My spring action foot for my sapphire broke where the wire stem was - that made the foot pratically set on the fabric ugh there went 50 smackers! My quilting friend uses her plastic darning foot so I tried it and it works for me. If you are starting out the free motion spring foot open might work best for you till you get more experience. Starting out, going where you haven't been, you need to make it as easy as possible.