II use a light weight flannel to line the back of my embroidery fabric and zig-zag around the edges. I usually trim off this right before I sew the blocks together. I’ve done many quilt like this and the remain soft. Another place to look for patterns is online. I’ve found superpages.com is a good source. Just google free coloring pages. You may have to wade through some stuff, but there’s a lot on the computer. Good luck!!