It's a Brother VX1120.. I no longer have the manual and can't find it for free online. My hubby looked at it to see if he can somehow disconnect the feed dogs but he'd have to remove them. I'm going to try covering them up. THanks for all the advise. :)

There is a free download of the manual for that model at the Brother website. http://www.brother-usa.com/Manuals/Default.aspx Select sewing machines from the drop down list, then select VX1120, then click 'view download'. Down below will be the download link. It's 9MB and I'm on dialup or I would have just read it to see whether you can drop the feed dogs. Sorry.

ok there was supposed to be a darning plate with this sewing machine, but after 10 years and 3 moves, i don't seem to have it. I tried the index card, but with the presser foot down, the material won't budge underneith. is there a trick to it?

You also have to have a darning/free motion foot. which puts pressure on the material as the needle goes down and lets pressure off as the needle goes up allowing you to move the fabric around as you please! If you don't have one of these it would be hard to free motion becaue a regular presser foot puts constint pressure on the quilt!

You might be able to find a set on ebay fairly cheap. I know I got a free motion foot for my brother for like 12 bucks and I already had the darning foot for the machine! try there! if not your local machine store should be able to get you one.