Originally Posted by DeneK
I have a low-end brother that I bought at Wal-mart. It swims too. I always thought it was me until I got my Janome a few years ago. I was astounded to find that my Janome "wants" to sew straight and my Brother just doesn't. My stitching dramatically improved with the different sewing machine. Last year I got a used Viking Husqvarna and it is somewhere in between the two. Not steady like the Janome, but easy to get off-track if I am not paying close attention. And all the time with the Brother, I thought it was just me and my lack of skill.
Try a couple strips of blue painters tape across in front of the throat plate to act as 'skidgrip'. I just tried to do a small FMQ on my Brother 650Q, and the 'slippery' makes FMQ real easy. I just wish my FMQ were smooth and perfect on the first try, but no luck...