Originally Posted by ktbb
staring at the needle or even at a foot close to the needle tends to result in crooked lines.....try marking the base of the machine a couple of inches ahead of your needle and use that as your guide for the edge of your fabric and see if it helps...If us use that as your primary check, you can spot check periodically to see that the edge of the fabric hear the needle is where you want it to be.
Think of driving down the road and focusing on a spot just ahead of your hood...you end up (usually) over compensating and the car moves back and forth a lot, even tho it may be small moves. If you focus on the road several yards ahead of the car, your turns are less jerky, the ride is smoother, and the path of the car is a straighter line.
I'd like to expand on this and suggest placing a FULL small Post-it note (glued edge of notes) smack up against the right side of your presser foot with the majority of it extending in front of the foot. Then the front edge of the Post-it note becomes your eyeball site, and the raised edge of the note becomes your guide to keep the fabric aligned.
Two issues, the sticky back on the Post-it Note does NOT adhere to most throat plates more than a minute -- I use a fat, thick rubber band around the free-arm portion of MY Bernina 1031 to hold it in place. Or a long piece of scotch tape. Both are easily repositioned for changing bobbins or sewing other seams.
Also, if your feed dogs extend outside the width of your presser foot, this technique becomes more difficult. Try learning to sew with a changed needle position to create your 1/4" seam allowance.
This little tip has saved me literally countless hours of pokey driving like a little old lady eyeballing right off the hood of her car! I now sew a perfectly straight seam with the pedal to the metal!
Jan in VA