Originally Posted by
Toni-in-Texas
The "brilliant" engineer that designed this machine put the feed-dog lever in the back and under the cover of the free arm. So, I have to lift the machine out, pull off the cover of the free arm, reach behind the machine and move the feed-dog lever, then replace the cover, put the machine back down and then quilt. After I finish, I have to do the same thing in reverse.
Have you ever tried FMQ with the feed dogs left up? Leah Day does it that way, and I pooh-poohed the idea until I realized that I was FMQ'ing with mine up by accident, and it works just fine. Might try it on a test piece and see if that works for you too. Would save you some hassle!
My little Brother machine had the same set up as your Singer. Fortunately my Janome has the lever in front like your Kenmore. (Your Kenmore might actually be a Janome; I have one from the '90's and I'm told mine was built by them.)