Hi everyone, I am a complete beginner, I am using an inherited machine that was my late mums - a Janome New Home JD1714. 

I’m trying to learn the basics from some tutorials and the like with a view to make some things in the future. Right now I’m just cutting up old pillowcases to get an understanding of how the machine works as I am a novice. My needle thread is a cream and my bobbin thread is a pale blue whilst I’m learning.

I’m trying to learn how to lock in the seams at the start finish by using the reverse stitch lever. I’m using a straight stitch, tension settings between 3 and 4. And stitch width between 2 and 3. From a YT video from glory Allan, I am aiming to do about 5 stitches each way (forward back and forward again to finish)

I’m finding those initial stitches are fine, the reverse stitching is mostly okay, but when release the lever, the feed dogs don’t seem to be pushing the fabric back to continue onwards. Also on that third pass, the stitches seem much more close together (I’m guessing because the feed dogs are not moving the fabric. I’m finding I’m having to apply pressure to move the fabric. As a result sometimes the third pass is wonky.

Where am I going wrong here? 

I’m really sorry if I don’t have all the terminologies right I am trying my best to learn 

Using reverse lever to start and finish my seam