tranum

This winter, backing on my donation quilts (kid size) has been fleece. Fleece for backing, no batting and 3” binding instead of usual 2.5”.

bearisgray

Sheets are made of various fibers and different thread counts and different weaves.

Some are more suitablecur using in a quilt than others.

Railroadersbrat

I've used sheets everywhere in my quilts, not just for backing or for sashing, I've used it in piecing, too. I recently did a one-inch hexie lap quilt by hand for a grieving friend and two of the fabrics were older sheets I had acquired. I don't honestly see a problem with using sheets, sometimes it can be a lot less expensive using them, especially if you hit the mother load at a second hand shop or a garage sale. My grandmother used sheets for piecing, so I picked it up from her.

What I can give you as far as my experience is do your best to match up quality of fabric. Batiks seem to be thicker than solid cottons, so if your sashing feels 'thick', then make sure your quilt blocks feel the same way. What did give me the biggest fit was the bias of the sheets after I cut them down, the amount of stretch I would get sometimes was enormous and if you're working with something like batiks, it will throw your sizing off 100% of the time. And for the record, I'm not picking on batiks, lol, I happen to love them dearly but there is a very noticeable difference between them and 100% cotton solids.

I'll always use sheets in my quilts unless it's for show. I feel if they were good enough for my grandmother's quilts, which every last one of them are still in use today and they were quilted 50+ years ago, then they're good enough for mine. Plus, it's great for family members to find out they have the ways and means of getting rid of sheet sets they don't use anymore, they just ship them to me. Considering the amount of waste that can sometimes happen when making a quilt, I feel that the less fabric yardage I'm actually buying, the less waste I'm producing and I'm re-purposing sheets.

maviskw

Quote:

I find if you take out the seam before you wash you can see if the holes from the stitching will close or not.

Yes the bottom sheet wears out faster, but only the center of it. The overhang parts are almost like new. I cut the two types apart and use the worn center part for foundation fabric when needed, especially in strip quilts.

And if those holes don't all come out, make strips out of the pieces of it without holes.
I have also used my thumbnail to rub across those holes in several different directions. That helps tremendously in ordinary fabric. You could also use a wooden iron or any wooden flat stick to save your nails.

sewingpup

I can remember the sheets from my grandmother's day....they were white, quite thick, and we pressed them after hanging on the line to dry, of course they were 100 percent cotton. The sheets now seem to be thinner and can often be a blend...for my church charity quilting group, we use a lot of sheets for the backing and often for sashing and borders but then again we also use a lot of different fabrics, whatever can be stitched as most of the fabric is donated...I personally do not use sheets in my quilts because they just don't have the same feel as quilting cotton. But...whatever you decide is fine I think. I would not use them on any quilt that was difficult and time consuming to piece even for the backing as the effort and time on put in on the top deserves a good backing. For a quilt that I was expecting to be used and abused and tossed when tattered, I just might.....but I have a huge stash and am working on using up a good portion of it....