The only things I do by hand are sewing on buttons, bindings , embroidery and appliqué. While you can teach how to hand sew a nine patch together, I don’t don’t think hand sewing makes a very sturdy top. In the old days, hand piecing was what you did but they also hand quilted lines every 1/2 to an 1 inch. The close quilting helped to secure the hand pieced top.