Master Your Machine

Why is a Smooth Line Important in Sewing?

In sewing the ‘line’ is everything. Each seam is a line, straight or curved, each hem, each cuff and collar edge. Garments have straight seams, curves at neck and arms, corners at facings and pockets. Think of your seam line as your ‘fitting’ line, the edge of your creation. A beautiful, smooth fit with a beautiful silhouette requires a beautifully smooth stitch line. A wobbly sewing line will give your skirt or trouser leg a wobbly outline which no amount of pressing will be able to correct.

 
Once you have mastered sewing without wobbles, staying true to the line itself, your projects will automatically have a more professional look and feel to them. There are other benefits to accurate sewing, I promise you will reduce the number of times you have to unpick; you will complete projects with fewer errors and fewer frustrations!

How to Sew a Beautifully Straight Line.

The holy grail of sewing, the beautifully straight line! Once mastered it lifts the quality of all of your projects and removes the need for unpicking and re-doing your work. Master it now before you start working with fabric, and your sewing journey will be all the better for it.

And the secret is….practice on paper first!

​

Practicing without the stresses of thread or fabric by sewing on paper frees you up to concentrate on your line and the task at hand.  As fashion students we would practice for days, perfecting our lines, understanding the ‘feel’ of our machines and building our confidence. No magnetic seam guides needed! 

The practice sheets grow in difficulty, it helps to master each in order, but tackle them however you like! The main thing is to practice, practice, practice!

Tips for sewing success:

•    Do NOT watch the needle! The needle movement initially can be distracting - look away! 
•    Watch the edge of your presser foot and use it to guide your paper.  When sewing seams, you can watch the presser foot or the guidelines on the plate in relation to the edge and line you are sewing
•    Note where the seam line is in relation to the edge of the foot to ensure your needle consistently stays on the line
•    Place your hands lightly on the paper to guide it, the feed dogs on your machine will do the work of moving the paper forward, do NOT pull or push the paper. You can test this on a blank sheet, simply sew without touching the paper and you will see your machine move the paper forward, pulling or pushing can distort your stitches and should be avoided
•    Turn the paper around for best fit on your machine, this is simply a paper exercise, make it as easy for yourself 
•    Start sewing slowly and as confidence grows, go back and try the same exercises at a higher speed

How to Accurately Stop & Start a Line of Stitches.

Each sewing line has a start and end point. Both are very important, and it is part of your dressmaking sewing skills to accurately place your needle at these start and end points to ensure every sewn line is correct in length and position. 
We can cheat a bit at this! Rather than trying to gauge where to start, it helps to ‘hand crank’ the needle into the start position. This is a great term, hailing from the pre-electricity days, not that long ago, when sewing machines were indeed powered by the dressmaker's hand. On modern machines, this technique is still valuable, and machines continue to have a ‘wheel’ on the side which enables you to manually lower the needle accurately into position. 

For each of the sewing practice lessons in this guide:

​

1. Print a couple of copies of each sewing practice sheet – no printer, no worries! – use lined notebook paper or draw on plain paper, roughly copying each exercise sheet

2. Ensure your machine is not threaded – top or bottom

3. Set the stitch to straight and stitch length mid-way, around 3-4, depending on the machine

4. Raise your machine presser foot and place the practice sheet so that most of the paper is to the left – as you would with fabric

5. Lower the presser foot and hand crank – turn the wheel – the needle down into position at the start of the line. You can raise the foot and move the sheet as often as you need to get the correct position for your needle

6. Once the presser foot is down with the needle in the correct position, start to sew! Go at whatever speed suits you, part of this practicing is to help you with the foot control of your pedal and the speed of your machine

7. At the end of each line, practice slowing your machine and trying to stop with the needle in the paper precisely at the end point. To help with this initially stop 1-2cms before the end of the line and hand crank the needle to the end point but the aim here is to practice and build your accuracy so you can sew to the end, be brave, it’s only paper! 

8. To finish, hand crank your needle out of the paper to the highest point, lift the presser foot, slide out your page and hold your paper up to the light to see your work. And repeat!

9. Start with Practice Sheets 1 and 2, these will help build your confidence and ability to sew a straight line. Practice Sheet 3 is a bit more tricky, give it a go and see how you get on! Keep you eye on the end point, stay straight!

10. As you repeat these exercises you will naturally see your sewing improve. We'd love to see your first sheet and your 10th sheet.

Let's Play With Stitch Length

We all like to take the easiest path in life and sewing is no different. We can find a stitch length that ‘works’ for us and we leave it at that, never touching the dial or risking something new! But how dull would that be!
It would also be such a mistake; stitch length is important with different lengths working best in different scenarios. You may see terms such ‘spi’ – stitches per inch (good old metric!) which will advise you on which stitch length to use for your project and you should be able to set your machine accordingly. As you become familiar with different fabric types and different seam types, you will also be able to adjust your stitch length to ensure the best finish for your projects, no puckering or visible stitches here thanks!
One helpful beginner's consideration for stitch length is the thickness of your fabric. As a general rule, thicker fabrics require a longer stitch while lightweight fabrics a shorter stitch. This also applies to sewing multiple layers of fabric, in one seam you may need to increase the stitch length to enable your machine to neatly sew over layers while going back to the shorter stitch for fewer layers. 

It is good to build your confidence in using the various features of your machine. Stitch length can easily be changed by your machine's dial and the change clearly seen in your 'stitches' on paper. 

