Bird Nests with my Brother SE350

Hello All!  This is my first time on the forum, but my bird nesting problem is driving me bonkers.

I am new to sewing and bought a Brother SE350 in March.  It was working perfectly until I tried shirring with elastic thread.  I never got the shirring to work (even after watching/reading numerous tutorials) and now my machine makes bird nests at the beginning of each row of stitches.  It is TERRIBLE when I reverse stitch at the beginning.  It doesn't do it too much at the end.

I am too much of a newbie to try messing with the bobbin tension myself. So, if it is that I will have to take it in.

I have tried clearing all lint/dust from the machine.  I have tried pulling the bobbin thread up. 

Any other ideas?  Anyone else mess up their machine with elastic thread?

Thanks for any help!!

I have the same machine.  I also tried shirring with the elastic thread and it was a big disaster!!  Maybe we need to be more experienced... something.  I didn't have any problems after.  The way the bobbin goes in, it seems weird you would have that problem.  Did you make sure you have installed the bobbin the right way, meaning it goes to the left then kind of wraps around and then thur the cutter thingie? Sorry can't be more clear.  Hope you find something that helps.

Good Luck

It does seem to be a bit better now that I am leaving a longer piece of the upper thread per the manual.  I think the short piece of upper thread was getting pulled down during the first and second stitch and when I was backstitching it was tangling. 

As for the shirring, it is the machine not the experience.  I talked my sister into giving me her little Brother from Walmart since she hasn't been using it.  I thought it would be a good one to use to experiment as well as I suspected it might be able to shirr.  Two Smocked Sundresses (Weekend Sewing) later, voila, it was the machine.

Have you tried re-threading your machine and changing the needle? Sometimes if the thread isn't threaded correcting this will happen. It's also important to have a sharp needle for shirring.