I've made up custom little sidestand parking plates for many years and carry them on all my bikes. I started out using scraps of steel plate, moved on to aluminum, but finally arrived at what I consider to be the ultimate or best choice - aluminum diamond plate. It's stronger than plain flat plate and the diamonds grab the foot of the stand so it doesn't readily slide off the plate. Like Fred, I attach line to the plate, but don't feel the couple yards worth he uses is called for. I use just enough to reach the footpeg .....
I don't use knots either, I braid eye splices into each end of the line. The plate end gets a very small one, attaching the line through a hole in the corner of the plate. The other end gets one large enough to slip on the footpeg rubber.