I have found that when I'm sewing two pieces together that seem to be different weights I have to starch the thinner fabric more to kind of balance the weight of the two.

Also - lay the fabric on fine sandpaper when you draw the lines - the fabric won't move.

To save yourself time, have you ever tried putting several strips of masking tape to make a "dam" at the 1/4" inch spot on your face plate? Or, you can use a pad of extra sticky post-its at the 1/4" line. Put your favorite ruler under your machine needle and lower it gently on the closest 1/4" line to the edge and line it up with the face plate. Slide the post-its up against the ruler and stick it down. Or, put a strip of masking tape along the ruler. Then, remove the ruler and keep putting strips of masking tape on top of the first strip, making sure that they are evenly aligned. Do this until you have a substantial pile of strips, enough to guide your strips through the machine. It can be as long as you need to have it so as to keep the fabric from wobbling. Hope this helps.

I have just started starching before cutting, wish I had started sooner. I also found that those little sandpaper dots work great on my ruler.

Since I have been using starch before I cut, I very seldom need to pin anything, your pieces just cooperate when stitching. It may take time to starch, but very little time to piece or match up points, things just fall into place. Won't go back to not using starch, it also helps with fabric that likes to ravel, such as homespun.

good Luck

Suzy

I find that heavyly starching the fabric before cutting makes piecing easier and more accruate for me.

This doesn't hold true if you're piecing small pieces. A quilt instructor once told me that even a thread off in each seam over the length or width of the quilt could amount to over an inch or two in distortion. She said a pattern would tell you to use 1/4" or scant 1/4" and it's best to stay in that range. Starching might help with accuracy.

I've not tried it yet, but someone posted a 'tip/dirty little secret' about using a thin coat of contact cement on the back of your ruler to keep it from slipping. Sounds like a good idea to me. And yes, I always starch my fabric and press it before I cut. Keeps it from distorting, really helps with cutting accurately.

Sandpaper works great. I glued 4 sheets down on the underside of my cuttingmat.