What a fantastic idea! So lovely!

Backing
 

Thanks so much to all of you who took the time to answer. Okay, out they come from the drawers. Now, I have to make more tops.

I think it is a great idea and a way to use something that has become useless so to speak. My SIL uses so many things that most people would throw out and has made some fantastic quilts.

Go green! Give those table linens a new purpose in life! I have some rescued linens that I have cut into squares but was hesitant to use. Very wonderful! Now they are going into my quilting pool - TODAY! Thanks for the encouragement on including natural fibers. Even if they wrinkle, it will only add to the charm and, when I washed them before cutting, they didn't wrinkle much. Darling little Pennsylvania Dutch design.
I am all about using cotton sheets for backing and sometimes, even cut up and added to the front when the color/design works for that.

I don't think damask would work as a quilting material. I think it is too loosely woven to start up.

They might turn out to be reversible!

Someone donated about 10 huge damask table cloths to our charity quilting group and they were wonderful.

Some of my backing fabric looks like the damask fabric, even feels and is heavier than normal backing fabric. I used one on my mother's logcabin quilt and the navy blue on my sofa quilt. It came out great. Still don't know if it was damask or a different sort of backing fabric.

Bet she meant she would NOT use it unless it is 100% cotton. :)

I haven't used one yet, but I just bought several from a friend with that in mind. I think I will use one to back a quilt top I'm piecing now.....Thanks for reminding me about them.:)