How do you sew a straight seam?

I'm now working on my sixth quilt project and am still having a problem sewing a good straight 1/4" seam. Most of my seams are accurate enough to allow pieces to properly fit but a lot of my seams (especially long ones) look like a series of minor corrections.

My only lessons and training has come from books and suggestions from members of this group. So here goes another request even if it is a little embarrassing to ask.

How do you sew a straight seam especially long ones?

Jerry in North Alabama

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Reply to
MaleQuilter
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There are 1/4" feet that have an edge that overhangs the side of the foot that you place the fabric against that helps some people. It also helps if you have a sewing machine that does a good consistant stitch. You might decrease the speed you feed the fabric through the foot and see if that makes a difference. Probably a bit of acquired confidence is the greatest help. Your results will improve as you gain it. The combination of those things worked for me when I was starting to do quilting. I now no longer use that foot described above but it did get me on the straight and narrow,so to speak.

John

Reply to
John

Watch the fabric as it feeds not the needle itself. SOmeone said you can sort of get hypnotized by the needle going up and down. That may help.

I just got one of those feet with the edge that overhangs. It is handy but you need to learn to feed a straight seem for other applications so you might as well perfect your seams to the best you can anyway. HTH, Taria

MaleQuilter wrote:

Reply to
Taria

Thanks for the replies. If you get a seam started straight on your machine, will the machine feed the fabric REALY straight if you completely turn loose of the fabric?

Jerry in North Alabama

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Reply to
MaleQuilter

Howdy!

First response: the seams are supposed to be straight?!!? No wonder my 7th-grade home-ec teacher didn't beg me to "come back next year!"

When I sewed on my cheap Singer, I put a band-aid on the 1/4" seam allowance. When I bought the Janome I splurged on the $9 1/4" foot. Slowing down a bit, I learned to let the fabric bump up against that foot, now it just barely brushes it, and the seams seem straight.. my glasses are only a year old. I don't watch that seam too closely, keeping my eyes on the in-coming fabric rather than the foot. There are many better seamstresses here than I, of course (my favorite part of quilting is the handquilting), but I reckon a not-so-perfect sewing person could add some encouragement. ;-)

Good luck! Ragmop/Sandy--listening to the latest downpour while they talk about the flooding all around us in north Texas

Reply to
Sandy Ellison

The little shelf that fits around the 'free' arm of my Bernina extends 3 or

4" to the front and back of the foot. I have very carefully placed a strip of lovely blue masking tape at precisely ¼". I watch the quilt edges going through - sometimes at the foot, sometimes at the front edge. I only see up close with one eye, sort of like a one-armed paper hanger. It may be that I have to concentrate more carefully than those of you with two close-up eyes, maybe not. But - There's more you need to be aware of. Take two strips of fabric about 18" long and just sew them together. If you finish with the ending precisely, good for you. If not, you need to know whether you need to pull or relax the top or bottom layer to get them to feed evenly. I've found that the Bernina likes to sneak a little more fabric past me on the bottom layer. This is one case where heaps of experience helps. Polly

Reply to
Polly Esther
1/4" foot - wouldn't be without it! You don't want to push the fabric up against the little 'blade', just let it slide by.
Reply to
Donna Aten

Reply to
Taria

Reply to
Polly Esther

I have a real problem with this too!

Cindy

Reply to
teleflora

I've got that foot and it helps, but that last inch almost always curves in toward the edge.

Cindy

Reply to
teleflora

I taught my DD to sew a few years back with the help of the Kids Can Sew series of books ... it recommended practicing stitches following lines marked on sheets of paper. One exercise was to take lined paper (school notebook paper works awesomely) and practice following the printed lines (use an old needle - no sense in wasting a perfectly good needle!) ...

It helped her immensely. Now she sews better than I do! :)

Reply to
Connie

entirely depends on your machine, a good quality machine in good condition, with all settings correct should do it, but even then, not necessarily at absolute top speed and REALLY straight is unrealistic, if you're sewing a long seam 1 thread of at the beginning will be a 1/4 inch by the end, so you will have to guide, ideally very gently so the material is fed at the same rate.

