Sewing machines: Beginner's guide to using a sewing machine Tips for learning to sew a straight line

Sewing in a straight line can be tricky for sewing machine beginners

Most sewing in dressmaking and soft furnishings requires a simple straight line of stitch - but sewing in a straight line is actually one of the trickiest things to get right when you first start using a sewing machine.

Use our step-by-step sewing machine tips and techniques to master this.

If you haven't bought a sewing machine yet, our guide to buying a sewing machine will help you choose the best one for you, or read our sewing machine reviews to pick one that best suits the sewing projects you'd like to take on.

1. Before you try sewing on fabric

Buy yourself a pad of graph paper and practice sewing along the lines marked out on it. Get used to operating the foot pedal, and work out how quickly you can sew before your line goes all wobbly.

Change your needle before moving on to fabric, because the paper will make it blunt.

2. Sew in a straight line on striped fabric

Practice following stripes in patterned fabric. At first, follow exactly along the edge of the stripe and, once you're confident, try sewing slightly to the left or right of that stripe; use the edge of the presser foot along the stripe to guide you.

3. Be guided by the sewing machine presser foot

As you sew, try to keep the side of the presser foot running down the edge of the fabric. Keeping the foot aligned with the fabric's edge creates a perfectly straight stitch.

4. Use the needle plate guides

Look closely on the needle plate of your sewing machine, and you will normally see some straight lines running from front to back. These parallel lines are drawn at fixed distances from the needle.

Lay the edge of your fabric up along one of these lines and sew slowly, trying to keep the edge of your fabric touching the line that you've chosen.

5. Mark out your seams

Use a clear plastic ruler to draw the seam that you want to sew on to your fabric with tailor's chalk.

Most rulers have a bevel on them, which you can line up against the edge of your fabric – this will help you to draw your seam at the same distance into the fabric without measuring it.

6. Use tacking stitches

A tacking stitch is a rough, long hand-sewn stitch that keeps two pieces of fabric together while you sew them.

The advantage of tacking things before you sew them versus pinning them is that you don't have to keep stopping and starting to remove the pins, so you can avoid the inevitable wobble that comes with starting up your foot pedal.

Next: take a look at our step-by-step video guides to using a sewing machine, as well as how to sew a simple cushion cover.