for me it is a personal opinion. I do not like the look of it done on machine (probably because I am not good at it therefore the ONE quilt I did to looked crappy). Others don't mind the look or even LIKE the look! I don't, thats why I take the time (although I hate doing it) to finish my quilts with a hand stitched binding! I have seen BEAUTIFUL QUILTS, turned them over and they had machine stitched binding, I didn't love the quilt any less!