Sewing Straight
 

I am a newbie, with a 1979 Singer 7110, making basic square patch pillow covers and quilts. I have a mentor who is very talented but has never taught anyone to do this before. She also has limited time. I feel uncomfortable with the way that I am sewing my square patches together. I know this is pretty dang easy to do compared to other things you could do with a machine, but like I said, I'm new :) My mentor says I am doing a good enough job, but I know that I could do better and expect that it could feel more natural to me.

I don't get how to guide without pushing or pulling or put perhaps too much pressure down with the left hand. And I am curious to find out what some of you people do with your right hands. I have picked up, at another forum, that people do these things differently.

I never took sewing in junior or high school, I'm afraid.

I just feel uncomfortable at the machine and am looking for tips on what my hands should be doing. Of course, maybe I just need practice ;)

I've gone through the same thing. It's taken a few years to start to figure out how to guide my material properly, and how my machine wants me to guide it. I'm still not great, but improving over time. I wish I had a magic answer for you. I'll be looking forward to the replies from more experienced people.

Practice is going to be the key here, but I think cutting straight and sewing straight are the two toughest things to do, hands down! If you master these you can accomplish anything else. Just keep practicing and you will learn!

You shouldn't push or pull your fabric. I use both hands to guide my fabric through my machine. Watch YouTube videos and get an idea on what you should be doing. Go to www.craftsy.com and at the top and click on online classes. Then click on quilting and it will take you to a page with many quilting classes. Find the "Craftsy Block of the Month" class...it's free. She has ten classes and teaches you two blocks in each class. The classes are about 43 minutes each. Watch how she quilts. You will get a good idea of how to quilt. I took this class and made a quilt. It's fun and very informative. You will learn so much from Amy Gibson.

I teach sewing and keeping the fabric straight and guiding it is one of the things my students struggle with most. I do a couple of things to help them.

I have them practice on paper. I draw lines on the paper and they pretend the lines are the end of the fabric and they line their presser foot up to it and try to keep the foot on the line. Takes practice. And I have them use an old needle, nothing will dull a needle faster than paper, so you want to have a needle just for paper work. Remove it when you switch back to fabric and save it for work on paper.

We also practice controlling the speed at which you sew. If you have a machine with speed control, no problem, but if you don't, you need to practice controlling the speed with your foot. Slowing down can really help your accuracy.

We also practice guiding the fabric through. The fabric will go through with or without you, and probably reasonably straight through as well, you do not need to push it, pull it, or shove it through. What you need to do is guide it. Use the fingers of both hands. Your fingers should never be directly in front of the presser foot or to the left or right of the presser foot (I say this because you can line your fabric up to the left side OR right side of the presser foot, although most people line up to the right side). Your fingers should be 1-1/2 to 2 inches in front of the presser foot, guiding the fabric so it is staying in position. If it starts to stray a little, and you feel you are losing control, stop, be sure your NEEDLE IS IN THE FABRIC, lift the presser foot and move the fabric so it is lined up again. You may have to start and stop frequently at first, but you'll get the hang of it eventually.

And lastly, be sure your presser foot is at the right pressure. Some machines have a pressure setting for the feet. This is so you can accommodate different types of fabrics that may require a lighter pressure or heavier pressure of the foot for ease of sewing. If you have such a thing (your manual will tell you), be sure it is set on the proper setting (it's usually a dial and you set it on a number, for example, for "regular sewing", it would be #1). If you have a really old machine, the pressure may be able to be set manually, again, your manual will tell you.

Hope this is helpful!

I consider a 1979 machine to a medium old sewing machine. I have 2 that are older and 2 that are newer. If you don't have a manual, contact Singer by telephone and ask them to send a manual. If they say they don't have one, ask them to copy the one they have on file and send you the copy. They will probably send it electronically if you prefer. I had to get a manual sent like this once when the company had no copies left, just the company copy they had on file. They did it without a charge.

