I sometimes use sheets as backing fabric & also have a couple customers who do this. I tell them to buy the cheapest, lowest thread count sheets they can find...then wash several times and dry without fabric softner. Some will wrinkle, and I tell the customer not to worry about ironing them. I do ask them to remove the hems if they can (they can be hard to remove), one does, the other three ladies don't (I charge them extra to do it for them). Once that's done...I check the sheets for square (99.9% are not square). If they aren't square...and I have enough extra, I tear all 4 sides to make sure they are not off square. If I don't have at least 10" extra...I load the backing onto both rollers. Roll onto the takeup bar, while spritzing with water (just a misting). I don't worry too much about getting perfect, just make sure there are no large wrinkles. Next, I roll back onto the belly bar...and if I see a large/deep wrinkle...I mist that, otherwise I don't mist again. On this roll, I make sure to keep the backing fairly taught and as even as possible across the open area (if one area sags, I push on the tight side, and roll...I do this every couple of turns of the backing....by the time I get the entire backing rolled onto the belly bar...if there is a loose side...that's where I unpin and repin to tighten the loose side. It is extra work, but not really any different than when I do fabric backings. Misting and rolling onto the takeup bar first will "iron" the fabric backing, even if it's not a sheet. When I am ready to put my batting in place...my backings are wrinkle free and ready to go.
If you don't have a longarm, you can mist when you lay out the backing (sheet or regular)...tape to a floor, and then using a couple of straight boards (or yard sticks), lay one across the top edge, and one down one side of the top, making sure the boards are layed out straight...mark with a pencil (this will be inside the quilt or cut off if you have room to cut or tear to even the sheet), and use these lines to lay out the batting & top of the quilt.
Sheets are no different than using a batik backing or having batiks in the quilt.
Originally Posted by
Mama879
100% cotton sheets for your backing of your quilts. I see a lot of you use old comfy shirts for some of your blocks. So would using a sheet work to. I was talking to a friend and her mom used to buy sheets from yard sales and use them. She also said her dad was worried that mom would start taking the sheets off the bed while he was in it and use them. hehehehehe. Sounds like something I would do. I'm just wondering if it would work and if any one has used them before?