I'm sure others have had this issue, but I cannot find anything to solve my problem.  I import a .jpg line drawing into Inkscape, then convert it to a path, then trace the bitmap.

What I want to do is turn the trace red and make the line thin to cut on the laser.  I can't seem to do this directly, so I use stroke to make a red line.  The result is a black fill line outlined on both sides with a red stroke line. 

I can delete the fill, but then I end up with a "bubble" instead of a single line.  I really appreciate any help you can provide me.

Hi Bipolarexpress,

The function trace bitmap produces a line around everything. That is called an outline trace.
A line is seen as a field of colour and Inkscape draws a path around it.
Whay you need, is a centerline trace, which means a path at the centre of your lines, not around it.

The fastest way is to use the pen tool and draw the lines by hand.

What system do you use: Linux, Windows, MacOS? And what version of Inkscape?
Because the centerline trace function will be added to the newest Inkscape and perhaps you can already use it.

I did find the centerline trace on the beta package of Inkscape and the centerline trace does the trick.  Thank you!