Do I have to use cotton fabric to make a quilt?

While most people start using quilters cotton for their quilts, you can actually use pretty much anything! At different times, wool and silk were used as discards from the tailoring industry. In the 1960s, polyester and synthetic fabrics started being seen in quilts. Flannel has long been a useful backing for children's quilts given its soft surface and the variety of patterns it comes in. You should feel free to use any fabric you like - but there are additional steps you need to take when working with stretchy fabrics like t-shirts or with fragile fabrics like silk. 

At the EBHQ Show in March, Artist Jenny Hurth made quilts and more out of discarded masks she collected during the pandemic. There is an article about this here and my photo below. 

Julia McCleod makes beautiful silk quilts and also teaches how to work with silk. Danny Amazonas is a quilter known for using all sorts of fabrics in his pieces.