RevMan2 It seems to be that Maddie is asking a different question and your reply does not really fit.
Maddie, I've not been on a Dash8 for a while but it sounds like you did all that you could. In the past, I've had to put my cabin legal bag under the seat and it still projected as you describe. I think that asking to move - and leaving the bag - was the simplest, given that you were feeling uncomfortable. Perhaps if you ask the question in the Flybe thread in AA&R
http://www.pprune.org/airlines-airpo...be-7-a-12.html then you might find some cabin crew respond.