I can do FMQ on my dinky mechanical costco Brother machine. It is not fussy with thread at all, will use any of them but very fine ones. I hardly change a needle on that machine. I do notice, though, that sometimes the thread jumps out of the hook in the bobbin case and gives wonky stitching. It is a horizontal bobbin. I have to go back sometimes and pull it into the hook and be sure it is seated properly. I set the stitch length to zero and don't cover the feed dogs (they don't drop and it isn't a problem). I read somewhere that on some machines, the tension is better with the feed dogs up and zero stitch length. Let us know how it goes.