I am making my first set of placemats and would like to know what I can use for batting that is relatively inexpensive but is durable and washable??

Warm and Natural which I buy with my coupon from JoannFabrics You can get a lot of placemats out of one yd (metre) of batt.

If money is really tight you can even use the best parts of a worn beach towel, bath towel or blanket. My grandma and mom used to use anything they had. Also used baby receiving blankets are good too. As long as they've been washed there won't be any shrinkage and they're very washable.
If you use a towel cut away the part about 3 inches in from the end where that "ribbing" is. You don't want to use that.

I'd just use interfacing for a placemat if you want them to really lay flat. That's what I've used and I haven't had any problems.

I just use old sheets or towels it works great.

i agree with mic-pa warm and natural is the way to go

Ditto

Me too!

Or pieces from a worn out mattress cover. The centers wear out, but the edges are still good. They work great for placemat batting. I also use it when quilting a pillow top. You don't need backing for the top when you use a piece of mattress cover, since the backing is inside the pillow anyway.

Thanks for your advice everyone. I have most of the suggestions and will choose one. Thanks

I don't like the bulk of batting in my placemats. I like to use a piece of flannel intead. It gives the placemat enough body without adding bulk. But that's just me......

No, it's not just you - I like using flannel, too!

Do you wash the flannel first? I don't wash any of my fabric and have never had a problem.
This is how my mother viewed washing fabric before using it:
"Clothing manufacturers don't wash fabric before they make clothes, nobody would buy it." I'm down with that.

This is a controversial subject, but I always, always prewash all fabrics (washable fabrics only, of course). I've found this to be especially true of 100% cotton fabrics. I have had too many problems with fabrics shrinking, fading, bleeding, etc, to say nothing of finding out after washing that the design on the fabric was not printed squarely. All of this would have absolutely ruined anything I made with it. Once burned, twice shy. Only last week I returned a panel print to Joann's after I washed and dried it because it turned out that the whole picture in the panel was crooked on the fabric; the the selvages matched up perfectly and the yardage was cut perfectly straight on the dotted cutting line. They gave me all my money back and marked the whole bolt as defective.

It's probably true that clothing manufacturers don't wash fabrics first. Have you ever washed a T-shirt that was all twisted and wonky after it was washed and dried? You can't fold it straight, it doesn't hang straight when it's worn, the neckline is out of kilter, etc.

Maybe I've just been unlucky, but I always prewash.

me, too, the flannel has to washed first for shrinkage, but it sure lies flat. It quilts up nicely, too, and it doesn't have to be very close.

Willow, here's something that happened to me. I made lovely placemats. When I washed them they puffed so nice (that kind of puffy would have been lovely for a whole quilt). However they became puffy in all the wrong places and a glass wouldn't stand level on them. Had to put glasses and coffee cups up above the placemat on a solid surface. Something old or tried and true in the batting part would have been better (as has been suggested).