Originally Posted by lberna
I also sew over pins and have only broken one or two pins over all the years I have been sewing. I'm not worried about the sewing police.
EVERY time you hit a needle you can knock the timing out of your machine. This is particularly problematic for slant-shank machines. You can also bust the needle to the point where it flies off and hits someone or the needle bit can get caught in the bobbin area. Also, even if you only sew close to a pin, your needle can scratch the metal surface and ....metal to metal - not so good for sharpnees of the pointy thing. This one has nothing really to do with quilt police.
As for the bulk, I noticed that I spend much time planning my seams in the pressing process. If I can nest the seams, I get a better result. When many seams come together I use the ELeanor Burns method of splitting the seam allowance seams and pressing the bulk to where it looks like a windmill. (Kinda hard to explain.)