I made a little mug rug and my plan was to machine stitch the binding on by stitching it on the back and then turning it to the front and machine stitch from the front. Well for some reason it looked awful (I guess it looks better on a bigger quilt because the stitching is smaller by comparison). So i took all the topstitching out but I don't really want to rip out and resew the binding to the front. Is there any secret to doing a really good hand stitching that won't look bad on the front? Or should I just suck it up and rip it out and redo it (theoretically it should just fit right on without my having to adjust the ends that are sewed together)??

eta: my subject line says on the top but what I mean is on the front.

I have made the same mistake I was able to sew the binding down and it looked perfect you should have no problem just take it one stitch at a time (lol) Jade

check the tutorials there is a tutorial on ladder stitching your bindings, does not really make a difference if you hand stitch the back or the front i've made objects that i machine stitched to the back and others the machine stitching on the top...both ways comes out just fine. key is little stitches, come in under the folded fabric catching just the very edge of the fold. stitch into the (quilt) directly even with the stitch in the fold, move the needle over just a little inside your sandwich come back out in the fold, repeat. it will come out fine. use a thread color that either matches or is just a shade darker and the stitches will be invisible.
i have been quilting quite awhile now and have never managed to have a binding come out looking ok when i tried to machine stitch both sides....for me it always looks so sloppy and ruins all the hard work i put into the quilt. i know some people manage to do it beautifully but boy...i cant figure it out...always have to do the hand stitching part. but thats ok, for me it is a nice end of the project step.

Machine stitch the binding to the front then hand stitch on the back. I do it this way on all of my quilts. I think it looks better this way.

I actually enjoy sewing the binding on the front of the quilt. I get to have it on my lap one more time and the feeling of getting it done is wonderful.

I hand sew the binding on top all the time. I sew the binding on the back, fold over an edge on the front then catch it right at the thread line.

I do a ladder stitch on mine and it looks just fine.

Did you stitch it with a straight stitch? Try stitching it with a buttonhole stitch or some simple decorative stitch and I think you might like it. I do all my charity quilts this way.

If you want to hand stitch it, use an applique stitch, which when done right is almost invisible. Otherwise, try the ladder stitch, which is invisible.

I already machine stitched it to the back. That was the point of my post-wondering if I should try to hand stitch to the front or rip it out and redo it on the back. On my lap quilts I have machine stitched the bindings (mainly for durability) and they've come out fine but I didn't like it on this one.

Thanks everyone. I did try a buttonhole stitch and hated the look. It was surprisingly easy to rip out though. Since this is so small I may just take it off and sew it to the front. It would take me less time to do that then to be ultra careful with the hand stitching. I have machine sewn bindings and they came out fine but for some reason this one didn't. I think it's just because of the scale (size).