This feels like a dumb question, but I was not given any instructions or lessons with my machine. HOW do you sew a straight seam with the real wide decorative stitches? Please share technique!!

I have an Ellisimo with extra wide decorative stitches too. It moves in at least 8 directions, including the diagonals. I suggest sewing out a sample of several repeats. Mark the center with either a washable marking pen or crease with an iron. Then mark both the left and right edges of the design in the same manner, or you can use the quilters tape for the edge markings. When you sew the design watch to insure all three of these reference guides keep within the design...you can "very gently" ease the fabric if it starts to get a bit off kilter...it does take some practice, but you should get the feel of the design after a few practice runs. The center hit is the most important, if you keep on track there, the sides have a way of working out..sides are more for reference than actual needle strikes. Hope this helps! Slippery fabrics can cause additional problems. I try to gently hold fabric up a bit and let the feeddogs do the work, gently moving fabric side to side only when absolutely necessary to hit the center mark. Having the side markings helps me gauge how close my center mark will hit as it moves through the design.

Yes, that can be a challenge since the fabric moves. I basically try to do the same as MOPS.

I see a lot of the answers are about normal decorative stitches.
The extra wide are different - they are really w i d e. So I stitched one out to show how wide. It means that not only the needle swings, the feed dogs too move from left to right (and forwards and backwards of course) to move the fabric. And that's exactly what makes a straight row so difficult to achieve.
I hope some of you come up with an answer.

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My Designer has some extra wide decorative stitches too and the material has to move to stitch them out. No instructions in the manual how to do it other than which foot to use.
I agree it's difficult to keep the lines straight. Here's what I do. I make sure my material is straight before I start sewing; then I hold it up loosely when sewing so there's no strain on it and I use a guideline (or piece of tape) - the material will move but has to touch that guideline at it most right point, which keeps the decorative line as straight as possible.

I just checked my Brother manual and it really does not give instructions for your question. It says to use stabilizer and it says, "If the fabric is pulled or pushed during sewing, the pattern may not turn out correctly. Also, depending on the pattern, there may be movement to the left and right as well as front and back. Therefore, guide the fabric with your hand to keep the fabric feeding straight and even during sewing."

So like I said in my other reply, just guide to keep it straight (perpendicular to your body) and let it move left and right as it needs to. Just don't let it pivot.

I have a metal guide that screws on the back of many of my feet, but I also remember taking a piece of masking tape and laying across the arm of the machine when working with deep hems and such. You may want to take your left hand and guide behind the presser foot and your right guiding in front of the presser foot where the tape is laid marking your line to keep the fabric as a guide along the edge of the tape. In other words , you keep your hands on to guide it as it stitches. Hope this makes sence. Kay

If you list your machine style and model there could be a manual on the internet.
Try keeping the side of the presser foot running down the edge of the fabric. On the needle plate of your sewing machine you should see some straight lines running from front to back. These parallel lines are drawn at fixed distances from the needle. Sometimes I use a rubber band if I'm using the open arm or painters tape and measure from where I put the needle down in the fabric. Then 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. You can also mark out your seams by drawing lines with an fabric marker designed to disappear with air or water, chalk, fabric tape etc. Whatever you use make a test on scrap so you know it will not leave a stain or permanent mark. It helps to not push the fabric through let the machine do the moving. Use your right hand to hold the fabric going into the needle and place your left hand on the fabric gently to help guide. Use a scrap of fabric and do a few practice seams. Don't know about how your tension is but I adjust mine to the thickness of the fabric.

7 comments

by justonlyme 27 Jul 2011

My problem is the stitch width is so wide that the fabric moves from side to side as it goes under the feet. I don't know where to aim for, or which points are supposed to be the "edge points". Used to be, I would just guide the fabric along the lines on the plate, and that was that. But now it moves all over the place. Front to back is fine, but it is the side to side motion that has me a bit baffled.

by sewmom 27 Jul 2011

I know exactly what you mean. It goes side to side so you can't really use a guide because it would only work when you all the way to one side or the other. Try some practice ones to see if just guiding straight like I said in my other comment will work for you. It really does work for me. When you do your practice make a line for your center then make a note of the start point of the design when it starts stitching. You will be able to see how far it goes left and right so you can plan where the design will go.

by sewmom 27 Jul 2011

Mine is a Brother ULT 2003D.

by capoodle 28 Jul 2011

The fabric should not move except for feeding through the needle under the presser foot. Sounds like the tension is too loose causing it to slide back and forth.

by justonlyme 28 Jul 2011

My machine "walks" about 4"-5" in width with the ultra wide decorative stitches. I'm just trying to figure out a method to guiding the fabric to get a straight decorative stitch. I'm pretty new to this, and have started to figure out the embroidery part, but there is way more to the machine than just that. The tension is right. It is the operator that is having the problems. :)

by capoodle 28 Jul 2011

When sewing a decorative stitche, don't watch the needle, watch the foot. The needle will move around quite a bit as the machine makes the stitch. The presser foot is your best guide for the placement of the stitch – the center of the foot will indicate where the center of each stitch will be sewn. Try using a clear or satin stitch foot. Practice on a scrap until you get the hang of it.

by mops 28 Jul 2011

Capoodle, those extra wide ones (up to 31 mm or 1 1/4 " on my machine) can only be so wide because the fabric is moved from left to right under the machine - that's the reason Husqvarna calls them omnimotion stitches. It's totally different from a normal decorative stitch where only the needle swings, here the material swings!

That's an excellent questions and I know this doesn't really help but my machine seems to sew them straight by itself. I just keep the fabric parallel, so it moves side to side but doesn't pivot.

What brand is your machine? Is there an owners manual? Is it an embroidery/sewing machine or just embroidery?

1 comment

by justonlyme 27 Jul 2011

I have a Brother Innovis Duetta 4500D with a little bit of instruction on how to set up the machine in lots of languages. It is a sewing and embroidery machine.