Case Tote

How to sew a curved line with a sewing machine?

I have been sewing straight lines for years- to make pillow cases, tote bags, etc.

Well, now I am trying to make my very first rag doll. Obviously, that requires sewing curved lines. My lines curves go all over the place- nothing smooth about them.

I am about to give up and try to sew the doll by hand.

But, before I do that can anybody tell me if there is some secret to learning how to sew a curved line?

Thanks! =)

Mostly just practice. Go find a piece of paper and cut a lazy S curve in it, Unthread your machine, and then put the paper under the presser foot, aligning the cut edge with the 5/8" or 15mm mark (or whatever the seam allowance is for your project).

Use the handwheel to drop the needle into the paper at your start point, then drop the presser foot.

Next: your hands. Curve the fingers on your left hand into the position used for playing a piano, or for typing on a keyboard, or the "I'm going to scratch your eyes out" position... fingers slightly spread and arched.
Position that hand to the left of the presser foot, wrist turned so your finger tips are sort of aligning along the direction of fabric travel. That's the hand that's going to control the direction of sewing.

Your right hand is going to pick up the fabric edge and control how it feeds into the machine.

Start sewing, and use your left hand to keep the edge of the paper on the 5/8" mark -- you're just going to slightly pivot your wrist to cause the paper to feed in a curve... if you pivot in the direction of your belly, you can sew concave curves; towards the back, you'll be sewing convex curves.

Don't watch the needle -- watch the cut edge of the paper against your alignment mark. (Needlewatching leads to crooked seams, and getting seasick when you use anything but straight stitch!)

Practice on paper until you can sew both convex and concave curves smoothly, with the needle marks consistently in from the cut edge and the holes regularly spaced. If you tear the paper, you're probably trying to push or pull the paper under the needle. Quit it--- fabric pulling is an expensive habit that can lead to broken needles, jammed or broken sewing hooks, dinged up presser feet and other bad juju.

When you can sew curves smoothly on paper, put in a new needle (the other one's dead!), and try the same exercise on scrap fabric (I start beginners on starched fabric, and then move to softer stuff when they're doing well.)

Generally, I can get beginners sewing straight lines and curves correctly within an hour. You may need to unlearn some things that are getting in your way now, like needlewatching and fabric pulling or pushing. Just give yourself the time to practice, and it'll all be very easy very soon.

If you'd like to watch a pro do it, the best film I've seen is about 12 minutes into Margaret Islander's "Industrial Shortcuts" DVD or video -- you may be able to get it from your local public library. If they have any Islander videos, though, you'll see her handle fabric as I described, though she doesn't go into the how and why explanation.

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Also, you're going to have to clip the seam allowances that are curved after you get done sewing. Instead of trying to cut up to the seam through both thicknesses of fabric, find yourself a pair of scissors that cuts right up to the tip. Put the sewn fabric on the table, and place the lower blade of the scissors between the two layers of fabric. You can now clip the upper layer right to the seam line, but you can't accidentally cut the stitching. When you're done clipping the top layer, flip it over and do the same on the other layer, staggering the clips so they're not in the same place. Takes a little longer than clipping both layers, but you'll never have to try to fix a mistake.

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