World Wide Quilting Page
Question of the Week
Question for the week of May 23, 2005:
Our question this week comes from cgendron & Sue W:
What are the pros and cons of using a 100% cotton sheet as the backing
on a quilt? (all cotton top, polyester batt, hand quilted) - and - I would love to use a backing that would match my sheets set, do you think I would be successful using a flat sheet as my backing?
Bing -- NC :
I am particularly fond of using a lower count cotton sateen sheet for backing -- especially after washing they are very soft and easy to stitch on.
Milli in MA :
If it's all cotton I don't know why it should be a problem.
Sandy :
I have used flat sheets as backing to my quilts several times. The only problem I have had was a complaint from the elderly women in the church quild that said the high thread count on one of them was hard to hand quilt.
Elzina Vance :
Yes, I use sheets for the backing on my quilts. They are excellent because you do not have to piece the back and so much cheaper than buying yard goods.
Pat Seals :
If you can find a cotton muslin sheet it works perfectly. However, they are very hard to find these days. A lot of the 100% cotton sheets are 'percale'. Percale is very difficult to hand stitch thru. I kept a small pair of pliers with me to help pull the needle thru when I made the mistake of using the wrong sheet. It was a small quilt so I finished it, but my fingers were really sore for a few days. Take a good look at the thread count on the sheet before you buy. I think percale starts at 180 count.
World Wide Quilting Page * Question of the Week