How to Use Quilting Practice Pieces?

38 responses to “How to Use Quilting Practice Pieces?”

1. Hi Lori,
   I am hoping to learn FMQ so as to make preemie quilts for a group here in SC called Preemies of of the Carolina’s. But as of yet, none of my practice pieces would even allow me to even start on an actual little bitty quilt. So, I will keep doodling until they are good enough.

2. I serge the edges and donate them to a local animal charity for cat and dog blankets.

   1. Our local cat shelter loves to receive my quilt “samples”. Sometimes though they are just too nice to give to the shelter so they become wall or vase quilts to spread splashes of joy either in a friends home or in my own.

   2. I do this, too. I even piece together my scrap fleece to make practice pieces. The shelter takes whatever I bring them.

3. Vase quilts, table runners, placemats, pouches and soft boxes for sewing nick nacks… they all start out as practice FMQ before I add the motifs to the quilt. My latest is as shelf liners for my mixers and heavy kitchen appliances.

4. I make them into dog dish mats, put them between my pots and pans to avoid banging them up, coffee table mats (I guess they would be the vase-mats), sometimes a doll, or stuffed animal, blanket.

5. I’ve made some into tote bags for PhD’s (a/k/a UFOs) and small clutch purses. If I have used different colored threads, they’re quite interesting

   1. What is a PhD?

6. We make doll quilts for our town’s Santa to give with each doll at Christmas. Also dog and cat beds for the local shelter. And we cut them up for potholders!

7. I use my practice pieces for vase mats. I love all the other ideas, like using them under pots and donating them to animal shelters! Thanks Lori for all your inspiration. I have now tried larger projects and have become a free motion junkie!

8. I use a fair amount of my practice pieces to make zippered pouches for use in my purse or suitcase – to control the clutter. There is nothing floating around in the bottom of my purse to get lost in the shuffle :>))

9. I piece simple baby quilts for Project Linus that include some space for free motion – even if my stitching is a bit wonky, no one but me notices, and this gives me lots of opportunity for practice.

10. I’ve used some seasonal practice pieces as hot pads; I was able to cut some motifs out and use as mug rugs.

11. I like to use fabric scraps in coordinating colors. I precut a bunch so that they’re ready to go. I always make sure that my backing is larger than my top fabric and batting when I test out machine quilting patterns. Then I save up the samples and sew them together as a quilt-as-you-go comfort quilt. My guild give them to hospitals, nursing homes, etc.

12. I had an extra block from a quilt top left over and tested the quilting pattern I thought I’d use on the big quilt. It’s not going to work. But the fact that I got to test before committing to a big project was so helpful, I’ll try to do this with all my quilts. Meanwhile, I’ll use the test blocks as a placemats. I’ll have a table setting that looks like a crazy quilt!

13. I make them into pillow/cushion covers for the couch and chairs. The more I make, the more frequently I can change out the look of my decor.

14. I turn practice into ART! I have a bad back so have to keep my quilting small, therefore I create Postcard Fabric Art as is or by adding some additional paint or stamps or really any type of embellishment if wanted. Then pop them in the mail to put a smile on someone’s face. =) <3 ~ Ann Lamy

15. I make little fabric boxes, tote bags and cat mats. Sometimes join them qayg for picnic blanket and overdye them if they are in muslin./calico.

16. I once made a queen-size practice piece. Not intentionally…

    1. Love that, Arvilla!

       I have one of those that I just completed. I named it the “Fallacy of Sunk Cost, the Albatross.”, just in case I decide to enter it into an exhibition.:)

       It’s a current house favorite, for some odd reason.

    2. I read this 5 minutes ago and I’m still chuckling…you’re funny!

    3. How in the world do you accidentally make a Queen size practice piece? Did you simply have to make the motif over and over to get it right, or were you entranced with the good work you were doing and just kept going? We’d all love to here the story!

       1. Dear GrandmaSue10, I believe Arvilla’s comment was “tongue-in-cheek”, in that the whole quilt was a semi-disaster (Apologies Arvilla, that was the only expression I could come up with) and could only be described as practice. I’ve made a few of those myself!

17. In addition to uses noted above, I use my larger practice pieces to make tops for pet beds that I donate to the local animal shelter. These beds have an interior pad that is stuffed with fabric and batting scraps and the shelter loves them! I also use practice pieces to make “toaster coasters” which are like placemats for your toaster.

18. I use my practice pieces as protective pads between my frying pans in my kitchen cabinets. I pick a cheery fabric that makes me happy to look at. Every time I open the drawer full of pans, it makes me smile.

    1. I do this too and the smiles! Potholders get popped in the mail to make someone else smile.

19. Wow! I have a stack of practice pieces that I couldn’t bring myself to toss but didn’t know what to do with them. Now I have lots of good ideas. Thanks everyone.

20. Hot pads!!

21. Just last weekend I looked at a whole lot of practice pieces, well real beginner squares, and concurrently we are experiencing a really cold blast of wintry air from the antarctic, so I now have two good size dog blankets and one appropriately sized cat blanket which they all love. I joined them all together using a quilt as you go method. The animals don’t care if they have mistakes and the colours are all mixed up, jolly for all of us to see lying around. What a timely request. Your practice pieces are amazing, maybe with a few more dog blankets under my machine I too can have great looking ‘practice’ pieces.

22. I turn the practice pieces into pages for my quilt books. or make placemats for meals on wheels at Xmas time.

23. My practice pieces, the larger ones, go to my daughter who has 2 rescue dogs. They love them and they also get pillows stuffed with cloth and batting scraps. The smaller ones are turned into hot pads.

24. Wow! These are great ideas…. So many creative minds out there!

25. I have been inspired to get a binding on my practice pieces! Thanks💗

26. Thank you for the inspiration (and Hugh’s photo) regarding practice piece quilts! I have many such pieces that will now become “Vase Quilts” or table toppers! Perhaps I’ll try hand quilting them since I aspire to improving my skill as a Hand Quilter.

27. Everyone is so creative with their practice pieces. I have only one. I have a thermal pad for ironing on a table, but it has magnets inside, why, I don’t know. To make it easier to iron with it, I use my practice piece for a pad. I never worry about what’s underneath with these two items to take the heat.

    1. The pad was probably designed to be placed on top of your washing machine or dryer and the magnets hold it in place there.

28. I have used quilters muslin for both fmq and hand quilting practice. I found quite a few recently and have joined them together and now have a single bed quilt and it looks quite good though the “blocks ”
    are different sizes.

29. My guild and another quilt group I belong to have a charity called cuddle buddy bags: we make small bags with quilts; put in a stuff animal and give these to local police for domestic calls and fire calls to give to children they encounter. I use the best ones for this charity.