Quilt Backs

I first began textile dyeing when I wanted quilt backs for my bed quilts. I wanted them to be a single solid piece of fabric, so I purchased cotton sheets and dyed them to coordinate with the quilt top.

As I evolved toward art quilting - working smaller and using hand dyed or painted fabrics for the tops - I shifted to using up my stash of commercial fabrics for quilt backs.

Now my commercial fabric stash has been whittled down to a couple of drawers of smallish pieces and I am back to using bed sheets for quilt backs on my larger quilts. Here is one drying on the clothes line.

I always check the closeouts at Target and Ross Dress for Less, where I can sometimes find great bargains on odd single flat sheets. I always make sure they are not permanent press because that finish is very difficult to remove (impossible?) and interferes with dye penetration.

This sheet actually has a stripe, but it looks great overdyed and certainly blends with the surrounding background in this picture! It is going on the back of a quilt called "Leaves and Twigs".