How do I use a sewing machine safely?

A domestic machine is not dangerous in the way a power tool is, but a needle through a fingernail is a genuinely unpleasant afternoon.

Keep your fingers to the sides of the foot, never in front of it. Guide fabric from the edges. For anything narrow or fiddly, use a bodkin, a point turner or an awl to hold it rather than a fingertip.

Unplug before you go inside the machine. Changing a needle, clearing a jam from the bobbin race, freeing a thread nest — all of it is done with the machine unplugged, not merely switched off. A foot resting on the pedal is how accidents happen.

Take your foot off the pedal whenever you stop. Even to reposition fabric or answer a question.

Do not sew over pins. The needle can shatter and a fragment travels. Pull pins as you approach them, or use clips.

Rotary cutters deserve more caution than the machine. They are extremely sharp, they cut in a straight line through skin as easily as fabric, and the blade should be retracted every single time you set it down.

Wear something on your eyes if you are sewing heavy fabric where needles break — thick denim, canvas, multiple layers. Needle fragments do fly.

And tidy the leads. A trailing pedal cable or power lead near a doorway is a more likely injury than anything the needle does.

With children present, unplug the machine when it is not in use rather than trusting the power switch.