What to do if your calico backing fabric is wonky? I mean, really wonky?

That was one of the problems I faced as I was trying to frame up the Benton & Johnson balloon last weekend. I had carefully neatened the edges so they were all cut on the thread, and the fabric was still distinctly non-rectangular. I couldn’t see an easy solution to it, or any solution at all really, except to use it in its present off-kilter state and make the best of it, which isn’t much of a solution. But then, in the middle of the night, an idea occurred to me.

Ideas that occur to me in the middle of the night range from the usable to the frankly bizarre (the difference usually only emerging in the clear light of morning), but this one seems to me one of the better ones even now that I’m awake. What if, I wondered, I set up the calico on the Millennium frame, making sure that the horizontal grain is straight on the rollers, then sprayed it lightly and stretched it as tight as possible, leaving it to dry stretched? I’d say that any calico not straightened after that sort of treatment is beyond rescue and may have to be used up as doodle fabric.

I will try it out this weekend and report back!