Thanks! I changed the needle and will try to do it without lifing the foot. . .

I don't have a straight-stitch throat plate, only the zig-zag one; I found that moving the needle to the far-right position helped stop it from dragging fabric down into the feed dogs. I had to mark a new 1/4" line with masking tape, but it works great and I doubt I'll bother getting a straight-stitch plate now.

Use the single hole throat plate.

Use 'leaders' or 'spiders' or small pieces of material to start at the beginning of sewing ... holding the threads firmly to the back of your work.

I also do not sew together triangles but use the square method where I chain piece 1/4" away from the center diagonal line on both sides of the line ... using squares @ least 7/8" bigger that the finished HST. If I know I might make a mistake, then I start with squares 1" bigger and trim down using my Martingale bias square ruler.

These are the biggest helps for me.

ali

That's what I was going to suggest. Makes all the difference in the world. :thumbup:

Takes me a bit more time but i use the needle up and down button when I start a new one just enough to get past the point. (new needle already in and no other throat plate for machine) Just improvising to make what I have work.
Everyone elses suggestions seem much smarter than mine :) Just though I'd add my 2 cents.

Put enough of your triangle under there to give the feed dogs something to pull on.

Bits of paper help bridge from one piece of fabric to another.

All the good suggestions are here but some machines are just prone to drag the fabric into the feed plate. My Janome 6500 loves to do this even with the single needle plate while my old Singer 201 never does.

I am a beginner and had my first class and the instructor taught us to do this. It works very well

This may sound too simple, but is your needle sharp? I'd put a new one in and see if that helps.