# Opinion on sheets for backing



## Tinker

I have heard of several quilters using sheets for backing, but when I mentioned this in my quilting class, the instructor was not impressed. I have also seen it in one of my quilting books to NOT use sheets. However, a sheet is way cheaper than an equal amount of fabric, and it does not have to be pieced. They come in lots of cute prints. I have used them on the backs of a few baby quilts, but never on a throw or bigger quilt. I did not have any trouble machine quilting using the sheet.

What is everyones thoughts on this..........would/do you use sheets for backing? If not, why not?

Thanks!


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## ErinP

so long as you use high thread count sheets, it should be fine. For that matter, it would work fine in quilts that will be treated gently or short-term. (Baby quilts are a good example) 
Otherwise, it's like using cheap fabric in your quilt itself, that lower quality is going to deteriorate in a quilt that sees some serious use...


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## Maura

A sheet is horrible to quilt through if you are hand quilting. Machine quilting is another story.


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## homemaid

I have never used a sheet for backing. By the time you purchase a good thread count sheet you could buy the proper fabric. I have hand quilted over 30 queen sized quilts by myself. Just my opinion


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## buslady

I use sheets quite often. Two twin sheets make a good size backing, and if you are giving them away, it is a cheaper way to go. I did my first double wedding quilt with twin sheets about ten years ago, and it is still going strong. It is washed quite often too.


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## Lilith

Only way I would use sheets is if I got them on black Friday and bought enough of them to last me all year. The reason I say only on Black Friday? That is the only day I have ever seen high quality Egyptian cotton sheets at a decently affordable price. 

Think about it, thread count is how many threads are in a square inch, a 300 thread count sheet will have 150 threads vertically and 150 threads horizontally. 
Novelty-print sheets have a thread count of around 200 to 300. These sheets only last my kids a year at best, and they each have two sets in case I don't get to the laundry in a timely manner. So novelty sheets slept with every night only last 6 months.

Luxury sheets will have a thread count of 800, 1000, or even 1200. Luxury sheets are usually also made of very fine materials, like Egyptian cotton.I got two sets of these for my wedding 6 years ago, and they are still going strong. 

King size Luxury Cotton Rich 800 Thread Count Sheet Set $78.99 at overstock.com (cheapest I could find)

(1)Fitted sheet: 106 inches wide x 102 inches long = to aprox 6 yards usable fabric at 45", 2.8 yards at 108"
(1)Flat sheet: 78 inches wide x 80 inches long = to aprox 4 yards usable fabric at 45", 2.2 yards at 108"
(4)Pillowcase: 20 inches wide x 40 inches long = 3 yards total usable fabric at 45", 1 yards at 108"


so, 6 yards 108" in pieces @ 78.99 = $13.33 per yard 
108'' Wide Quilt Backing from Fabric.com = 11.98 - 6 yards for $71.98 and you have no seams to rip and one solid run of fabric and you can get prints.


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## Delrio

I use sheets all the time, never a problem and my quilts get "used"!


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## Ruby

Sheets are made to be washed quite often. So think about it. you will not be washing your quilt nearly as often as you do sheets. They have some very high quality sheet sets at the flea market here for 30.00 a set. Bought my daughter a set for Christmas and they are very nice.


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## DW

If I want to go cheap...Hobby Lobby 90" muslin with a 40% off coupon is usually what I use. Other wise, there is a fabric at JoAnns when 50% off is $2.50 a yd and it is a nice fabric, nice prints & washes well. Many of my backs are pieced from scraps, too.


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## Ruby

I don't live close to JoAnns or Hobby Lobby. Wish I did.


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## Belfrybat

I primarily use sheets. The quilt shop here told me about half the people that bring their quilts for longarming use sheets as the backer. The only caution they gave me is to wash the fabric used on the front if you are going to use a cotton/poly blend sheet as the sheet won't shrink as much as 100% cotton. And I read on the quilting forum to buy medium density/ weave sheets, not the 600 count luxury sheets as they are more difficult to sew through. I have sheets that are 30+ years old and still going strong, so I think there is no problem with wear.


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## Chixarecute

Flannel sheets on clearance at the end of the winter season make great quilt backs, too.


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## happyjunker

I wouldn't see a problem with it. I think you may get a better quality fabric in a sheet compared to a thin muslin backer. I have several very nice sheets in my linen closet I plan to use on the quilts I make for Christmas this year. 

To each, his own. I'd use a sheet, especially if money is an issue, which it is for a lot of us these days. Best of luck! I hope your project comes out exactly as you hope.


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## happyjunker

Just remembered... I recently bought a very nice white on white king size duvet cover (so double thickness of fabric) at a thrift store for $1.50! That will back two quilts and give me several buttons to boot! 

Check those thrift stores! Many times there are flannel flat sheets there. Fitted are harder to find!


