I put a piece of paper on the die first. That seems to help with the strings getting caught in the die. I had one spot that didn't cut all the way through the snips. I just pulled it off from the fabric. Didn't hurt anything as it was already rags. What I do is quilt the block front and back with batting if using, then cut the rags using the die. One at a time. The block doesn't have to be perfect size as the die will cut each block the same exact size.