Believe the Directions

Last year my niece Christina was getting married. She has always loved the Cathedral Window Quilt, so I decided it was time, I tried it.
The first try was a disaster. The directions say to use muslin, as the backing. I thought regular cotton would be much stronger. "Big mistake" Because you fold the materials in a way that you are dealing with four, and sometimes eight layers of cloth.
 I had to use a thimble, to push, a needle through, and sometimes a clamp to pull it through. I soon gave up on that and went out and bought a bolt of muslin, and eventually nine yards more.
It was much easier with muslin. It still took me many months to finish it,  but I really loved the finished project.

Being of the old  school, don;t waste anything, I eventually finished the first one, but will stick to muslin fom now on. I am working on  another one now.  It is great to take  few of the blocks to work on when you have to wait someplace or when traveling.