9 Tips for Sewing Curved Seams

You can make beautiful garments, bags and home accessories by sewing only straight seams, but if you want to tackle designs such as scooped necklines, circular pillows or rounded clutches, mastering professional sewing techniques, then you will need to learn how to sew curves.

Tip #1: Draw the seam line on your fabric before sewing.

When guiding your machine needle around a curve of your fabric, it can be difficult to maintain an even seam allowance. For greater accuracy, it helps to measure the seam allowance manually and draw it onto the fabric with chalk or removable ink. Your eyes can then focus on the area of the fabric in front of the machine needle, instead of having to look over to the seam guide on the throat plate.

Tip #2: Focus on the area directly in front of your machine needle.

If you try to yank the fabric around too forcefully in anticipation of a sharp curve, you may turn your fabric too soon or pull your garment out from under the presser foot, which can lead to skipped or jagged stitches and uneven seams.

Tip #3: Shorten the stitch length

Sewing around tight curves is easier with a shorter stitch length because the machine moves the fabric under the presser foot more slowly. Smaller stitches also make a curve look more smooth, while long stitches can make the curve look more angular.

Below, the left curve was sewn with a longer 3.0mm stitch length and the right curve was sewn with a shorter 2.0mm stitch length.

Tip #4: Walk, sink and pivot.

When maneuvering around tight curves, sometimes the machine can’t turn sharply or quickly enough to stay on course. To assist the machine with this, use your handwheel to “walk” the needle through each stitch.

ny time the fabric is bunching too much around the presser foot as you try to steer the curve, lift the foot so the fabric relaxes before you keep sewing.