Yes they are expensive, but remember they are 108" wide or wider. If you buy 3.5 yards of the backing fabric, you will pay roughly 56.00, and if you buy 5.5 yards of regular width fabric at 12.00 a yard, you will pay roughly 60.00. There's not much difference and you don't have to seam the wide backing fabric. Check out Connecting Threads backing fabrics also.