Lynette-Merlin

I was taught by a tutor who was trained by Dior to sew over pins, placing the pins at right angles to the way I was sewing. In 1968 I started up my own home furnishings business and I worked till year 2000 before retiring and I always sewed over my pins. I had an industrial singer. I never had any problems but perhaps a home sewing machine is more sensitive? I have a Bernina for my quilting but don't often have the need to use pins. I am horrified to hear about all the dangers.

KwiltyKahy

I'm old enough to remember when the big "news" was that the foot on a sewing machine was now hinged so that you could sew over pins!! Until then you had to remove the pins because the foot was stationary and would not go over them. Anybody else remember that?

katesnanna

My original Janome will sew over pins with no trouble, my Janome 6600 doesn't like to sew over them. As I always use two pins where seams join I walk the needle across the pins. Don't want to wreck my machine.

roadrunr

When I was in home ec, we were never told that it was not ok to sew over pins, so I sewed over pins all the time with my singer golden touch & sew. Never once had a problem. I now have a Pfaff select and I was told not to run over pins, so I don't I try to take them out before I get to them.

lclang

You can throw your machine out of time if you hit a pin! Ask me how I know. It is an expensive lesson!

pocoellie

I'm definitely a pinner and I've always pinned horizontally. I've sewn tons of clothing and will admit that I used to sew over the pins and have broken or bent quite a few needles and/or pins, then thought to myself that it's silly to me to bend/break a needle when all I have to do is take out the pin before I get there. There are a few times that I'll leave the pin in, taking it out just before the needle will hit it. Nowadays when I break a needle it's because I forgot to either change the foot, needle position or the plate. It's also a lot cheaper since I'm not buying needless supplies of needles and don't have to worry about damaging my machine.

maviskw

Yes, KwiltyKathy, I remember. In the 194?'s, we were told to sew over pins. To set inn sleeves, we put a pin at the notches and at the shoulder seam. Then we found the half-way point between them and put pins there; found the half-way point between those and put a pin there until there were a zillion pins easing in the sleeve cap. (All these pins were at right angles to the edge.) You wouldn't dare see a tuck in that seam. We'd scratch with our thumb nail to get all the puckers out. Then we would sew over them all.
Now, of course, I put gathering stitches in: one row of longer stitches on each side of the seam line, and pull the gathering up to match the garment sleeve hole measurement. I still put in a few pins to hold the gathers in place.
When I got my new Singer 301A in 1956, the big feature was that it had a hinged presser foot so that it could sew over pins. And, yes, I have hit pins. But I don't remember if that ever broke a needle. Not too often, I don't think.
I think the lesson here is to wear glasses when sewing, I never knew sewing was so dangerous. LOL

GrannieAnnie

Love that rule! Close to my own!

GrannieAnnie

I think that might be the reason I do sew over pins from time to time. On the treadle machine Mom had, there was no sewing over pins. When I discovered later on another machine that I could--------I DID!

GrannieAnnie

I guess it never occurred to me to pin any way BUT horizontally. And I put my pins in from the right to the left. My sis in law does the opposite, and it drives me crazy to sew something she's pinned.