What material for FMQ Practice
 

I'm finally getting the courage to try FMQ but I know there will be many ours of practice in my future. I'd rather not use my stash for practice sandwiches, but don't know what else to use. Is there something inexpensive that I can use that won't use stash or break the bank?

I use panels or cheap muslin from joanns

I learned to FMQ on Placemats I made with scrap fabric. Worked great and I still use them.

Before I knew better I bought a whole bolt of cheap black fabric from Joanns thinking I would have plenty of black fabric for quilting until the end of time. I used one of the 60 percent off coupons to get it, so it was really inexpensive. I now use it for fmq practice and to test patterns etc. before I touch “the good stuff”. I disovered that they sell Kona at Joanns so did the same thing again (using the coupon) to replace my black-till-the-end-of-time plan with quilt worthy fabric.

It's important to use fabrics/battings as close to the same as what you will be using for your "real" projects. That way you get a better "feel" for what you are doing and come to know better what settings for your machine, etc.

I learned that for me, practicing, just for the sake of practicing, with the intent of pitching it, gave me too much freedom to do anything as though I didn't care, and I didn't learn well enough how to do real things! I had to switch to something that was a keeper ... even if it was not perfect FMQing.

Now, I try to make my practice pieces something useful ... placemats, grocery totes, tote bags, candlemats, etc. Right now, I am quilting a piece that will become a cover for a heating pad.

For general practice I use some batting and pieces of some well worn sheets. If I'm getting ready to start on a specific project, I make a sandwich with scraps of fabric used in the project. I used the little sandwiches to make pads to go between my china plates.

I practiced on panels, lots of different spaces to try different techniques.
When I started on quilts I made 24" practice squares with the fabric/batt/back that was in the quilt.
Panels were a lot more fun:)

I made a ‘sandwich’ from off-cuts of wadding and squares cut from an old sheet.

I also found that, with patience, I could unpick the stitches and use the square again.

Those little mini pre-printed whole cloth quilts.

Cotton shirts that are ready for Goodwill (or even go to yard sales and buy cheap cotton shirts and deconstruct them.