Hello Sam,
You may have a problem there, Riccar had a serious problem with the reverse buttons on their machines, hopefully your dial is just not moving the pin on the inside when you adjust the stitch length, the best thing I can suggest to you at the moment is to take the base of the machine off and put WD40 all round the stitch length dial area on the inside, that will free off any jammed parts, if that does not work it will mean a shop repair but do not expect it to be repaired because the pins are virtually none existent since Riccar went bust.
Make sure you have everything set for normal sewing just in case you have a dial where it should not be.
Ken
drivewithken@blueyonder.co.uk, February 2008