Ok first I took a class once and she had us about half way through try to follow the lines of a pattern. Guess what that was harder then free random motion. Get some heavy felt to practice on so you don't have to keep sandwiching fabric and pretend you are going downhill and holding back and your hands are out and you are floating. Or pretend you are on the phone and are doodling. Make it free and easy and think of the needle as the end of your pencil. You will learn by the sound of your machine how fast to go to keep the fabric going at a good rate. Hope I have helped and it does take practice just learning to drive a car. We were just younger and bolder then so we did not have any fear.