I have an older cheapy Brother that I play with for fmq. It doesn't have the option to drop the feed dogs and the darning cover plate always got hung up and messed things up. Now I never bother. And I don't change my stitch length. Just put the darning foot on and off I go. I will never win an award. But my quilts are made with love for my grandchildren and family. They don't notice or care. If I ever learn to get my stitches even I might be concidered pretty good. I would love the oportunity to learn long arm sometime. It's on my bucket list.