I'm with you! Can't seem to machine stitch it and make it look good...

Like most of the others who posted, I machine stitch the binding to the front, then fold to the back and hand stitch. It never seems like waste time as I can do it while watching TV, on trips and at appointments. I tried machine stitching for the front, and for me, it detracted from the looks of the quilt, so now I always hand stitch the back and have good results.

for children...I use double chanel style, match all raw edges, binding and quilt, together, sew on the top, fold over edge and then to the bottom with approx 1/8" overlapping the front stitch line. Then I do a stitch in the ditch from the front, thru where it catches the overlap. this is strong for kids.... for adults i do all the steps except the last, which i do by hand in an invisible blind stitch. I would do this for kids, but I really want them to be strong so they can be enjoyed on a daily basis.

That looks like the last one I did for my favorite uncle. I did not like it either so I will go back to my old way of doing it.

95% of the time, I machine sew the front and hand sew the back. I have tried machine sewing both sides and at first I didn't really care for it. But like everything else, you get better with practice. I find that if I machine sew the back, then it is easier to machine sew the front, but, I'm still not that fond of the look.

Machine stitch front and hand stitch back. I have never found machine stiching to look nice for me, wished it would! It would save a lot of time.

I like to do mine by hand. I think they look nicer and it's a welcome change. Hand stitching is nostalgic, quiet and relaxing to me. It also reminds me of my mother and makes me feel close to her. She hand pieced, hand quilted and hand bound every quilt she made and she made a LOT of them.

I do it the same way you do. I've tried machine stitching the entire thing and it just doesn't look good the way I do it.

Machine stitch front and hand stitch back. With so much thickness have never been able to get a good look otherwise.

I machine stitch on the front, hand stitch on the back, with mitered corners, using a ladder stitch. It goes really fast, and it's almost completely invisible.

Machine stitch the back, and then use decorative stitch for the front.

I've done both. Mainly machine stitch on front and hand stitch back, but I have done machine on both. Depends on material and quilt.

This is the way I do it too, for my children's charity quilts I like to machine stitch both to the back and front.

I also machine sew the front and hand sew the back - relaxing. What I do first after the binding in on is press the binding flat, turn over to the back and repress, fold over the edges and repress and use hair clip (or the more expensive quilt clips) and clip about every 2-3 inches in place - I do all 4 sides of the quilt leaving the mitered corners to last; when I fold them over I press and clip - easy to do the hand stitching.
Hope this helps

I machine the front down then do the hand stitching on the back while watching tv or when I need something to do.

This is how I do it. For the life of my, I cannot get it to look decent if I machine both sides. I've gotten pretty good at hiding the hand stitches on the back too.

Suzy

I also do the machine stitch on the front and hand stitch the back.

Machine on front and hand stitch on back. My handwork definitely needs more practice.

Cheers, K

I have done both hand and machine - just depends on the quilt and what looks best.

I stitch both front and back. I use a straight stitch as close to the edge. I back stitch the corners. The last quilt that I hand stitched the back really hurt my hands.