A device for the precise edge alignment and shift-free transfer of sewing material includes a feed device, a clamping carriage, and a swingably mounted stop straightedge. The material is manually placed in the feed device, between lowerable clamping tongues and a substantially flat support arm, in such a manner that its forward edge, which is to be aligned, is located in the vicinity of the stop straightedge, which is temporarily swung upward for aligning the material. The stop straightedge has a vacuum chamber which exerts suction on the material, and the suction action is further intensified by jets of air which emerge from the bottoms of the clamping tongues and are directed obliquely to the stop straightedge. In this way, the edge of the material is aligned precisely along the stop straightedge, without contact by the operator. Thereupon the aligned material is transferred forward, without shifting, to a position beneath the clamping levers of the clamping carriage.