I have never used the walking foot for Brother machines as I feel it's too bulky and difficult to get fingers behind the needle area. What I do use a lot is my knee lifter, and raise the foot just a tad over lumpy joins, and I like to be able to 'spread' those areas with my hands at front and back. It's not really stretching the fabric much, just smoothing it out. Sometimes I find the pressure of the foot doesn't allow smooth sailing over joins, especially with batting.