It is NOT easy period and especially on a lightweight Brother. It CAN be done but I sure wouldn't do it again. I have the whatever 6000 "quilting" machine and have done quite a few small things. Then I did just wavy, straight lines on one to cover the sofa and another for the loveseat.

Then I got a vintage Singer 201 to put in a cabinet I already had. Her name is Miss MAM and she will not be "pushed around" by any quilt :-)

And that Brother has been put away ever since. I will only need it as backup and for deco stitches.

I go back and forth as to wht to do. I will pin baste like crazy or now am considering spray as a better option. I heard I can buy some clamp things that help keep it rolled up, don't know how well they work and I want to start in the middle. Yup, trying to get it under the foot and not having the backing end up looking like a drawstring purse. . . Oh the visions I've had! Why am I still tempted. Practice is key.

Oh dear. So the Brother was my reintro to sewing after years of nothing but mending, curtains, etc. Christmas is coming, right?

I am fairly new to the quilting by machine part of quilting, too...I found great videos on youtube, started with some smaller projects, have taken out countless stitches :-), and finally feel that I am getting it..biggest I have done so far is a full size quilt. I also only spray baste, and only use 505 to do it..there is a great vid on youtube about that, too...it is in with a 4 step tutorial on free motion quilting. If you can, watch all of the steps, they are very helpful! In my opinion, stitch in the ditch (or rather about 1/8" away) is easier than the free motion...I have done it several times, and rarely have to take out stitches on it...I have used both a walking foot (even feed foot) and just my regular foot..If I use batting such as warm and natural, and spray baste, then my regular foot actually works better than the walking foot...for me, anyways... I can see where you would like to see the quilt through to its completion...so, as the others have said, practice, practice, check out youtube vids, do a few smaller projects first, like on a preprinted quilt panel, etc...and, I also got on Amazon and bought several great books on machine quilting...
Good luck to you!
K

start with small practice pieces- and when you are comfortable with the process and happy with the quilting move up to a bit larger and larger until you are comfortable with quilting bed size quilt.
it is certainly do-able but it takes practice- and patience.
start with 12" squares- then maybe placemats- on up to a baby quilt ect-

I have done an oversized twin and it was nuts how hard it was. i was sid around star points though. I will not be trying anything larger than a twin on my domestic again. but I don't do larger than lap or baby size. for the most part. working on a full size right now and it is going to be sent out for quilting. good luck if you do try it yourself. and i would roll it in a tube to fit in the throat area. it will help.

As we speak I am using a domestic Singer to machine quilt a slightly larger than twin size. It is the largest project I have attempted. (I'm still a newbie) I had never changed the foot on my machine until a few weeks ago - finally got the book out, read it and changed feet and cleaned the machine. It was much easier than I thought it would be.
As for the quilting on small machine - it is tough bit I'm getting it accomplished. The clamps to keep it rolled up went by the wayside as the fabric ends up all crazy directions and shapes. I'm doing a basic straight stitch but having to turn the quilt often. It's not what I'd call "fun" but the more I do it the better I become and I've learned little tricks to make it somewhat easier. I definately will not attempt anything larger because this (quilt making) is suppose to for relaxation and enjoyment!! Might learn to quilt-as-you-go or just do small projects.

I would split the batting into 3 sections, which greatly reduces bulk under the arm of a domestic machine. Marti Michel (sp?) has a book out on how to do this, called Quilting in Sections (or something like that).

By quilting foot, do you mean a walking foot? There is a big difference between using a walking foot and free-motion quilting using a darning foot with the feed dogs lowered.

I advise staying away from stitch-in-the-ditch for a first attempt. I personally do not even try this anymore because I am always dis-satisfied with the results. It sounds easy, but I am someone who notices every little deviation and it is *hard* to stay exactly in-the-ditch!

The easiest way to machine quilt that I have come across uses the walking foot to create gentle waving lines from one end of the quilt to the other. You can do these in two directions to create a wavy grid pattern (although then there is a concern about potential puckers at the line intersections). Straight lines are a little more difficult in that any deviation will show up as a "mistake". With wavy lines, there are no "mistakes".

Also, you need to learn how to baste your quilt sandwich together. My recommendation is spray basting.

Another recommendation I make is to starch the backing fabric heavily before layering (I use a 1:1 solution of Sta-Flo liquid laundry starch and water). This stabilizes the backing fabric to prevent puckers. I also spray starch the top (different method than I use for backing yardage).

Which Brother to do you have? I have the XL3750 that came with quilting accessories. It works just fine for machine quilting, I haven't had any problems.

The first quilt that I quilted was a double size. I did SID and it came out great.It has been used constantly since I made it and the person I gave it to loves it. You might like to check Leah Days website. It is very good and gives me confidence.