Try to remember that you MUST lower the pressure foot even if you aren't using one. Lowering the pressure foot engages the upper tension system.
Forty years ago I did a wall hanging using the free motion quilting method although the term "free motion quilting" did not exist at the time. My very OLD Singer did not have any special tricks except stop and go. I covered the feed dogs with a piece of stiff clear plastic (like are fixed to a cardboard) with small hole for the needle. No pressure foot. Used an embroidery hoop to hold the fabric taught and moved it by hand. Also used this system to do monograms before I got a machine with embroidery system.