have never used quilters pins but the more fabric layers, i'd think any pin might be difficult...is it dress shirt fabric?

Yes, dress shirts. Tight.

You can get fine-gauge pins for things like this.

It seems like the more "slippery" ones, that will slide in & out more easily, are called ball points.

Yes, the inexpensive ones tend to be fat & sometimes a bit blunt. Glass head pins are finer & will glide thru the fabric.

Now here's an alternate suggestion if you don't want to run out & buy fine pins: Quilters are into GLUE now. If you have a glue stick, you can use it or use Elmer's school glue & a toothpick to put tiny dots of glue inside the seam line (not right over the sewing line). Place the pocket with the glue on it on the apron. Then press the glued seam with a dry iron to dry the glue. Then just sew away. The glue will wash right out in the laundry. I hope I've explained it clearly enough.

I agree with what everyones said.

I usually....in the case of pockets, use a straight pin to mark the corners on the apron for instance. Then don't pin the pocket through all those layers, just hold it on making sure the tips of the pocket hit the pins you have on the apron....you'd bend the straight pins anyway with all those layers....

Another option is basting--I prefer it for things like that, because it's generally a little easier to get the placement correct, and you're not sewing over pins (hopefully, you take them out before getting to them, but sometimes you need the extra stability).

I don't really know that much about pins but I do know that some of mine seem sharper than other...they will go through anything and others are a pain in the buns....No suggestions though...Are you going to show us the aprons....

I use the Wal Mart yellow headed quilters pins that are a bit longer - a good trick is to pin inside the seam line so there not so many thinknesses to pin thru...

I usually use dressmaker pins when I have multiple layers of fabric to pin - well not denim. This is an interesting link that describes the different kinds of pins - you can even buy them by mm.

Here is a link that might be useful: description of pins

Over the years, I have carefully saved all the pins that came with new dress shirts. I do like them.

Would it help to stick them in a bar of soap?? We used to do that with diaper pins;)

Thanks for all the suggestions! I have only one more apron left to make--but hopefully other sewing projects after that. I'll either get new pins at Walmart tomorrow (thanks, Bonnie--and you're the one who told me about the aprons in the first place!) or try the soap trick.

I'll definitely post a picture, but not until they're ironed. :-)