Quilting squares for practice
 

This may be a dumb question but does anyone know of any place that sells pre-made sandwiched squares for practicing quilting? I know I could make my own, but I just thought maybe some place uses material that is flawed to make up some practice quilting squares. Also, what is the best way to learn free motion? I am making that my goal for the new year!! Thanks!!

I have wanted to learn free motion quilting for some time now. Leah Day does a lot of FM quilting & a lot of "filler" work. Several years ago she created 365 different FM filler designs in one year. Here's a link to 450 of her designs & videos of how she makes them.

http://leahday.com/pages/quilting-design-gallery

I think FM quilting takes a lot of practice which I'm not good at. I just don't like to practice. I have tried a few things on doll quilts, small bags, etc. but never have gotten good at it.

Now for your first question, I don't know of any place that sells pre-made sandwiches but am interested to see if anyone comes up with an answer for you.

I have not heard of a company that makes them, but I use JoAnn's lowest cost muslin (usually a mid quality on sale or using a 50% off coupon and lowest cost batting to make practice sandwiches.

When I first got my long arm, someone suggested using mattress pads. Check thrift stores, immediately wash in hot water & cut them up. You can add a piece of fabric on the top, or just go to town. Also, you can reuse. After quilting practice, just put another piece of fabric on top and requilt. It's best if you use a different color thread the second time so you can easily check the tension on the back.

Thanks for the link!

I love that idea!!! Thanks!

Thanks, don't you think that would be a good idea for some company to sell them..... I DO!!!

Actually, I don't think they're that hard to make. I use muslin and batting scraps for my practice and warm up pieces. If you use Warm & Natural or a similar batting you don't even need to pin or spray baste. One thing I found that helped me in coordinating my hand speed with the machine speed was quilting my name or other words. I didn't have to concentrate on the pattern or where to go next cause the pattern was already in my mind. I also found it helpful to outline quilt on fabric with large designs like flowers, animals, etc.

I just used muslin top & bottom and batting between. Best way to learn free motion is put on your favorite music and feel it as you sew!

i found using fat quarters was a comfortable practice size. i keep a few made up (2 fq's with a warm and natural middle) so i always have a warm up pieces.
all great suggestions so far. might also try to stitch shapes that you can easily doodle. things like little hearts ,stars and leaves that we learned as children were much easier to string together for me than a stipple and you can cross over lines to fill a space.