Below is a list of helpful hints from Jenny!

• Spray sizing or starch and press your cotton fabric pieces before you sew to add body for easier piecing.

• MEASURE your scant ¼ inch mark before you start to sew for consistent sizing.

• If you cannot disengage your feed dogs, tape a piece of template plastic over the feed dog area with a hole in the center of the plastic to allow for the needle to go thru.

• If your cotton thread misbehaves (breaking, twisting, knotting) put it into a zip tight baggie and put it into the freezer for an hour or so. The thread will attract moisture as it thaws.

• Hold onto the bobbin and top thread tails as you begin to sew and you will not have a knotty mess at the beginning of your stitching.

• Use a small scrap of fabric to start your stitching and stitch off that scrap and onto the actual fabric pieces that you wish to sew. This will eliminate puckering at the beginning of the pieces.

• Make sure that your feet are flat on the floor and your arms are at a 90* angle when sitting at your sewing machine. This will make your sewing time painless.

• For best accuracy, always use the same ruler throughout your project.

• Use a medium gray thread for intense or medium multicolored piecing. Use a cream or light gray thread for multicolored pastel piecing.

• Change your needle frequently (every 6-8 hours) to prevent running or tearing of your fabric.

• Change the blades on your rotary cutter when they skip or cease to cut cleanly. If you carefully wipe your blade, this will allow for smoother cutting. Use the dull blades to cut paper, but be sure to mark the blade “DULL” with a marker.

• Cut your sashing from the lengthwise fabric grain to eliminate sagging and stretching.

• Place your magnetic pin holder far away from your electronic machine.

• Remove pins BEFORE your needle sews over them. There are no instructions that say: Please run over the straight pins.

• In order to minimize stretching of blocks, do not use steam when pressing open a seam.

• Use a shorter stitch length than normal when doing foundation piecing in order to make paper removal easier and cleaner.

• Check your printer accuracy by drawing a 2 inch square on Perfect Quilt and print it out and measure. It should be 2 inch square, if not, adjust the printer software settings.

• Use Floriani Stitch N Wash® Tear Away sheets for easy removal with the foundation piecing. It will NOT pull at your stitches! It is sized perfectly for your printing needs. Residue will wash away.

• When you are finished with a seam, be sure to press the seam to set the stitched thread into the fabric.