Originally Posted by GEMRM

If you're planning to FMQ the top, you can turn your machine so that you're actually sewing with the small end of the machine facing you (large/motor end far away from you, towards the top...). This gives you much more side to side room. This works because the hopping/FMQ foot only touches down when making the stitch and the feed dogs are not engaged/stitch length is set to zero.