I know many set a New Year’s Resolution to learn how to sew, to get better at sewing or try new sewing techniques such as sewing apparel. I also know that many have gifted their children or grandchildren with sewing machines for Christmas and are now staring at the box thinking “Now What???” I brainstormed with my daughter how we could help motivate, encourage and educate those who are needing a little jumpstart into the realm of sewing. We came up with some great Beginner Sewing post ideas as well as a fun Instagram Highlight series. We hope you find these little tutorials helpful, fun and supportive as you jump into sewing!

Today’s post is really for those who have some basic knowledge of how to use their sewing machine, can set up their machine with thread and a full bobbin and that’s about it! If that’s not you- don’t worry, we have some more basic posts planned as well as some more advanced posts to reach as many skill levels as we can!

When I started teaching my oldest how to use her sewing machine at age 5, we started with sewing practice sheets on paper. When trying to just master a straight stitch or explore how to sew curves, using practice sheets will help you to build that muscle memory in your hands and your sewing foot (the one that presses your sewing machine pedal!). The cool thing about sewing practice sheets is that you can just print over and over to your hearts content! I’ve created 4 sewing practice sheets for the beginner that gradually advance in difficulty. Skip down to the end of this post for the full pdf download or print as images by clicking each sheet below.

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Sewing Practice Sheet #1 focuses on sewing a straight line. You’ll start stitching at the top of the line and continue sewing to the end. The goal is to keep your stitch line as close to the dashed lines as possible.

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Sewing Practice Sheet #2 focuses on sewing straight lines, pivoting at the end of the straight line and continuing to sew. The goal is to keep your stitch line as close to the dashed line as possible. When you get to the end of the straight line, leave your needle down in the corner point, lift your presser foot, pivot the paper, lower your presser foot and continue sewing to the next corner.

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Sewing Practice Sheet #3 introduces curves. The goal is to keep your stitch line as close to the dashed curved line as possible. One helpful hint with curves is to not start and stop, push or pull the paper but rather just slowly manipulate the paper side to side as your needle tracks along the curve. Stopping and starting will cause sharp points and segments in the stitches rather than a smooth curve. This will take practice to build the muscle memory in your hands to learn how much give and how much go it will take to smooth the curve.

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Sewing Practice Sheet #4 focuses on a continuous curve. The goal is the keep your stitch line as close to the dashed curves as possible. You’ll need to get really good at sewing curves when you start to sew apparel- think necklines, sleeves, pockets, circle skirt hemlines, etc. A super valuable sewing skill so take your time and practice perfect practice!

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Full PDF Download: Sewing Practice Sheets

We hope you found these sewing practice sheets helpful!! We’d love to know your thoughts on the series and if you have any particular requests that we cover! Let us know in the comments below. If you’d like to follow along with our fun sewing videos, be sure to hop over to our Instagram and see the story highlights titled “Beginner Sewing.”