Lena1952

I often use polar fleece and do not use batting when gifting a baby or tween quilt. It does have some stretch to it in one direction but using basting spray keeps it under control. They turn out very snugly. Since polar fleece is 60" wide it makes a nice back.

aashley333

Bed sheets have a short quilt life. Won't hold up to washings. Just sayin'.

Iceblossom

"Pieces big enough for backs" is always an effort and is my most wanted to find at the thrift stores. I will use just about anything with enough yards for a back. Sometimes I let the backing fabric help select the colors from the top.

Pictures below include one of my solutions for how to make a back out of two very different 3 yard pieces.

Often, they are large scaled novelty prints such as the bike or fish.

The bolt of the green/red/yellow will make probably at least 3-4 backs and cost me about $15...

And sometimes they are just a bit funky -- like this one that looks much better in black light!

Homespun

Leesa's Fabric's on FB has auctions. Many of her fabrics start at $4.00.

Iceblossom

Sorry, Linda -- for new shopping I actually bought a couple of backs in the last couple of months. I was surprised to find some very reasonably priced extra wide yardage at my normal first stop of equilter.

With no sales or coupons, $12.95/yard for 108. Still brings you in the $20ish range but not bad.
https://www.equilter.com/product/285...-quilt-backing

I think if you order $100 or more you get a 10% off your next order thing...

When Joann has the great 50% off coupons but the entire store is already 33% off so you can't use -- often this is when you can get their extra wide pieces with the coupon!

edit: Even at thrift store prices, I sort of expect a back to cost about $20 or at least that is my goal if I can't get it out of stash and my stash is (finally) getting pretty empty of large yardages. I'm typically paying about $2/yard currently at the thrift stores and many times I go out and come back with nothing. And other days I make up for that. Hubby and I do it as part of our date day, he works usually 6 days a week and on Sunday we would go bowling (closed for covid but open again, unfortunately now its my knee) and stop at 2 thrift stores on our way home from bowling.

Having said that, I was shopping for a really nice back and ended up with a digital print at about $25/yard. Oh my goodness!

thimblebug6000

Just yesterday I pieced a backing only 58" square, it ended up with 7 seams but that won't be a problem, all from the same fabric but I had weird chunks of it. Sometimes piecing the backs takes almost as much time as the fronts, but I have been storing some of these gifted fabrics for years so am trying to enjoy the whole process, and remember it's not a race Hope you find a solution that works for you.

sewingpup

I always am on the lookout for fabric that can be used as a backing on sale. I have one shelf of backings "for something". I recently was able to pick up two "end of bolts" on sale at a local quilt shop that were on sale to make room for new lines. I got them for .... wait for it... $3 a yard and they were normally $11 Wish I had bought more. One had 6.5 yards and the other was 8 yards I believe. I also recently got 15 yards of $12 a yard good quality flannel for $4 a yard at Handcock's of Paducah and added enough other sale fabric at $6 a yard to bring the total over $70 which is were you get free ground shipping. Yahhhh. Now, I have to check often to find some fabric that is suitable for the type of quilts I make.

Onebyone

I buy 108" backing from Marshall's for under $8 a yard. Lots of colors to choose from and under $5 a yard if you buy the bolt. To buy a bolt call and order from a rep. I use Sharon. No tax number needed but you can only buy MDG fabric line wholesale if you don't have a tax number. Check out Dream Cotton wide backing for nice solids.

https://marshalldrygoods.com/shop/fa...quilt-backing/

Mdegenhart

I know I am probably in the minority, but why is anyone trying to make charity quilts that are made from cheap, ugly shoddy material? Why would anyone want to be the recipient? I see all the time where the goal seems to be to crank out the maximum number of boring patterns with ugly lousy material. Why? Would you be honored to have that on your bed? “Charity” quilting to me seems often to be a lot more about bat-packs for moral superiority than for making something special someone will truly love.

Iceblossom

I try to have no real differences between my charity quilts and my other quilts, sometimes yes there are greater design considerations. But more than once someone has chosen one of my "available" tops over one that I actually made for them. I don't buy shoddy fabrics, I buy Hoffmans and Moda and Batiks and all sorts of things, and am perfectly happy with the quality of a 1980s Cranston/VIP floral should I happen onto 6 yards of it.

The market I make most of my quilts for is primarily foster kids. While not everything I make appeals to me and can be rather taste specific, I believe it appeals to someone especially someone young. But yes, you could be quite happy with one of my quilts and not another so I prefer groups that let the kids pick and not just hand them one. The quilts need to be durable and machine washable. With all donation quilting, you have to be prepared that it is gone out of your life and may or may not be appreciated -- and the same is true for the quilts we give our friends/family.

The link I posted isn't the most thrilling back in the world, but I considered one from that line or similar to be suitable for my own Bonnie Hunter project from last year. Think that one was $14.95/yard??