I say the pinning and the pressing are the secrets to my success. And I hate ironing! It's so ironic...
It does end up that I pin about every 4 inches or so most of the time, but I always pin at leading seam edges so with little pieces like on that Bonnie Hunter Mystery, I'd have pins every 1-1.5-2". I have a huge pin cushion and go through a lot of pins in a stage. I typically do my pinning while watching tv, or take that stage to my work group if it needs more concentration. Most of the way I work is not very portable other than pinning or the hand sewing of bindings.
When you press open you need a pretty small stitch length, I'd say any machine default is probably too long a stitch. This is also true when you are doing any sort of strip piecing/cutting combination where you are cutting through stitches.
If you gently pull a seam apart at the beginning, there should never be entire stitches that come out. It's ok if there is a little V of loosened stitches, but you do want it pretty tight. That's a problem with my vision issues, so I try to be as precise as I can with my sewing and cutting because I don't see well enough to take stitches out easily. Besides, who likes taking stuff out??