Hey everybody., could someone tell me again what I'm doing wrong for lines (as for writing on the cake) without them turning into squiggly, ugly lines? Is it pressure control, or my shaky hands?? I have a football field cake coming up for this weekend, and I'm a bit panicky about how to draw all those nice straight yard lines WITHOUT squiggles! 
Thanks - PAT
The easiest way is to start at one end and apply enough pressure to see the icing beginning to show at the end of the piping tip, attach it to the part of the cake where you want the line to begin. Continue with the same amount of pressure, squeeze and lift your hand up off the cake aways so the line of icing isn't touching the cake suface. Continue by moving your arm or hand towards you until the line is as long as you want it to be. Lower your hand, attach the icing to the cake surface at the end of the line and stop squeezing. Lifting it off the surface just a bit gives it a smooth flow and you shouldn't get any squiggles as long as you keep the same squeezing pressure and don't go too fast.
Stiff icing helps too. Try practicing straight lines on some wax paper. Touch the tip to the paper, lift up and pull gently towards you. The icing should hold togehter when you do that, if not it's too soft. When you have the line as long as you want, touch the tip to the paper and lift away.
Lines seems to be the only things I can get done right....well except for rosettes 
Good luck.
Writing is a funny thing. If you go too slow, you get squigglies. If you go too fast, the line breaks. You just have practice your pressure control. On that note, my handwriting isn't the greatest. Makes me crazy but practice makes perfect. If all else fails, use a tooth pick first or you can outline with piping gel or do a printout in reverse on your computer and use that as a template of sorts if you use the piping gel technique.
I just did a football field cake with lines this weekend. I used stiff icing with some corn syrup to make it more flexible. I marked my lines first with a piece of thread all the way across. I used the same priniple as sting work. Dont try to 'draw' the line. Keep your tip off of the surface a bit and let it fall. You will have time to adjust where it goes since it is stiff, flexible icing. Practice first, it's pretty easy!
Thanks, everyone, for the suggestions; I know it just takes practice, practice, and more practice! I did use the string tip to premark the yard lines, and it really helped. I also did them with a nice big #12 tip, and they didn't come out too badly. I think a real part of my difficulty is getting the speed right as I pipe...Anyway, the customer loved the cake, so that's what counts. Thanks - PAT
For straight lines, I have a cheapo battery operated Laser level ($9.99 from Walmart handyman department!) I just turn it on, and have it the same level as the top of the cake. Perfectly straight lines, and you don't have to worry about messing the icing up! I use it for writing on the cakes too, so the words don't go down hill. 
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