Sewing help needed

[Joolly2]

I'm a novice at sewing. I have a lovely janome 4300 machine which I usually get on really well with. I decided yesterday to take up some sheer curtains, I began by playing around with the tension dials nothing I did really worked so I gave up and decided to sew them by hand. Today I wanted to machine some ordinary cotton, but my tension is all wrong. I am getting loops on the wrong side of the material. I changed the thread colours so I could see which one is causing the problem. It seems the needle thread is being pulled through and causing the loops. Can anyone tell me what number my dials should be on please. I have read the instruction book but its not helping. Thank you.

My (different make) sewing machine is in the cupboard under the stairs. I gave up trying because I couldn’t figure out the tension issues!

However I’ve just googled your machine and there are videos on YouTube you could watch.

I’m going to dig my machine out at the weekend & see if I can finally sort it with a video. Good luck.

If I remember correctly my Janome default tension number is 3

Good luck Mrs Bing, I hate tension problems they ruin the whole sewing experience.
KissedintheDark - thank you, is that the dial on the front of the machine or the one on the top? Foolishly I've fiddled with both of them.

if you aren't sure, set them to the middle of each dial. that is normally right.

Right, so far I have tried putting both dials on their middle setting, which would seem to be a logical thing (thank you for the suggestion Paietal ) - still masses of loops underneath.
Next, I tried leaving the presser foot dial at four and trying 3/4/5/6/7 on the needle thread tension. Still loops underneath.
I have also changed the needle in case that was the problem.
I am so fed up. I don't know what else to try.

I find written instructions tricky but YouTube has changed my life on how to work both my sewing machine and my serger...
Do a search for your model - but slightly similar numbers will probably be also helpful...

YouTube is your friend here. I wanted a sewing machine for years and finally bought one in lockdown last year. Since then I have made lots of different things but really could not have done it without YouTube. My tension is usually in the middle, I’ve found I need to adjust it if the material is slippy or very thin/thick.

Fixed it !!!
I watched a YouTube video and could see the needle tension was at 4. Tried again and still had loops. Then googled Janome machine looping. Someone suggested unthreading the machine and rethreading it, making sure that the presser foot is in the up position. Tried it and it worked. So happy, it's been a day wasted but I'll sleep well tonight. Thank you to everyone who offered help.