I read quilt books all the time and recently I read that the author uses very thin pins to hold the pieces together and the sewing machine will go right over them and not hurt the machine. So I tried it and it does work. I do not sew as fast as others now, I have slowed my sewing machine speed down because I am concentrating on having perfect sewed blocks. I would be careful of doing this at first, I do have a Bernina that I use and I sure am careful when I go over the pins. But it works for me !