Cheers Anne

Reply to
Anne Rogers

"MaleQuilter" wrote in message news: snipped-for-privacy@k79g2000hse.googlegroups.com...

Learning to sew a straight seam:

One of the simplest beginning seam guides you can use is a tablet of Post It notes for your learning tool. Measure in 1/4" (or whatever you want your seam allowance to be) on a piece of fabric, put that under your presser foot and drop the needle smack dab through your mark all the way down, make sure your fabric is running straight, now drop the presser foot. Now peel off the bottom sheet of Post Its and place the tablet *just* up against the edge of the fabric. That little bit of stickum stuff will hold it down just fine, also make sure the edge with the stickum is what your fabric runs against otherwise the loose pages will ruffle up and it won't work.. It also won't leave any residue on your throat plate when you remove it or move to another position. If it quits sticking just peel another sheet off the bottom to reveal fresh stickum stuff and put it back down. The middle of the top 1/3 of the tablet should line up across from where your needle is....Voila, a cheap, easy 1/4" seam guide with a very easy to see edge. As you sew let the fabric slide along side of the little tablet just gliding along the edge, no gaps and no folding or curling up against the edge of the tablet. If you have a long seam lay the fabric down however you are going to sew it, right sides together or however, and smooth it so the ends are all nice and even. Now with chalk or whatever fabric marker you prefer pinch the fabrics together and mark them, it doesn't take much of a mark, so you have a point of reference to see if you are easing more fabric in on bottom or top as you sew OR pin every 6" -8"- 12" or whatever you are comfortable with and also a pin about 1/4" from either end. When I first started sewing I used lots of pins, the longer I sewed the fewer I used and now I use only one, if any, about 4" from the tail end. When you begin to sew watch the front half (nearest you) of the edge of the Post It tablet and keep your fabric running smoothly along the side of that, *do not* watch the needle, that will take care of its self as you sew. If your fabric isn't lined up and going in a straight direction before it gets under the presser foot you've lost the battle right there. As you approach the marks or pins you can adjust the "gentle pull" on top or bottom as you sew and it will ease in so you will come out even when ever you get to the end. When you get about 2" -

4" to the end stop and hold the fabric about 2" in from the edge, top layer between thumb and index finger of left hand, bottom the same in your right or pinch the ends together firmly between thumb and finger of your right hand and then guide it against your tablet to till it goes under the presser foot. If you are still getting one of the layers curving, but by now it probably won't, you can use a bamboo skewer to hold together the layers just before the last point goes under the presser foot by pressing down on the very end points and guide it slowly until you get the last stitch in place.

After you've sewn on your machine awhile and gotten used to it you'll find pretty soon that you will know how much tension to put on the top and bottom fabrics. I've taught this trick to so many people who had trouble even using a seam guide to sew a straight seam. After awhile the Post It tablet gets replaced with tape or guide or foot but it's a good way to get used to guiding your fabric and learning how your machine sews different fabrics together. I even showed this trick to an instructor in a sewing class I was taking......the whole room had gone quiet and were staring at me because I sew hammer down and full speed ahead piecing a queen sized backing together....or as she said "like a bat out of Hell". But she couldn't understand how I could do that and keep my seams straight and only use the registration marks on the throat plate. The answer was......I concentrate on the fabric as it comes to the seam guide, I seldom even look at the presser foot and never the needle. I even taped an index card on the machine so it hid the needle when I was teaching a little neighbor girl to sew, just so she could break the habit of watching the needle while she sewed seams. She was just amazed you could actually sew a straight seam without seeing that needle do it's job. LOL I hold the fabric in my right hand so the bottom piece slides over my middle finger, the top piece slides over my index finger and my thumb lays gently on the top of the top piece. As I sew I can adjust "the drag" on the bottom fabric by increasing pressure between my middle and index finger or with my thumb on my index finger for the top piece. And also guide the fabric to keep the edges exactly together by gently sliding my fingers and thumb back and forth if necessary. I know it sounds complicated when you read it but it's really very simple once you get the hang of it. I do this so automatically now that I don't even think about what my right hand is doing while my left hand is keeping the bulk of the fabrics moving along my sewing table so there isn't any pull.

