I was just at Mother's house. She was an avid sewer and recently moved into Senior housing. She asked me if I wanted her fabrics since I just started sewing again and quilting (for first time). Of course, I jumped on it. I know what I'm doing with all the cottons (smile) but I have some questions on some of the other fabrics. She had a lot of french terry, wool blends, seersucker, cheaper flannels, polyester blends, double knit and lighter weigth tshirt knit. She also had a heavier fabric - knubby twill type fabric that she used to make shorts out of.

So what can I do with this fabric? I don't make clothes, other than nightgowns. I was hoping at the very least i could use some of fabrics like cotton/poly blends for backing fabrics. I'll use the flannels for those rag quilts. I'm sure most of it was not bought in LQS but I'll just prewash it well to prevent shrinkage. What do you think? I want to make some dog beds for local shelter but I'd love to hear some ideas of what some of these fabrics are appropriate for.

I appreciate all your comments.

Your dog beds idea is a great use for those "shorts" fabrics. And putting the cheap flannels in the middle of rag quilts is one use, but they can also be used as "batting" in doll quilts for charity next Christmas.
Be careful about using poly-cotton blends as quilt backs, because most poly battings will "beard" through the blend and leave little white pills.

Any fabrics you don't want to use in quilting you can always donate to salvation army or goodwill. Many sewers are looking for inexpensive fabrics at thrift stores.

The seersucker would make very comfy summer nightgowns. I agree with Feline Fanatic that donating to Salvation Army or Goodwill is a great idea so that someone else can make use of her fabrics.

Yes, I'm definitely going to donate the fabrics that I can't use. Helping my mother go through things in her house has put me in a decluter mode for my own house, so I do not want to hang onto stuff not using. But I could not pass up the fabrics. I figured I would just go through it, use what I could use and then find a good home for what I couldn't use.

Tell me about doll quilts for charity? I'm assuming these are smaller quilts? Are there orgs that collect smaller quilts for kids gifts? I would love to do this as it would allow me to practice my skills while making something smaller.

Bearding? Can I use the poly blends for quilting projects at all? I know it's not optimal but I would thinking about making some quilts out of larger squares (nothing heavily pieced) for the homeless shelter. Seems like I've seen that before. I'm just thinking about putting these to good use and practicing (smile).

So no use for the doubleknits and tshirt knits? Or the french terry and wool blends? Other than clothing projects which I am not interested in doing at the moment. Those sound like a good candidate for the thrift shops.

If you are going to give to a homless shelter , you could use a simple pattern or just 5 or 6 in squares for quilts since double knit is heaver it would be warmer and then you wouldn't have to worry about using batting. The t shirt fabric would be good for pajama bottoms, or youcould uae it in a soft baby quilt. Good luck.

Charity quilts use almost any fabrics that they can get their hands on. They aren't so picky to only take 100% cotton. That way the will still be quilts of some sort & if not they can pass it on to other sources with what they don't use.

my mother uses polyester double knits to make all her quilts that she gives to her grandchildren, greats, & great greats. She is over 80 and still going strong. Over course polyester doubleknit never wear out as they used to say, last forever. Our ladies aid made these types of quilts for the missions also. Just used knits for fronts in bigger pieces like 10 " and used flannel sheets or regular sheets on the back, they don't need batting as they use them to divvy up into rooms or throw them on the ground and sleep on them. Hope this helps you out. What a wonderful gift she gave you.

I have a niece that uses seersucker to make scrub tops for workers at nursing home. The nurses seem to like this lightweight material since the building is always kept warm for the 'clients'

I just used some scrap pieces of seersucker, plisse and pique in a memory quilt, plus 100% cottons and poly.cotton blends. Turned out pretty neat.