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## Dandish

I too have heard NOT to use sheets, but I can't for the life of me figure out why. I never have, but if it ever came to where I needed to for cost effectiveness, I'd do it. Sometimes I think there are too many "quilt queens" out there that set out "rules" because they want to. Our forebearers used whatever materials they could get their hands on - most quilts that have been handled well survive a long time just fine. If I was planning on making an heirloom quilt I'd be very particular about what I'm using, but I've not done that yet and though I use mostly quilt shop fabric, I would use whatever I have to keep quilting - my quilts aren't "heirlooms," they are comforts meants to be used and enjoyed. Doesn't mean I want them abused, of course. And I do use fabric from JoAnn too, occasionally.

Having said ALL that, I'd not use the sheet backing for hand quilting, just as I'd avoid batiks or other more tightly woven fabrics because it would make it even more difficult. But for machine quilting, if that's what you have and want to use, I truly don't see why not.


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## ErinP

> most quilts that have been handled well survive a long time just fine.


And that's mostly because the washing machine didn't become a household standard until the last handful of decades.


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## Maura

There is a difference between cotton sheets and cotton/poly. Cotton is much easier to sew through than a poly.


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## Tinker

I can find 100% cotton or an 80/20 cotton/poly blend at Ollies for about 6 dollars for a flat twin. And I sometimes get 15% off coupons. I just am not crazy about plain muslin, and the wide printed fabric is very pricey.

The reason I brought this up is because I just finished a black/white/red throw, and I used a bunch of scraps left over to make the back. But the back looks so great, it is a quilt in itself, and I think I am going to come up with different backs, and quilt both of them. I just think the off white muslin won't look right since the front has white white, YKWIM?


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## TnMtngirl

I often find high quality (like new or new) flat sheets at the thrift store & yes I do use them for quilt backing.


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## grannygardner

I use sheets for backing on my quilts. I've made quilts for each of my kids and grandkids with flannel sheets for backing. Some of the quilts are 20 years old and still holding up fine.


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## Lilith

Given the experience level of people saying that they have had quilts with flat sheet backing last for years, I may have to change my mind and try it out. With my great gran gone, I have no family to turn to to ask questions like this. I have just been going off experience and what little logic my creative mind can come up with. Thanks for sharing folks.


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## Dandish

Here are some links to information on thread counts that I found interesting. Seems quilting cottons are not nearly as high a thread count as decent sheets:

http://patsloan.typepad.com/quiltershome/fabricq.html

http://quiltbug.com/articles/choosing-fabric.htm

Realizing this, I don't think the durability of the sheet used for a quilt back is usually an issue. I also think the advice above to prewash everything when using a sheet is good as the different thread counts shrink at different rates.

For the next to last quilt I completed I found some WONDERFUL wide width Moda muslin in a natural color and it was so nice I couldn't believe they called it muslin. I sent this to a long-armer and she too commented on how nice it was. It wasn't really that expensive, but i don't remember exactly what I paid. Lots of options out there for us!


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## Tinker

Thanks for the article Dandish! That is what I thought too---some sheets feel much "heavier" or thicker than a lot of quilting fabric. That is why it said in my book to NOT use sheets--said the fabric is heavier, and it will be much harder to hand quilt.


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## Molly Mckee

We use a lot of sheets for the backs of the charity quilts we make at church. I think they feel different, but it may be the cheap sheets, or the fact that I have always been told not to use sheets. I don't use sheets on my quilts, but then my MIL would roll over in her grave if I did. She was a hand quilter and said they were too hard to stitch evenly.


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## Classof66

I am hoping to finish a quilt today. I have assembled several tops and am going to start handquilting them this summer. I like the Civil War reproduction fabric and tend toward sampler quilts. I found two places that offer the very wide backing at good prices. Marshall Dry Goods in Batesville,AR and Inweave in Hawarden,IA. I have only looked at their websites, altho I know someone who travels to Marshalls. I would like to go to Hawarden sometime this summer if I go to Omaha to visit my son. They are both online, and Inweave looks like an interesting place. They sell rug supplies including stripped fabric by the pound, I have thought it might work for a log cabin quilt. 

Both stores are very reasonably priced. Since I like the Civil War look, and love a print back, I doubt I could find sheets that would satisfy me. I do see a print at Marshalls tho that I love. The plus to the wide fabric too is that some of them are almost three yards wide and works out to be much less than buying the 45 inch. Inweave also sells sheeting and blends in solids. They also have some gorgeous prints.

Someone was telling me recently that they use flannel on their backs because the don't slip off the bed so bad. 

Have any of you been to Inweave? I only know about it because many years ago they ran an ad in our local newspaper here in Illinois. I called them and the woman told me that they had started up in an old Ben Franklin Store in Hawarden and specialized in mill ends, etc. My kind of place, but I have yet to get there. I have several BOMS in progress from Prairie Star of Elkhorn,IA which closed recently.


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## Dandish

I've backed a couple quilts with "quilter's flannel" and they are very snuggly and warm. I like it very much for certain purposes.


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