I learned to sew on a 1945 Singer straight stitch seamstress machine ( I had two speeds, FAST and stop) and used it to sew too many weddings to even count. If I hadn't been taught how to sew those long seams fast and straight I never would have gotten done. I also find that the faster I sew together the long seams the straighter they are. Learn to let your machine do the work and you just do the guiding.

Hope this helps you,

Val

Reply to
Val

I have had with two machines a thing that screws into the base of your machine about 2" to the right of the needle. It has a metal thing on it that is shaped like a small L but it slides on the screw. Very helpful. Same idea you just butt your fabric up against it. But I like this version because if you are doing something that you need a bigger seam you just loosen the screw and slide the metal thing. Don't know how much they are but can't be expensive. I think in Canada they call them a seam guide, but for your machine. Take Care Joanna

Reply to
Joanna

Val mentioned pins. I have one little tip for pinned seams (I always use pins). When you remove a pin, put a tiny bit of pressure with your left hand just opposite the pin, so that, when you pull the pin, the seam fabric does not shift at all. Otherwise, when you pull the pin, the seam fabric will almost certainly pull to the right (in the direction of the pin-pulling).

Use a stiletto - something pointed and non-metal - at the end of the seam, so that you can maintain the quarter inch. Once the fabric is getting free from the constraints of the feed dogs and the presser foot, it is liable to 'wander'.

I love the idea of practising sewing on lined paper. Never heard the tip, but I will pass it on, if I get the chance.

Last thing - if you do veer off line, take a minute to stop and get back on track. You might need to go back a little way - and just start again. It really is not worth trying to get back to the right place by continuing to sew. . In message , MaleQuilter writes

Reply to
Patti

Val, WOW!

Those were the exactly the kind of tips I was looking for. I've printed out your reply and am going to try all the tips.

I am trying to learn quilting "The Right Way" from the start so that I do not have to unlearn bad habits. When I first started, a lady told me that she wished she had learned to use her left foot on the foot control so that her right knee would be free to use the presser foot lift. She said she has tried to change from using her right foot but just can not do it after years of doing it her way. I started sewing using my left foot, it works great, and I won't have to unlearn using my right foot.

I wish I had learned to play golf the right way because years of bad golf swing habits are really hard to break.

This group is wonderful being so helpful to those of us that are just starting to learn about quilting.

Jerry in North Alabama

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Reply to
MaleQuilter

My older Singer machines have the bed holes, and the 'edge guide' is really a valuable tool for keeping seams straight. But...either of my newer Viking machines have any holes in the bed so edge guides can't be used with them. So I substitute with a stack of post it notes :)

-Irene

Reply to
IMS

Hmm -never really thought about it. I use a 1/4" foot and just sew about 2 threads scant. Long or short, doesn't matter. The machine does most of the work with minimal steering. So I guess the answer is a good machine, a good foot, and a bit of practice.

Have you analyzed why your seams aren't straight? Roberta in D

"MaleQuilter" schrieb im Newsbeitrag news: snipped-for-privacy@k79g2000hse.googlegroups.com...

Reply to
Roberta Zollner

Depends a bit on the size of the piece of fabric and how much it drags. If it's a whole quilt top hanging off to the side, then no, the machine won't do it all. But a couple of squares or narrow strips go through with only light corrective steering. As someone else said, don't look at the needle. Look a few inches ahead to the point where you want the stitching to go. Just like driving a car. Roberta in D

"MaleQuilter" schrieb im Newsbeitrag news: snipped-for-privacy@n60g2000hse.googlegroups.com...

Reply to
Roberta Zollner

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