(I shouldn't say it will never fly anywhere. I suppose that the thread could break, but those times that I've had a needle break, the thread had remained intact with the broken needle tip strung upon it.

Also, you can manually turn the wheel on your machine to get a feel for how much opposition of fabric will provide to your needle. If you're nervous about it, manually make a few stitches by turning the wheel and see how easily the needle with pass through. You'll know by doing that if the fabric is going to be too heavy for the machine to handle.)

Most people will say to take the pins out while you're sewing, but I've found that with finer or slippery fabric, it helps to leave the in so the fabric stays in place. Also, my sewing machine has marks on the metal plate by the needle that are spaced out so you know how wide your hems will be, and I use those as a guide to keeping my fabric straight. Cammie's advice on using heavy duty needles is right on target :) I've snapped many a needle when sewing because I didn't feel like buying the right ones, and they've never flown off into the air; they've usually gotten jammed in the fabric.

Hey Gina, just wanted to mention that for making straighter seams you can really slow down the speed of your sewing (ease up on the foot pedal) and take your time until you get the hang of it. Also, don't watch the needle and try to make it go straight. Watch the edge of your fabric along one of the lines on the right side of your presser plate (the metal thing the needle goes into, sometimes called a throat plate) that tells you how far the line is from the needle (the 5/8 line will give you a 5/8" seam). Keep your fabric edge close to the line you've chosen for your seam allowance as you sew, and you will automatically sew straight. If your machine doesn't tell you what each line means, take your tape measure and measure the distance from your needle in the center position to each line. You can put masking tape along the line you use the most to make it easier to follow. Also it's good to slow down for denim, which is thick and needs slightly more time to feed for each stitch. It also helps to go REALLY, REALLY slow when you have to go through the thickness of the side seams on your jeans so the needle doesn't hit hard and break. Also, if you have to stop to adjust your fabric, or are turning a corner, stop, move the needle down by hand to go into the fabric, lift the presser foot, turn or adjust your fabric, lower the presser foot, and continue sewing. That keeps your fabric in place until you're ready again. Also, going slower helps you to see the pins coming up to take them out just before you get to them. I hate bending them, or worse, breaking my needle and having to stop and change it.
About basting: you can either hand baste or machine baste. If you are doing a long piece (like a duvet cover for a quilt) machine basting in the longest stitch possible will allow you to hold the whole thing together without pins falling out while you are sewing lots of material , but will allow you to rip out a bad part quickly and fix it if you make a mistake. When its all set, you can do the real stitching, and then just pull out the top thread of the basting and the other side will unravel from the fabric. Machine basting also helps if you are making clothing and want to see how it fits first, because its easy to pull out and redo. Machine basting sometimes makes the stitches too close and tight and it's not just a simple pull of the top thread to remove it, so make sure you are using the longest stitch possible. It's faster than hand basting. Hand basting is great when you're sewing something like curtain sheers because they are so thin they tend to slip and pins get loose or fall out. But I think mostly people skip the basting unless it's really an important piece and you don't want to mess it up. Hope some of this helps.