I pin 180 degrees from the video. That is my pins go from the body of the project toward the sewing line. I stop the point of the pin just before the sewing line so I don't worry about sewing over pins. Works for me. Of course I have a Pfaff with the dual feed.

If I were left-handed, I'd probably do it like you do. I'm right handed, however, and it makes perfect sense for me to put the ball of the pin to the right. I take them out as I come to them, and it makes them much easier to grab this way.

I agree, it is a left handed right handed thing. I'm a lefty and my pins pull from the left.

It's not lefthandedness! It's just what your used to/conditioned to. I am left handed and I do it as she does in the video.

My left hand has the bulk of the fabric and as I come up on the pins its just a flick of the right hand to pull the pin out, easy peasy.

I didn't watch the whole video so she may have mentioned this but its also how I pin to ensure my points don't get cut off. I pin through both fabrics at the spot i want my needle to land, manipulating both fabrics as needed, then when my pin is through both I tip it to the right and push the point part towards the bulk of the fabric and secure. As long as I land where the pin first goes in the fabric my points stay pointy.

I didn't mean to say Crocee had a specific slant on how to pin - just that she bothered to find a u-tube video on it, wanted to give her credit. :)

If Sally Collins pins parallel I guess I will have to go back to her book and pay more attention as everything else she taught me was beneficial to me in getting precision. I thought it would uneven the fabric top to bottom if I pinned that parallel way. It is good enough for basting a garment so you don't stick yourself, but I never used the method for other purposes.

Glad to know I am not alone out there on the left!!! Thanks!

Well I have just discovered that I am pinning wrong!!!!!!

I pin with my pins running up the fabric not across - I can grab the pin heads from the bottom as my needle comes to them. Nothing whatsoever to do with left/right hand.

I often hold my pieces of fabric so it is easier to pin with the pin-head toward the fabric (opposite the video). I have been pinning like that forever. I pull my pin out with my left hand (although I am right-handed). The key is to have the pin PERPENDICULAR to the seam - I don't think it matters where the pin-head is. Now quite a few quilters pin parallel to the seam with great results. So IMO - whatever works best for the individual is the way to go.

I stick my pins from the right to the left. My sis in law pins fromt the left to the right. I don't like sewing hers, she doens't like sewing mine.

Now, however you do yours it's right as long as you can sew comfortably.

I learned to sew my own clothes by the time I was in the 5th grade, which was a pretty long time ago. All the patterns back then showed the pins going from left to right, with the head on the right. Pinning across the seam had several advantages. If you had to ease fabric in, you could keep the fabric you were sewing into from crumpling up. If you had to match darts or seams, you could pin through the points where they had to match and everything was good enough to go through the fashion police... My Mother. On some long straight seams, if the material was moving or showed the pin holes, I would put the pin in straight with the seam and take it out as I reached it. I used to sew over the pins that were pinned across the seam, but no more. These complicated computerized machines don't like it. They'll jump time in a single hit of the pin. My mother taught me to guide the material with my left hand, since that was where the bulk of the fabric was. I should mention that I am right handed, but even if I was a lefty, I would always put my pins in from right to left, so that my left hand could stabilize the fabric as it is being pulled through the presser foot.

If what you are doing works for you, then it's the right way to do it. For me, it's right to left.

ps....The harps on the older sewing machines were pretty small. You had to keep the bulk of the fabric to the left. There weren't any seam guidelines on the left, only on the right on my sewing machine. I still have a lot of trouble when I have to turn a seam, think Y seam, and sew with the seam width to the left. Sometimes, it's very hard to teach an old dog new tricks.

Uh Oh...I must be pin challenged...I do both...sometimes at the same time on the same seam. :eek: I tend to pull my pins from whichever side the head is on as I sew the seam. I try never to sew over a pin, although I have done it a time or two, usually to the demise of my machine needle.

Remember, there are no Quilt Police...pin however is most comfortable for you.

Anita