How do you back your charity quilts?
 

Have done charity quilts mostly for Project Linus for quite some time, and realize that most of us do baby or toddler ones to cut down on cost. But preteens and teenagers also need quilts in their size and I have been floored by the backing expense. The last two have taken 3 1/2yds for backing not counting binding. With the price of fabric going up and up it's costing $20 to $25 or more just for the backing. I've never been a garage sale person and I try to order from sites having a great sale, but then I have shipping costs to pay. At this rate I either have to stop making this size or cut back to maybe two a month. How do those of you that do charity quilts handle the cost of backing?

Every once in a while I find good fabric on eBay. I just got nine yards of a name brand solid for $20. You just have to keep watching. Bigger quilts are difficult for me to quilt so I usually stick to smaller ones for donation. Thanks for all your good work.

When JoAnn's has their better muslin on sale, I try to buy a 108" bolt to use for backing on my charity quilts

The cost of fabric is crazy, therefore I only make baby/toddler and small lap quilts for charity.

Little orchard quilts (a YouTube er) did a giant log cabin (63x63) and backed it with a microfiber sheet. She reported it worked fine.

(I have no personal experience.)

I should have added that it is my personal preference NOT to use sheets... it's simply what I was taught and it's ingrained in my brain.

I buy flannel when it is on sale. Muslin works great for backing. It will go with anything and washes up so soft. And it comes in a variety of widths

I did many Project Linus quilts during the first year of COVID. I tried to go for the teen size too and something that is not screaming princesses and flora. More geometric and something beautifully odd like black and white with an orange or royal blue pop. I was fortunate enough to have stash to pull from. I did some serious damage to my stash and kept busy and engaged with life.

I recently shopped the bargain shelves at one of my local quilt shops and found an end of bolt cut of high quality fabric for $5 a yard bought it all and backed and bound a quilt for about $20. I did see some bolts as low as $3.50. This seem reasonable to me for a donation quilt.

Happy quilting from another Linda.https://cdn.quiltingboard.com/images...es/biggrin.png

I know that other quilters cruse Goodwill regularly, but I will return to my LQS looking for major discounts on end of bolt pieces.

I've used sheets in the past, and recently have been using 108" wide unbleached muslin for backings, that way, I know that it'll work for any donated top and I can use the remainder either for another top or for blocks. Marshall's Dry Goods have great prices on bolts, including the wide backings. There's also polar fleece you can use.