One suggestion is to buy a new flour sack towel. They come in packages of a few and I know that our Target sells them. I believe Hobby Lobby does as well. Use one or two of those to cut up and experiment with fusing to another cloth (muslin maybe) and see if you can find something that pleases you. Maybe test some different fusibles. You might experiment with pre washing and drying the test fabrics to figure out if shrinkage of any of the fabric will be an issue. Hope you show us the finished quilt.