I got this tip from Fons and Porter. When you are sitting at your machine, is your machine centered in front of where you are sitting, or are you sitting with the needle and presser foot directly in front of you. You should be looking down at the presser foot. If it is even a little to the right or left, this can cause your seams to get narrower or even wider at the end.

I have tried both ways. The only thing I was ever told was that if you put the pins in Horizontally, your fabric is less likely to shift or stretch. I can't tell the difference either way.

I place my pins horizontal to the edge and remove before the foot gets there(usually).

I don't use a lot of pins, but when I do pin, I place them horizontally.

This is what I do also! So easy and works so well. It's amazing how 'slippery' fabric can be isn't it? This keeps the fabric under control, and our nerves calmer!
By 'this' I mean I place my pins about an inch in from the edge of the fabric and parallel with the edge of the fabric. A much better way to pin since the fabric absolutely cannot slip and the quarter inch seam is always the same (top fabric and bottom fabric) and you can sail right along without pulling out pins (or sewing over them and breaking needles). More efficient for sure

Majormom, That is my feeling exactly. Thanks to all who answered this thread.

No, I may need to try that now. Thanks for the tip!

I place my pins in the fabric with the pin horizonal on the left side of the seam and just far enough away from the seam line that I don't have to remove the pins as I sew. I am self taught and didn't know anything about pinning joins/match points until I got on this board. Let me tell you it is very hard trying to undo 40 years of doing everything wrong. But I don't think I will ever change how I pin. Thanks for posting this. I will be watching everyone's answers.

Yes, darn it!!! Hmmm would putting a pin close to the end help prevent this?

Suzy

"Have you noticed how on some machines the feed dogs tend to pull the fabric to the left when you get to the end, making the seam narrow.... " Holice

What I do for this is slow down and place my finger on the left right next to the presser foot and hold the fabric with just a little pressure. This prevents the fabric from slipping and making a smaller seam at the end. Hope this helps.