OK, so I know I've been posting lots of things lately!  Oh well! 
This time, I'm wondering what everyone thinks about hand stitching on custom puppets.  So far, I've simply done the stitch that Jay teaches on Dr. Puppet for custom covering the head. Now, I'm wondering if any of you do this stitch to cover the hands.  I was just thinking that it may look more rounded, instead of seams inside and out of the fingers.  And if it's worth the extra time to hand stitch...so...what do you all think?
Sara

I hand stitch everything, body, arms, hands, and head. I use the whipstitch, baseball stitch, and ladder stitch depending on the need. I don't machine sew anything that is seen on the puppets body.

~Nate

OK, I'm thinking I might like that too!  :d
Actually, to tell you the truth, I HATE getting out my sewing machine!  I should just start hand stitching...then I can take it with me wherever I go too!
Sara

The finished product looks much better hand sewn anyhow; a good baseball stitch will always hide better than any machine-sewn stitch, from my experience. I mainly started out hand-sewing not because I knew it was better, but because I didn't have a machine in the first place! So it turned out to be good practice with making small consistent stitches.

That's the tradeoff though: you trade a higher quality end-result for a quicker turnover if you machine-sew.

Guess it depends on how many puppets you are making.  I would go crazy trying to hand stitch everything, and not get many puppets made. LOL.
I prefer the machine. The more experienced you are, the more you learn about seams.  Personally I have never seen a hand stitched puppet that looked better than a machine stitched one, if the person sewing knew what they were doing.  I have seen many that were poorly stitched, both hand and machine.  Same with quilts, toys, clothes, etc.

It seems to be personal preference. 

It is somewhat, but what I'm learning is that you use both depending on the purpose.  For instance, if I want to make cheaper, simpler puppets, I will machine sew so I can finish quicker.  But, if I want a more professional puppet, handsewing makes them look so much better.  The reason it looks better is not because of the quality of machine sewing (I've been sewing for 25 years! LOL), but because I use Dr. Puppets stitch that totally hides the seams.  It looks like everything is one piece of fabric. 
That's how it works for me anyways. ;-)
Sara

MsPuppet,

I think you are right that it is personal preference.   I myself prefer sewing machine for the bulk of the puppet simply because my hand stitching is not the neat unless I really concentrate. For some hand stitching is second nature and easy for them. Coture is genrally all hand stitched and believe me you wont see stitches on that stuff.

No matter which method you choose it is just like puppetry itself, practice makes perfect.