Accuquilt Die?
 

Does anyone know why some of the dies are set a little crooked and some are straight? I got to thinking maybe I'm putting my fabric wrong on the die. Clear as mud?

TIA

They are set crooked to make the die blades slide under the roller more easily. You line up your fabric's grain with the lines of the die blades, not with the sides of the die.

Think about a square. If the blades are set straight into the die, when you roll the entire front blade will be cutting fabric at the same time. When that same die is angled, there is pressure on only a portion of the front blade at any given moment in time. Makes it easier to crank through.

If the same spot on the cover thingy was cut every time the die was used, the cover and the everything in the cutter would be used all the time. Think of the off center cuts as screen savers.

You can place your fabric on the die any way you want, but normally you would want it parallel to the blade regardless of how it sits on the die.

You want to feed the blade into the die at an angle so the blades on the larger dies are set at and angle already. Usually the smaller dies are set with the blades parallel with the die block. You should feed these into the roller at a slight angle, but watch that you don't hit the sides of the roller housing.