I stitched about samples of all the decorative stitches on my machine onto 8.5x11" sheets of fabric and I marked next to them which stitches they are. You can fit a lot of these onto a single sheet. Now when I want to use them for a project I just look in these reference sheets until I find something suitable. Of course, the size of the stitching can still be varied, but it is useful to have it available like this, rather than to just try to figure out what it will look like when it's sewn.