For the same straight stitch exercise:

1. Use Practice Sheet 4 for this exercise. Sew each line with a different stitch length, hold up to the light to see the change, write the stitch length on your sheet

2. With a tape measure count how many stitches per inch, or centimetre, your machine sews at each setting, write this on your sheet

3. Start a line with a short stitch, stop sewing, change to a longer stitch midway

4. File your sheets away as references and to remind yourself how far you have come

Extra Info - What is a Seam Allowance?

When sewing a line or curve in dressmaking it will be most likely you are sewing a seam. Sewing a perfect seam is one of the fundamental processes in dressmaking or any sewing craft. By now, with all your practice, you will be able to sew beautifully straight lines and , when you work through the next sheets, fabulously smooth curves. The position of these lines and curves gives your garment its shape and silhouette. The seam allowance (SA) is the space between these stitched lines and the edge of the fabric itself, your cutting line.
Most commercial dressmaking patterns have a seam allowance included, with a standard seam allowance of 1.5cm (5/8 inch). This can reduce to 0.5cm (1/4 inch) on collars and necklines, and may also end up being trimmed to reduce bulk.
However! A seam allowance can be anything you like! You can set it. You obviously do not want to waste fabric, but there can be advantages of a larger seam allowance for beginners as when fitting garments, a more generous allowance of 2-3cms, will give you more room for cutting and fitting mishaps. 
Your fabric can also impact your seam allowance. A fabric that readily frays may be easier worked with a larger seam allowance, to allow for fraying and to provide enough fabric to finish the seam edges, possibly with binding or turning under and stitching. 
Your seam allowance is totally within your control. It does not impact your sewing line, but can give you more flexibility, if needed, when you start out. If you have challenges cutting accurately for example, it is better to cut your pattern pieces slightly larger than cut into your seam allowance, ensuring your seam line does not change and is well marked on your fabric. Remember, a large seam allowance can always be trimmed back!

What is a Sewing Sample Library?

At the Dressmaker’s Apprentice, we believe that making your own sewing sample library is the best way for you to both learn and improve your sewing techniques.  As a fashion student way back in the ’90s, part of our degree course was weekly lessons where we worked purely on sewing processes and sewing our reference samples. From patch pockets to zip flies, piped seams to welt pockets, every technique you can imagine, we practiced and practiced, saving our attempts in our own personal sample reference libraries. I still have mine and still refer to it! 

This approach is invaluable when it comes to dressmaking and design. You do not want your creativity or confidence to be limited by fear of a process. Too often I see creative people who would love to make a certain garment, stopped in their tracks because they are terrified by the thought of sewing a zip!

 
By learning and perfecting each process on its own, as you are doing here with your sewing, your dressmaking will have no limits! By practicing each technique, traditionally on calico, which we provide, the fear of destroying the beautiful fabric you have been saving, simply disappears. As your knowledge grows, you can apply the different techniques you have perfected to your dressmaking projects. The fear will disappear! You only need to work through a lesson, practicing each process several times, to then be able to apply it to all your future projects, what could be better than that?!

At the Dressmaker’s Apprentice we prefer to think and aspire to haute couture, beautifully finished garments based on years of sewing tradition, rather than fast fashion and factory machine finish. These are all sewing processes any home dressmaker can learn and perfect on a simple machine or by hand with a needle and thread. By learning a variety of sewing processes rather than relying on expensive machinery and gimmicks, you will be able to sew wonderful garments, elevating simple tops and dresses simply by their construction and finish. By practicing and building your own sewing reference library, you will lift your skills from self-taught home dressmaker to professional level and beyond. 

What Are You Going to Learn Next?

There is a wonderful world of sewing tradition to learn from and dip into. What are you going to treat yourself to next! We have a range of exciting lessons for you to explore, such as:

​

- Seams: how many different seams do you know? Do you understand notches, or how to remove bulk in a seam? 
- Enclosed Seams: would you like the inside of your projects to look as beautiful as the outside, would you like to use your seams as design details?
- Seam Finishes: fed up with raw edges, master a range of hand and machine finishes giving your sewing a wonderful, couture finish.
- Marking Fabric: try out a range of marking tools, have fun experimenting and find out what suits you best!
- Zips: Banish the fear! This lesson lets you practice, practice, practice, lots of zips and calico provided! You will be sewing beautiful zips in no time at all.

​

Visit us at www.thedressmakersapprentice.com to see our current and upcoming, lesson packs in sewing and pattern drafting. 

Follow us on Instagram and Pinterest for lots of sewing and design inspiration. 
Even better, share your sewing practices and your own sewing sample reference libraries on our Facebook page or at #thedressmakersaprentice. 
We would love to see your work, from wobbly lines to straight lines and beautiful curves. This is just the start of your journey, excited to see where you finish! 
 

How The Dressmaker’s Apprentice Works

We at the Dressmaker’s Apprentice want nothing more than to remove your sewing frustrations and to share our expertise and love of sewing with you. To achieve this, we have carefully crafted sewing and pattern drafting lessons with everything you need for success, delivered directly to your door. 
Want to learn how to insert a zip, or how to finish a seam beautifully. Unsure of how to move a dart or the best ways to mark different fabric types. Simply select the sewing process you wish to learn and have a complete lesson sent to you. Want to learn it all? No problem, each lesson builds on the next, in the same way the traditions of sewing have been taught for years. 
What makes us unique, is our approach in helping you to build your own sample library and as part of this we provide you with an already worked sample of each process in your lesson! No more trying to see what is going on in a YouTube video or trying to understand a drawing in a pattern instruction. You will have a sample in your hand which you can look at from every angle and see exactly what it is you are working towards.

​

It’s a sewing lesson, but not as you know it!

​