As a lady in my church used to say of the choir, "You practice and I'll pray". My only advice is to do it the best way for you. Don't get caught up in what some say you MUST do and CANNOT do. There are some absolutely fabulous tutorials but don't get discouraged if it isn't working for you right away. Try a different approach. Doodling the pattern and dropping the feed dogs never worked for me but others have absolute success with them. As others have said practicing on muslin sandwiches is a great trainer!! Just stick with it and keep trying until you find the right 'rhythm' for you.