Welcome from Ontario, Canada. Using a fabric scrap at the start does work and there are many names for it. Some call it a spider, some just call it a starter square. The only other option I know of to reduce the needle pushing fabric into the plate is to use a single hole plate instead of the zig zag plate. If you don’t have a single hole plate you can use a piece of card stock to make one but it can be a bit tricky. Good Luck!