I did a baby quilt all by machine. I cut a 3" binding and folded it in half - did not press it because I did not want a crease. I used a generous 1/4" seam and sewed it to the back. Did the mitered corners like Liz Porter demonstrates. Using a stitch in the ditch presser foot and adjusted the needle slightly to the right stitched the binding to the front. I did not measure but I would guess it was like a 1/32 or 1/16th seam allowance. I was surprised at how easy it was. I used a busy print on the back and with the binding being 3" (1 1/2" after folding) I was able to avoid catching the binding on the back with the stitching on the front. It looked just like another line on quilting on the back side of the quilt.

Hope this makes sense.

I have done the decorative stitching before and it's hard to keep it even and from bunching up.