I only hand sew binding on very special quilts. For quilts that will get many washings, I use the machine to sew my bindings and I am very pleased at how they hold up. I sew to the back and then flip to the front to sew it down and it works pretty good, I'm not a pro at it yet. When I do hand sew bindings, I use hair clips from the Dollar store to keep the binding in it's place, no more straight pins for me. Good Luck.