One thing no one has asked are your feeddogs working? truth be told I sewed for 6 months on my last machine without realizing my feeddogs were clogged. They were not working at all, I cleaned them up and worked like a charm. Sewing straight is easier when your following the edge of the foot in my opinion but I did put painters tape as a guide when I started. I usually have my right hand guiding the material from the back to keep it straight but switch it to the front when I need to. The thing is if you concentrate on sewing straight your hands do there thing. Don't concentrate on your hands instead concentrate on sewing and your hands will naturally go where they need to. Hope that helps I also found that the right chair makes all the difference you feel less awkward! Happy quilting

I have a quarter inch foot with a guide which makes getting the quarter inch perfect much easier.

Good advice from Rachel - Some of the Singers of that era have rubber feeddogs and they will just wear off! Good feeddogs will "pull" the fabric for you without much help from you other than keeping this lined up.

I have read lalalands post. Follow it and you will be fine, just practice. I like her idea of practicing on newspaper -- saves thread.

For me, I use my hands to guide the fabric as the machine pulls it through. The only thing I might add to lalalands post is to place a piece of tape the width of the seam that you want on the sewing bed (1/4 inch, 1/2 inch, whatever you are using). Measure from the needle to the right and place a piece of scotch tape, painters tape, whatever onto the sewing bed. Guide the fabric (newspaper) along the piece of tape. Don`t watch the needle, just guide the fabric along that line and keep the fabric along that tape line for a good 3 inches before it hits the needle. You will have a straight line.

If you need a manual, singer has a web site where you can download manuals for very old machines.

Good luck.

Aileen

The lady who mentioned feed dogs just take a look. I purchased an old machine which was tested and serviced before it came. The food dogs did have fabric in looked like black felt. A friend after paying for a service couldn't get her machine to work. I went to help and found the feed dogs and bobbin area clogged so much nothing moved which was why it went for a service. My hands I tend to keep to the sides of the needle and hold lightly.

I think lalaland's advice on practicing without thread on paper is great! Let me add that I have found that one sheet of paper under the feed dogs is a little hard to control due to it being so slippery. When I put a layer or two of fabric down and then lay the paper on top of the fabric the sewing experience is more like sewing fabric. Also, I tend to sew very slowly when doing patchwork which gives me accurate results.

Yes--very, very helpful! Thank you so much!

Very valuable advice. I like what you said about focusing less on my hands. When I was learning to drove as a teen, I would drive looking at the road directly ahead of the car, and my father had to teach me to look further out. :)

I feel so blessed that so many of you thought about this for me and wrote in. I am really enjoying the process of learning about all of this. Thank you!

I always had a heck of a time keeping my seams straight. Finally someone took pity on me and told me my trouble was caused because I watched the needle instead of the fabric. Once I started to pay attention to where my fabric was going under the front of the presser foot instead of at the needle my seams straightened right up. Once you get the hang of sewing you'll be able to make a quilt on any working machine - no matter how old it is.

I like to have people think back to 3rd grade when they were learning cursive writing. Whoa what a ride that was! But by the end of the school year there was much improvement. Practice and c'mon back and ask questions.

piney

I use 1/4 inch graph paper - and use that to see where the lines are compared to the edge of the presser foot and where the needle hits the paper -

That sentence didn't make much sense - but it does work for me!

lalaland said:
Your fingers should never be directly in front of the presser foot or to the left or right of the presser foot (I say this because you can line your fabric up to the left side OR right side of the presser foot, although most people line up to the right side).
I think this is confusing. This sounds kind of like the fabric is to the right of the needle. I think most people sew with the fabric to the left of the needle, and line up on the right side of the needle.
When I put together many rows of squares (pieced or plain), I put the first two rows under the needle with the fabric to the right. The seams are pressed so that the top seam points away from me, and the bottom seam is lying toward me. That way the bottom seam will never flip the wrong way when they nest. I can watch the top seam and make sure it goes under the presser foot without flipping. I put all the rows together like that, two at a time, with the fabric to the right.
Then I put together twos with twos and keep the fabric to the left of the needle. You just keep on adding this way: fours and fours, eights and eights etc. and it will always be to the left. The seam will always go under the needle correctly: the top seam toward you so you can watch it, and the bottom seam facing toward you so it glides under the needle without flipping.

