Jumping right in - Press the fabric as you would if you were using a rotary cutter. If you are going to 'fan fold' the fabric for cutting, press the folds as flat as you can. If you don't do that, there could be fabric shifting and you could wind up with "off " cuts. Some fabric can hang over the side of the dies, but there are limits. You'll figure that out as you go.
What dies to get depends on what kind of quilting you do. I do simple quilts, and am very happy with that. So I have several different widths of strip dies, several different square dies, a flying geese die, and some triangle dies in various sizes. That meets most of my needs. My sister, on the other hand, likes to do complex quilts like the Lone Star, so she has dies that allow her to do those small blocks.
Have fun with your Accuquilt. You won't be sorry you bought it!
Last edited by cathyvv; 02-27-2018 at 05:59 PM.