Like said above.. sewing over pins is not worth the risk of paying for damage to the machine. When I first started, it was with my moms old Necchi sewing machine...went forward and backward. Period! But never hit a pin! But when I got my Singer 30 some years later...I did hit some, and although it didn't damage the machine, but bent the pin and bent/broke the needle so what I have been doing since...once I get close to the pin, if it is such that I can take the pin out and continue sewing without anything moving, I will..but if it is critical that no movement.. I'll pull the pin out just until the tip comes out of the front, thereby if the needle does hit it..it only hits the tip...and the pin is moveable so the pin moves away enough that the needle tdoesn't hit/break.