Oh this is a good point! I usually just stitch in the ditch so a busy print will help hide things more!

Last night before work I stopped by the fabric store just to look and found a bunch of clearance cotton fabric for $5 a metre, which is really cheap here. I compared it to the cotton sheeting I purchased and the quality was much better, although not great quality by any means. But the quality is good enough for me! I bought enough for two quilts, but I'm going to go back today and buy enough for 3 more quilts and toss it in my stash

If you're shopping at Fabricland, you must be in Canada. At my local FL, they currently are discontinuing their Heritage Cotton series which was their quilter's cotton solids. They were $20.00/m and are going for $8.00/m and they have a lot of colours available. You'll need to piece it but it's a good quality for a backing. Either way, I would wash and dry it first, personally. Be sure to look for the Heritage cottons, as they have a number of lines for sale at $8.00/m.

I have also gone to Valu Village and bought 100% cotton sheets for the backs of charity quilts and they have always turned out well, but if this is special, I'd go the way I mentioned above.

Watson
PS...Save the cotton sheeting...you never know if one day you'll want to make a string quilt or something and need a foundation fabric or a backing for a charity quilt.

I use wide backing fabric about 99% of the time.it is quilting cotton and comes in a vast array of colors, textures and prints. Most of mine come from fabric dot com, quilting twins (which has a bunch of new ones on their site) and Backside quilting.

the sheeting you purchased just needs to be prewashed- the stiffness is due to the sizing added. It will feel and look much better once it is washed and dried. When I get a fabric like that I usually add a cup of white vinegar to the wash which not only freshens but also softens the fabric

Yup I saw those too! I almost bought some and then the $5 rack caught my eye. I'll make sure to check out the $8 one again, they were better quality and not much more

Okay, since so many have said it I will try washing and drying the fabric and see if that changes my opinion!

Another thought. If the quilt is a wall hanging, the priority is that it will hange without stretching. So a good quality is necessary.

If it's a throw or for the bed, the back will show so it matches/compliments the front.

I buy the prettiest wide backing that goes with the quilt top. I think the back of the quilt is as important as the front. For utility quilts I use pieced together left over fabric to make a design, not to look just pieced together to fit. I rarely use plain color backings. I want really pretty fabric for my backing. To me using something for backing that is not a pretty design on it's own is not honoring my work.