it" without looking at it.

I have seen the most trivial things wrong with machines.... One had thread wrapped around a belt on the bottom of the machine - the machine was in great shape otherwise. Her repair man said it was a broken gear.

google your machine name and model and backwards and see what comes up. We did this once with another type of machine during a class when it happened to one of my students. Sure enough there was information out there and we got it resolved. Turned out that it was stuck in the buttonhole stitch mode and it was thinking it was making the one side of the buttonhole. Weird, but check that out to make sure its not stuck in button hole mode. Good luck. And yes, I agree with the others, find another repair shop. Its a beauty.