I do hand stitching on my quilts but table runners, wall hangings etc I will machine stitch. Another hint to avoid all the pins on your binding - use a narrow heat and bond tape and press it on before you turn your binding to the back of your quilt remove the paper turn it to the back and press - binding lays nice and flat with no pins. Make sure you do not put it all the way to the fold so you can easily hand sew your binding without running into the sticky stuff. Sometimes I cheat on my small stuff and never stitch it because the heat and bond holds it so well you would never know.

These are my thoughts as well, since most of the quilts I make will get used and laundered a lot, I think machine binding hols up better. I use decorative stitches to go with the quilt pattern.

Hi... I do both. Quilts for play and drag-around are done by machine these days, which includes those that go into the community to meet needs for coverings. Sew binding to the back, roll to the front and machine stitch with your choice of finish .. I DO cut that binding at 2.50 inches so I don't have to tug and miss while stitching.
Some prefer bias cut binding, but according to some of the 'experts' that is not necessary unless you have curved edges. I tried doing that, but found I pulled too tight, and my hard work was all for nought as it looked sort of messy. I tried to reason out the difference, and all I can see playing with the fabric is that on the bias puts a bit more strain on the threads as they are pulled crosswise .. so ... I just stick with diagonally sewn strips cut straight from width of fabric.
BTW - I very rarely cut borders from full length (parallel to selvedfe) ... I have yet to m ake one so wide or so long that it actually stretched out of shape .. and .. if concerned .. a basting stich around the outside edge of the quilt before the next steps is a lot cheaper. IF it is important to get a certain pattern - there are always exceptions of course.

First: all my bindings are all double thickness...cut 2½" and folded. For my charity quilts I machine sew the binding down since it has to stand up to heavy duty, frequent washings.

For all others, I machine sew the binding to the quilt then finish it by hand, turning it to the back and using an invisible hem stitch my mother taught me eons ago. If I do it right, you can't see the stitches. That is.... IF! :lol: :thumbup:

And I also agree, the final step of hand stitching is so relaxing and I love the feel of the fabric, plus there is a lot of personal satisfactionand accomplishment to be obtained from all the pride that goes into each of those final stitches.

i used to hand stitch everything, but i have noticed that on smaller projects, like table runners, pot holders,mug rugs, etc, it is just as easy to machine stitch the binding....on bigger, 'heirloom' quilts i always hand stitch....gina

If you go to Pat Sloan's website, she gives a tute on machine stitching on the binding...www.quiltershome.com/

Ditto! I think it looks cleaner. And I enjoy this last bit of handwork.

Yes, I agree with echobluff ... it's an awesome video... a must watch for anyone who wants to bind by machine. I will be trying this method with my next quilt. I also found a picture tutorial to print out with these directions.

I like to use the piping method that I saw Ricky Timms show how to do on his DVD. It is quick and I can have the quilt binding finished in as day( depending what else I have to do) I am still learning how to get the corners right properly but I am happy with the way they have turned out.