I almost always machine stitch my binding on. I have done it by hand and it does look nice but is too slow for me. I sew the binding on the back and turn it foward and sew it down with a fancy stitch. I fell that the bnding is more secure on the quilt when machine sewed. By sewing it from the front it tooks neater and "messy" stitching on the back is not as noticible. Remember there is no quilt police.