My mother in law said to use coffee filters for stabilizer. Maybe that works, but this machine cost me more money than I care to say so I will use stabilizer, thank you very much. I buy the iron on stabilizer at Joann's with my 40% coupon and use it to "stick" the other stabilizer onto my pieces to be embroidered. I hate the spray stuff that smells terrible and gunks up my needles. This iron on stuff does the trick and is reusable if you don't sew into it. It is also good to use a full piece to double up on stabilizer when you need it.