I love doing piecing, but have always had trouble getting a perfect 1/4" seam -- my fabric would shift around, or kick to the left, and getting the fabric to perfectly, consistently line up with the edge of the foot was often difficult. So after Christmas, I went to our local sewing machine place, and talked to them about it, and they recommended a stitching foot with a guide:
http://www.sewingmachinesplus.com/vi...-412914145.php (just a link so you can see what I'm talking about)
It works so great -- I have a perfect 1/4" seam now, every time. And I don't have to pin the pieces together anymore to keep them straight, which is a huge time saver.
It's probably old news to most of you, but in case any other newbies are having similar troubles, I thought I would mention it; I would imagine most sewing machines would have such a foot available.