MaryLane

I am just going to say this up front. I don't like hand sewing and avoid it at all costs. I not only don't like doing it, I am not a real fan of seeing a lot of it.

I do my bindings by machine and love the look. Both of my grandmothers did theirs the same way. Stitch it to the back and roll to the front and top stitch. That is the look I like best. I do sometimes go the other way and stitch in the ditch from the top. It all looks good to me.

At a quilt show last Thursday I was looking at something with my MIL and the vendor commented on how I could use it when I did handwork. I chuckled and said, "I don't do handwork if I can avoid it."

She said, "Except for your bindings, of course."

I said, "No. I do those by machine. I like how they look that way."

My MIL said, "I love to do handwork," but the woman would not talk to us anymore.

Am I the only weirdo out here that doesn't like handwork? People talk about how relaxing it is but it gives me a pain in my shoulders and a headache. I see no point in being physically miserable if I can achieve the results I want with a machine.

I know there are no QP but I think there are some quilt snobs!

If you are a fellow weirdo, you aren't alone!

BTW, I do crochet and that doesn't bother me.

mtnative

I do as much by machine as I possible can. I like it done that way, too. Plus for me it seems sturdier. Funny, I crochet, too, and have also done some embroidery and counted cross stitch. So, I am a fellow weirdo.

jeemmerling621

I hate handwork too. I've tried to like it, but it's just not for me - same reasons as you. I also crochet. Birds of a feather!

DebraK

I think you are your own quilt police.

auntpiggylpn

I do as little as possible. I have a neck injury from a car accident 25 years ago and have a pinched nerve. This coupled with my carpal tunnel ( a result of compensating for the nerve impingement) makes it impossible for me to do anything that requires fine motor skills. I cannot grip a needle for any length of time due to its size. My entire hand goes to sleep and then the pain and tingling begins. So I do my binding by machine too. It would take me months to hand sew a binding on a quilt. I have no intentions of ever entering a quilt in a quilt show, which hand sewing on a binding is a requirement.

MaryStoaks

I do everything by machine too.

karen924

I love binding by hand, but that's where it ends. My quilting buddy from VA is allergic to handwork and does it all on the machine. Do what you enjoy.

ppquilter

I do all machine peicing, quilting and binding.

CanoePam

I love doing everything by machine. I used to be very accomplished at hand embroidery, but handwork takes too long. It doesn't help that the arthritis I've got in my hands makes it very painful to apply bindings by hand. I don't do hemming by hand either!

Pam

DogHouseMom

I avoid hand work like the plague. That said - I like the way the binding looks when hand stitched to the back and I can't for the life of me get my bindings to look good when I try to machine sew it on both sides. It never matches and I have a "ghost" stitch hanging around the outer edge of the binding. So I suffer through hand binding.

I know Sharon Shamber does her bindings all by machine (front and back) and gee ... she wins big shows (and bucks) with her quilts so if its good enough for her (and the judges), then why not? Of course when she does her binding by machine it looks fantastic. Mine looks like an afterthought.