Yes just google your make and model and up comes links for your machine instructions, and E-How will also come up with instructions free.

I'd like to ask a question also. Does your machine sit down into a case or cabiner? I find that sewing on a flat surface is very helpful because you don't have to deal with the fabric going up, across the machine, and then back down towards the table top. I think you lose control with that set up. Perhaps, if you don't have a cabinet, stack books around the machine until you have a larger, flat surface to sew on. You can tape the books together, or purchase a clear acrylic table with legs that might fit your machine. I bought an old sewing machine cabinet and my handyman put a bottom it so that it rests flush with the cabinet surface. I remove the machine when I am through and store it in its original case. It really helps when I am trying to quilt on my domestic machine. Also, built a bridge with painter's tape, as others have suggested. I used moleskin cut into 1/4" strips at one time and place it at 1/4" on the face plate, but it is soft and wears down fairly quickly so painter's tape works better. Also, as others have suggested, keep practicing. Do check and see if the feed dogs are working, as others have suggested.

Worrying about your hands may be counterintuitive here. I think it's more important to be conscious of where your eyes are focusing.

Don't watch your hands, or the needle. Focus on the seam line a few inches before the needle. In other words, watch the 1/4" line and try to keep your fabric there. For me, that is the very edge of the feeddogs.

I was teaching my grand daughters how to sew charms together to make a quilt. And I had to explaint his to them to. I had a seam quide thing attached to the base of the machine near the needle. I set the machine to low speed (I know yours doesn't have that...my machine I love is a Singer 2010 from 1985!) but this one is new. I told them to just line up the fabric edge to the seam guide, and for them to just "guide" the fabric through, not push with either hand. The feed dogs will pull it through, so just place your left hand on the side of the fabric, not real close to the needle, and guide the bulk of it AFTER it has been through the needle to keep it straight and the right hand mainly just the thumb and fore finger..they guide it "TO" the needle, keeping it straight. I told them..let the machine do the work! And they did and it worked for them, so I was apparently telling it the right way! I have been seing for 45 years...never thought much about how I did it! KEep at it..good luck..it is also one of those things that just come with practice!

Okay you bright people have mentioned the feed dogs and this is what I was going to suggest as well. If your feed dogs are working it should be relatively simple to feed your fabric into your machine. Hope all these great suggestions help. If your unsure about your feed dogs have your mentor try your machine. She'll be able to tell you if their working properly.

When I was taught to sew, I was told that your hands should rest lightly on either side of your foot..they are to "steer" only, not to push or pull...the feed dogs should walk your fabric through without any guidance from you at all...if they don't, then something is out of adjustment.
This is just for sewing..free motion you do have to push, pull and guide, but that's an entirely different method.

My mother was very stern about my unstraight seams. I didn't sew much because of it. I would sew and see the crooked seams and just put it away. Well now retired and loving to sew, I started taking classes at my LQS. Same problem not one of my many blocks was 12 1/2 inches when finished. One of the instructors finally taught me and many others (seems this is not an uncommon problem) the way her mother taught her. She brought in a cool ruler, it has a hole in it where the scant 1/4 inch would sew. The edge of the ruler would be where you would line up your fabric for that seam. We then took moleskin (Dr. Schules foot products, in pharmacy area) cut it into strips, butted one up to ruler - voila, perfect scant straight 1/4" seams. Luv it and am so proud of my sewing!!!! Wish my mom were alive to show her. You can find one of these rulers at most sewing stores, the moleskin any Wal-Mart, K-Mart, etc. The moleskin is thicker so it is easier to follow than tape. Try it. My last squares were perfectly 12 1/2.

I sew left handed so my right hand is behind thru the throat and to the right of the edge of the fabric behind and my left hand is in front to the left of the fabric and I just guide. I don't pull or push just go with the flow of the machine. I don't know if this will help you at all.

