Thanks everyone. I will keep all your tips in mind. I know that part of my problem is that my machine is on its last leg. It has major issues and it doesn't sew straight and everything is off on it. My mom has a really nice one and she is upgrading hers, so I will be the recipient of her old one, so I'm holding off on getting a new one, that, and I will be making a move more than halfway across the country, so I was planning on waiting anyway. I have started marking my 1/4" sew lines in pen, and that is really helping. It's more time consuming doing that, but is better than ripping out and redoing. I also think that I may have gotten a little aggressive with the ironing - instead of just pressing on a few things.