I'm thinking of making a bunch of junk practice quilts with the eventual goal of making a nice 20F quilt with about 12 ounces of 900FP from Thru-Hiker. My sewing resume is pretty short; I once sewed a sock monkey, and that's about it. I will probably butcher it the first several times, but that's ok. I plan on getting some cheap $1/yd nylon from Wal-Mart for the project (I may make a mock-up of some wind pants or a wind shirt too). However, I would like to practice the actual process of filling the baffles and working with down. Does anyone know where I could find some really cheap, really low quality down to practice this with? Or is there some sort of synthetic analog that might work for the purposes of practice? Thanks in advance.

http://www.feathertex.com/

I don't know that it's really low quality. I believe it's at least 700 fp and requires a minimum order of 2 pounds.

hammockgear.com had 800+ $6.50 per ounce, currently out of stock

I heard about it from someone here and got some

If you're not going to use the quilt then a inexpensive down pillow can be a way to go as well.

My mom picked up a King size down comforter at a yard sale for a quarter. Probably has about 3 - 5 pounds of 500 fill. Works great for prototypes!

with down you don't have to put it in there if the sewing didn't turn out. i guess my advice is use some 1.1 from BWDD (or walmart if yours still has fabric, but not sure it is all down proof) and make some practice quilts but only fill it with down once you are happy with it. if you do the shop vac or educter methods of filling you wont waste much down and the hammock gear 6.5oz is nice 800 fill down for a decent price. That way once you are done you will have a usable product right away. otherwise yeah go cannibalize an old comforter or sleeping bag from goodwill.

-Tim