If the machine has not been used in a long time, the lever and/or feed dog mechanism might be frozen. It will take patience and time to oil with something like Tri Flow (might need to set for a while to penetrate), then use the warm setting on a hair dryer at low speed to heat up the area as you move the lever up and down. The closer you can get to the problem area the better. Good luck.

Hi Cheryl, I see it has been almost 7 yrs. since you posted this inquiry, but I have an answer for you. I joined a group called .... BTS@ groups.io ... and found all of the service manuals and user manuals as a free pdf. download. The BTS stands for Bernina Thirtysomething. I tried to send it as a link but it did not work. I sure hope this helps. Happy sewing!