i have noticed that many instructors try to give the "proper" way to do things, then let them slide once in a while when they get going. almost everyone i have watched has said to set the seams when ironing, then just opened the pieces and pressed without setting. the same thing with removing the pins. ha ha. unfortunately for them, they are being watched by thousands on the internet and get caught.

i have been teaching a friend who has never quilted. we are part of a group. i try hard to give her the "correct" way to do things. after she is on her own she can develop her own bad habits.

Guess I've been lucky. I have a computerized machine AND I sew over pins all the time. Now granted, I do tend to slow down when I get to them but I still sew over them. Rarely have I broken a needle doing this. And I've never hit one so hard that I've messed up the timing on my machine. As I said, guess I'm lucky. But I like things to stay where I put them till I'm finished sewing, thus the pins.

When I use pins, I place them far enough down on the fabric with the head facing away from the sewing needle and never get near the pin so I never sew over the pins. My old singer ran over pins all the time and I never had a problem with that machine. That was back in the 80s when I made clothes. Never will sew over a pin again!

My Mom was watching me sew on her 301 and as I took out the pins she said, "That machine will sew right over those pins." In Home Ec (many years ago) we all wanted to be assigned one of the new machines that would sew over pins. I remember one of my friends who was assigned an old machine saying, "I can't believe it! This machine just sewed over a pin!" I think it was a selling point at that time for the newer machines. I quit sewing over pins the day I hit one with my Kenmore and broke a needle which almost flew into my eye. Besides the safety factor, the computer machines are much more tempermental and delicate than the old metal geared ones.

My Pfaff sewed over many pins and never a problem. Both of my Juki's have bent up the extra fine pins I like and now I'm "retraining" myself to take them out. Especially after one got bent down into the feed dogs and I almost could't get it out.

I remember a sewing instructor at a Bernina store in the late 80s yelling at me I was wasting time if I took the pin out. She encouraged us to go right over the pins.

Now, I only do that if it is very very precision piecing and I can't risk shifting, and I do it very slowly. Also, not with my quarter inch foot- as it really doesn't go over pins well, but my regular foot does.

I'm scared of throwing the timing off my expensive machine, but with my cheaper machines (walmart variety) I never stopped for pins- broke a number of needles though...

Had that exact thing happen to me about a year ago. Thank goodness my DS was home with me. I went into a panic attack because of not being able to get the fabric and pin out. DS sent me out of my sewing room and took care of it for me. I've kept that pin as a reminder and ironically, it paid my son back. He knotted something a few months later and that pin what the only way to get the knot undone!

Andrea

I DO NOT sew over pins as I did one time many years ago and the needle broke, flew up and hit my glasses. Thank goodness for glasses. I do have a friend that use to sew over pins all the time until she bent the needle shaft on her Bernina and it costed her mega bucks to have it repaired. I try not to use many pins, but if I do, I remove them before they get under the needle. Just sayin'....

I don't sew over pins. Since my sewing machine dealer is 100 miles away, I don't want to have to make the trip because my needle hit a pin and got knocked out of time. Also, with my luck, if I were to sew over a pin it would break and hit me. No thanks! I just remove them. It really is not that tough to remove the pins. Why sew over them, it's just as easy to remove them.

My two machines are not computerized and the worst thing has happened is bending a needle. Once in a great while I hit a pin, not always.