Patience, my dear! I ha a Tin Lizzie about 10 months and got to know how to handle it very well--then I sold it and bought a APQS and got that one maonth ago today. It was almost like starting over--because every machine is different and even having the handles be different is a different feel. I have done about 6 quilts now and am feelign pretty good about the feel of it. But it definintely takes practice. I watched lots of You-Tubes on feathers and then I practiced alot on old nespapers and then on material and now I can do them well. I always doodle designs on old newspapers to practice new (or my regular) designs. I use a black permanent marker and hold it up vertically so it mimics teh quilting machine and I practice. I do this before every quilt I do. I simply practice teh design a little bit on the newspaper to get the feel of the design and to get the size of te design I want. I only do freehand and custom work. I feel Pantos are hard and I have yet to take the time to practice doing those. Good luck