Free motion quilting is done with the feed dogs down and you in control of which direction the needle goes by moving the fabric freely under the needle. You can do this by following a drawn line pattern that you've transferred to the quilt top, or you can do what I call "free-form" free motion quilting which is done the same way only without any pattern to follow...as is done when you do all-over designs such as meandering and loops, or any other design you can create as you go. I'm doing free-form feathers in the borders on a quilt right now. It takes a bit of practice, but it's so much fun. And once you get the hang of it, there's no stopping what you can do! :)