I use both methods, machine only and hand-stitching. (But I enjoy hand-stitching.) To machine stitch the binding, I sew it on the back and turn the binding to the front to sew. I don't pin, just use my fingers to hold a section at a time. The key is to use the first seam as your guide. Turn the binding so it just covers the seam and use a decorative stitch along the very edge. The decorative stitch will camoflage the imperfections and using the first stitch as a guide will help to keep those to a minimum.