practice, practice, practice

[Lori]

I've been bonding with my new Freedom for a few weeks now, and my practice panels are starting to pile up!  I've just been buying cheap muslin, and using as many scraps and odd pieces of batting as I can.  I just don't know what to do with all of the practice panels once they're so full I can't fit in another stitch.  It seems so wasteful to just throw them out, but what else can I do?  What does everyone else use to practice on, and then what do you do with it?  Ideas?  Suggestions?

 

Lori Davis

Empty Nest LAQ

[ffq-lar]

Call your local Humane Society or animal shelter and ask if they want them to use in the cages. Use pinking shears to cut them into manageable sizes.

Cut them into circles to put under the legs of heavy furniture.

Make a cover for your favorite hard-bound book.

Make a cover for your soon-to-be-full binder you use for your customer invoices---or your self-drawn quilting pattern portfolio.

 

Save your favorite practice piece so you can look back in a year and see how far you've come.

[Brenni]

Someone on the forum mentioned years ago to throw another layer of muslin on top of a practice piece while it is still loaded and use it a second time for practice.  I use one of mine as a cover for my machine.  Mary

[sewingpup]

I used a piece of muslin on top for practice...but on the back, I used an ugly "bargin" piece of fabric that I don't think I will use for anything else....when done practice, I put a binding on it and I use it as a quilt for my dogs....I can use them all sorts of places...small ones for their crate, a bed scarf for my bed when they "watch" TV with me, on my couch...yeah...they are two spoiled dogs...if you have any dog/cat friends....I am sure they would be welcome!  Lin

[LisaC]

I do exactly what Lin does! We are dog lovers and all my kids have dogs so they all have beds and so do my friends! I also have a big practice piece stored in the garage that we use for furniture moving,etc.

[Helen Baczynski]

I used mine as drop cloths when painting a bedroom recently. They are thick enough to stay in place and absorb drips of paint. Much better than old sheets or plastic drop cloths.

I've used them for padding when moving and my husband has used them in the garage to lay on when he's working under the car, or other similar situations. 

I've also used them for covering frost sensitive plants in the winter when we lived in Las Vegas.

 

Helen

[Lori]

All great ideas!  I have one daughter in University taking Vet Med, and she volunteers at a dog rescue.  The other daughter is very involved with dog agility and pet rescue. I also really like the idea of throwing a second muslin over an already used practice piece and using it again.  Also, I will definitely be saving certain pieces for samples of my work, and to track my (hopefully) improvement.

 

Thanks for all the great ideas!

Lori

[cathyh]

Definitely many ways to use these, some that i haven't thought of, like a drop cloth- good idea!!

I like the doggy blankets, and I also have more recently, it took a while LOL, cut out successful patterns to save for future ideas for quilting. I probably should have saved my earlier practice to see my progress, that is a great confidence booster.

I try also to debut new threads so I save those. Also I have thrown a piece of a fabric from a quilt that is coming up on top of my practice piece to try out quilt designs and thread.

[JenniferBernard]

As you are getting better, you can switch to some prettier fabric and make some wheelchair lap quilts or baby quilts. I bought some panels and tried to outline things and stay on the lines. I also did some background fills on the bigger areas. My grandchildren didn't care about wiggly lines and neither did my friend in the nursing home!