Here's two things I find help me with my "You'll put your eye out" and "Machine will eat me" fears. One, the right place to put it so that I can sit up and back a little and see the needle/foot without bending. Sitting back is really important. You can also use things like chopsticks and skewers to poke fabric around the foot if you need to do so.
Two, doing a bunch of stitches on scrap cloth—hands-free, even—and learning how to control the speed. Sewing machines that I've had don't just have ON and OFF. The speed varies with how much you press the pedal. By putting the pedal so that my foot is in the right place (not entirely on the pedal, heel on the floor, knee at a 90* angle) I can make it so that even an accidental foot twitch doesn't send it into overdrive.
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Two, doing a bunch of stitches on scrap cloth—hands-free, even—and learning how to control the speed. Sewing machines that I've had don't just have ON and OFF. The speed varies with how much you press the pedal. By putting the pedal so that my foot is in the right place (not entirely on the pedal, heel on the floor, knee at a 90* angle) I can make it so that even an accidental foot twitch doesn't send it into overdrive.