Originally Posted by lab fairy

I am not an expert but after making a few of these signature blocks I've figured out a few important things: 1.) it is hard to write on the fabric 2.) its hard to know where the 1/4 inch seam allowance really is when writing.

I decided to fix the writing issues. I dry ironed the white fabric onto freezer paper and then cut out the 3 1/2 inch square. On the paper side, I marked the 1/4 inch seam allowance with a bright red or pink sharpie.

I wrote whatever I wanted onto the white fabric (staying in the seam lines because I learned after the first one I made).

I shortened my stitch length to 1.5 and sewed the rest of the block as directed. The 1.5 stitch length made the paper really easy to remove.

This sounds really more elaborate than necessary but I found it far easier to write on the stabilized fabric and it actually saved me time. If I were to make a block and not write on it, I wouldn't have done the stabilizing thing.