Stupid question of the day

[peekyboo]

Really, this could be a regular thread - lol!

Anyway, my stupid question - can you sew over pins? (Not serge, did that accidentally - broke the pin and needle and had to rethread the machine!)

I did sew over pins yesterday with almost no problems, but the needle did bend one pin in half. So now I'm not sure. Even though I know you can.

Told you it was a stupid question!

[megamom]

IF you sew over pins continually you will break pins, needles and sometimes they will fly out and land in the carpet for you to step on later. LOL, Not worth it IMO.

[earthenware]

No, you shouldn't. It can break your needle (and if you are going fast some metal bits could fly into your eye or something) and it holds your fabric together in a different way than it would normally lie unpinned, so you can sometimes end up with little 'gathers' or snags or something at the place where each pin was.

Having said that, I do sometimes sew over pins with no adverse effects. BUT I feel very guilty about it and get a little gambler's high doing so.

What I try to do, rather than pinning perpendicular to the seam allowance and have to stop / slow down to pull the pins before I get to them, is to pin parallel to the seam allowance but far enough into the body that I can just sew without hitting pins. Sometimes on curves you might need to do the other pinning method but for bigger pieces this works well and is much faster for me. HTH!

[JLav]

My aunt taught me to always pin perpendicular to the seam and pull them out as the fabric went under the foot. A lot of the time I let them go through and I've never hit one, but I still panic a little when I see that needle going towards the pin. I have an easier time remembering them and seeing them when they're sticking out perpendicular.

[capemom]

Like the others said, sewing over a pin is not as big a "no-no" as serging over a pin. Serging over a pin is guaranteed to be a problem, sewing over a pin will be ok most of the time, but should be avoided because of the once in a while problem that it can cause. Pinning parallel and out of the way of the seam allowance is a good idea. I was taught to pin perpendicular to the seam allowance. If the pin is truly in straight, it shouldn't cause a problem because the needle will go down on one side or the other of the pin. The problem occurs when your pin is not totally straight, so it becomes easier to hit the pin with the needle if that makes sense.

[lovebugmom]

I pin perpendicular and sometimes i sew over the pin and sometimes i don't.

[Kari_mom]

[QUOTE=earthenware]Having said that, I do sometimes sew over pins with no adverse effects. BUT I feel very guilty about it and get a little gambler's high doing so.[QUOTE] I know that high!

No sewing over pins! Easiest of all is to sew as much as you can without pins. I also pin perpendicular to the SA if I can. Otherwise I find my pinheads are facing toward the presser foot because I can't think ahead far enough and are a PITB to remove as I sew.

[tenecwalker]

[QUOTE=Kari_mom][QUOTE=earthenware]Having said that, I do sometimes sew over pins with no adverse effects. BUT I feel very guilty about it and get a little gambler's high doing so.

I know that high!

No sewing over pins! Easiest of all is to sew as much as you can without pins. I also pin perpendicular to the SA if I can. Otherwise I find my pinheads are facing toward the presser foot because I can't think ahead far enough and are a PITB to remove as I sew.

I don't like sewing with pins. I started out not using them at all. I now use them a little bit and I do take them out and don't sew over them.

Jamie

[peekyboo]

Okay, so work with me here...

On the Potty Dance Pants pattern, the instructions suggests pinning the leg layers together, then sewing. The PUL layer is wider than the flannel layer, hence the need to pin.

So should I pin, but then pull the pins out before it goes under the needles as I sew?

Oh, and I am totally aware of not getting a pin near the serger's needles. I did that by accident once (had the pin far enough away, but things went terribly, horribly wrong when I hit a corner...)

[tenecwalker]

Originally Posted by peekyboo

Okay, so work with me here...

On the Potty Dance Pants pattern, the instructions suggests pinning the leg layers together, then sewing. The PUL layer is wider than the flannel layer, hence the need to pin.

So should I pin, but then pull the pins out before it goes under the needles as I sew?

Oh, and I am totally aware of not getting a pin near the serger's needles. I did that by accident once (had the pin far enough away, but things went terribly, horribly wrong when I hit a corner...)

My sewing book says to pin perpendicular to the seams with the ball towards your dominant hand and then take the pins out right before they get to the foot.

Jamie

[boscopup]

Originally Posted by peekyboo

So should I pin, but then pull the pins out before it goes under the needles as I sew?

Yep! That's how I do the PDP. I don't see how you could do those without pinning... I don't see glue working that well for that application.

And for the PDP, I use the serger and it's so easy - just put the flannel side down and set the differential feed to 1.5. I got perfect leg seams! I serge until I get close to a pin, then I stop, take that pin out, reposition myself and make sure the fabric is where it needs to be, then serge to just before the next pin.

[Jayneysews]

I pin everything,in the Uk pinning is just how we sew!!!!
Of course I never sew over a pin,but I sew right up to one then just pop it out!!!

[CamsMama]

Just wanted to add that I don't sew over pins, unless it's accidentally, and I've made sure not to go over one with my serger, since I've heard that can really mess it up. I just read last night in a sewing magazine that hitting pins with your sewing machine can damage your feed dogs as well as your needles. I don't even want to know how much it would cost me to have my feed dogs replaced, so I definitely wouldn't recommend it!

[pbreffe]

My mom always taught me not to run over the pins she said I could damage things! So I don't... now on occasion one goes under by accident but i heave a huge sigh of relief when it goes under smoothly!!

[peekyboo]

Thanks everyone, I get it now, and am glad I asked