I haven't read all the comments, but when I gave teenagers sewing lessons, I told them it is like driving a car. You simply steer the fabric, not push, pull or stretch. You look ahead of the needle (in front of it), where you are going not where you have been (behind the needle). You don't have to worry about what the needle is doing, kinda like the car tires. If you steer properly, everything will work just great. When you use the "gas" pedal you push slowly, not gunning it. They found these analogies very easy to understand.

My six year old GD made a quilt last summer. She sewed every single square and borders. I only ripped 5 seams out of the whole quilt. I usually rip many more in a whole quilt. The first thing I did was have her guide a piece of notebook paper through the machine sewing on each and every line of the note paper. By the time she finished every line, she could guide the paper through accurately. I have done this with every person I have taught to quilt. I left the thread in because it made it very easy to see how well the lines were being followed. Most adults have it mastered by the time they are half through. It also helped her to learn not to pull the fabric out until the pressure foot was all the way up. It acclimates you to the machine and the fear of the machine usually is gone. I then put the quarter inch foot with the guide on the machine and she just took off. Hope this helps.

Lines on a standard index card are exactly 1/4" apart and are straight. I cut the tiny space on the bottom edge off with paper scissors, turn the card upside down so I do not see the lines, practice sewing. Turn card over and if sewing on the line it was straight and 1/4". Have to cut the card down to the next line to practice again. Cards are so inexpensive. I do this with most every sewing session unless I know I have the machine set correctly for the 1/4".
Practice and watching quilting videos on you tube have helped me so very much.

I love piecing on vintage machines. Do check to be sure your feed dogs are clean. We are buying, refurbishing and selling featherweights and 301's. One machine had the feed dogs so clogged with lint it could barely move the fabric through. DH used a pin and tooth brush between every tooth. What came out was pressed so tightly it was like felt. Poor old machine, I felt so sorry for it.

Get out some stripped fabric or even binder paper...something with lines to follow.

Fabric...you can leave the thread/bobbin in....for binder paper remove them.

We taught our girl scouts with paper. News paper, binder paper, pages from an old phone book, etc. At teacher supply stores you can buy the sewing practice papers...but you don't need them.

Find the 1/4" on your machine...even if you have a 1/4" foot...take a piece of painters tape and place it so the left side is right on the 1/4" mark from where you have the needle. If you take a sheet of quad rule paper (graph paper)...you put the needle in a line...and 1/4" over is the next line. A ruled index card has 1/4" spaces between lines and will also work.
Once you have the 1/4" marked...with no thread or bobbin in the machine (or if your machine has to have them, leave them in)... practice sewing on the lines. Remember you don't have to be a speed demon, just because the machine will go that fast...go at a pace you are comfortable with. Once you feel really comfortable with straight lines and where you like your hands placed...you then do circles, wavy lines, etc...stitch around coloring book pages.
I am right handed...I lay my left hand (palm down, thumb out...think "L" shaped) about 1/2 to 1" to the left of the presser foot (yes, that puts my thumb in front of the foot...this is all the distance I stitch before I reposition my hand). My right hand (palm down) is about 2" in front of the presser foot...this lets me adjust the pieces as they feed through. You don't push or pull...let the feed dogs do their job and you just gently guide the pieces to where the right edge is against the painter's tape mark for the 1/4" . If you have a 1/4" foot..still check the 1/4" from the needle...and adjust to make sure it's only 1/4" or slightly less.

I hope this helps.

Thank you. It is so wonderful, getting so much advice from so many people. It is rounding out my education!! :)

I have a feeling, Mavita, that this will be helpful to me in time. I will refer back to this when I am sewing the rows together. Right now I have taken a break to get my machine serviced. The tension has really been giving me trouble, and a nice lady at a little sewing shop my friend referred me to suggested I get it serviced, since it is older and wasn't being used before I got it.

I think I am going to try some of this paper business--so many of you have suggested it. :)

Thanks Karen,
So happy someone can use the information. I gave that demo at our quilt club, and seasoned quilters said they could see how that made sense.