My mother hand quilted for years, and quite beautifully. She did the most dainty and even stitches. She used sheets for backing on many of her quilts, they are still in just as good a shape as they were when she did them. My mother-in-law has also used many sheets for backing and hers are still good, too. I would never hesitate to use them. If they could hand quilt through them, I can machine quilt (and I have hand quilted with them, just not as good as the 2 mothers in my life) with them.