This is a very timely thread to me. Prior to coming to the board this morning I was looking at a wall hanging project I am planning to do for a 15 year old girl who is 'horse crazy'. The pattern calls for batiks but I don't have white or off-white for the mane and was considering a non-batik and wondering.... Now, thanks to all these interesting comments, I will consider a mixture of fabrics. In fact, I will look through my 'whites' as soon as I finish today's wealth of information on this board.