A thread take-up lever for a sewing machine is mounted on the sewing machine and can prevent a thread from disengaging from a thread-receiving portion. The thread take-up lever is disposed with a C-shaped thread-receiving portion having an open recess. Adjacent to the open recess is provided at least one positioning portion for fixing a thread-stopping member. One end of the thread-stopping member is fixed to the positioning portion, and an elastic stopping portion extends from the other end of the thread-stopping member. The stopping portion is formed with a free end abutted against an inner periphery of the open recess. The free end can be pushed away by the thread, and then the free end will automatically return to its original position immediately to abut against the open recess again, thus forming a structure to prevent the thread from disengaging from the thread-receiving portion.