Yes, you need to roll your sides up...put a table on the other side of your machines so the quilt won't drop over the edge and I keep a chair beside me on my right to hold the access on my side. I also splurged for the fons and porter quilting gloves and so love them. And I detest wearing gloves:))The palms on them have these little rubber bumps to be able to put your hands down flat around your quilt and the rubber bumps help give it grip to hold on and move the quilt easier. If I am doing a straight line quilting I remove my basic foot and add the stitch regulator to mine and it has a bar to move to where you want to use as a guide. Just some tidbits for you..Skeat...who uses and open toe w/feed dogs down when stippling, etc.