lynnie

I tend to use white, black and cream. white really shows off colors, no conflicts of color. Sometimes black, to enhance the colors. cream, makes it look older, kind of antiquey.
My friend uses anything, it comes out pretty, but I don't have a lot of one color laying around. I must try other colors.

QuiltingVagabond

I tend to use a blender type fabric for backgrounds, and rarely white. As a matter of fact I don't even like to use solids at all. I feel they "flatten" my color schemes. But then I just love a controlled scrappy style, so I guess busy is my norm!

Boston1954

I love beige for some, but also many other colors. Even blue if it fits.

Jeanne S

I prefer black as a background, seems to make a more dramatic design.

Jingle

When I started making quilts about mid 60s. White or unbleached muslin was mainly used and also for the backing.
I still will use white for borders, not too often. I am making quilts for kids in foster care. For my quilts I usually don't use a pattern that requires a background.

NZquilter

I always use white or cream too, but this thread now has me thinking I should do something differnt next time. I have always wanted to use black, but so far haven't.

ruby2shoes

How appropriate to find this thread this morning! I have just started a new quilt using batiks and requiring a cream fabric for the background. Well after playing around with my batik strips and goodness knows how many different cream scraps I had lying around I have decided to go instead with a chocolate background to really make the batiks pop out more. I was feeling very brave making my decision.....but just a wee bit nervous now that I have cut it all out! I hope it comes together as I envisaged!!!

kristijoy

I do use lots of white for my backgrounds! I've also used various shades of gray like light gray, slate, and charcoal. I have experimented a little with using a color. I've done a deep rust (for a string geese quilt) and a soft pale green for a quilt with various florals.

I have not braved something bright yet like pink! Or bright green! Or Yellow! But I've seen quilts with these and they are always unique and stunning!

My current trend is experimenting with various low-volume backgrounds for a scrappy look!

WMUTeach

I was a white/bleached muslin background kind of gal for a long time. I liked that crisp look of color next to white. I finally stretched and moved to white on white then black, then my purple granddaughter forced me to use a warm purple with scraps for a quilt. (It looked terrific. Who knew?) Now with all of that experimentation, I still like white but much more open to other colors. Lesson for me was stretch when you can and add to your options with your white/muslin as a old favorite to fall back on.

illinois

Sometimes a quilt requires color as the background. I also like white on white or cream on cream as it seems to soften the starkness of a solid white or cream. Love blenders, too. All of these provide texture to the eye. If a quilt is for a bed that the back will be seen when turned back, I like to put a print there. Wall hangings can utilize muslin, broadcloth (did anyone gasp?) or a solid of some color. Wall hanging backs are for function, not beauty--my opinion.