Design Walls

[Betty D.]

What is the best material you have found for a design wall? I have seen commercial walls to hang or on stands, and have seen recommendations to use, felt, flannel or batting. What is your experience and what is your preference for a design wall? (I ask because I am about to take over my husband's former office and I'll finally have a space for a design wall. )

Ruth

[Betty D.]

I am so short of space for my quilting area--that I improvised a mini design "wall" out of leaf to my dining table-which has to be propped up against the wall anyway. I cover it with an a off cut of flannel backed table cloth fabric. Might not be the best one of there but it works until I get more space :roll: .

[Betty D.]

How amazing! I was thinking about this very topic this morning. I'm looking forward to seeing some good suggestions. Does anyone have ideas about a design wall in extremely limited space? I barely have any wall space that I can use. Sherry

[Betty D.]

My design wall works great and it wasn't really expensive. I bought a 4 x 8 piece of solid insulation from Home Depot and covered it with a king sized flannel sheet. I wrapped the sheet around the board, pulled it taut, and stapled it to the back. The best part is that, since my sewing room has 8 foot ceilings, I just stood the board up in the room, and it stayed wedged between the floor and ceiling. No marks on the wall!

[Betty D.]

I bought sevearl 4 x 8 sheets of insulation foam board from Lowes about $3 each. I covered two in cream colored felt and stapled them side by side on my sewing room wall, my sewing room use to be a rec room so it's fairly large. Pins stick in the foam board great and the felt holds fabric in place very good. I cut one boad down to 3 x 4 for a portable design wall and then cut out 20" and some 16" squares from the left over for even more portable use. These I covered in gray felt. They are very lightweight and I use the small boards constantly. Also I have a cardboard table top cutting board I bought at Hancock's Fabric, the one that folds up for storage. I covered it in felt and hung twine from it like a necklace. It hangs on a wall like a picture and is great for small spaces. The option are almost endless when you start thinking of what can I cover in felt? Elenore Burns uses the fabric used for headliners in vehicles to cover her design wall.

[Betty D.]

Ok, first don't laugh. :wink: In the past I have used a hooked rug my husband did for my design wall for smaller projects - the yarn holds up the peices very well, even if I did not pin them. Currently I am actually using an old mattress that is leaning on the wall in my workroom - our back bedroom is undergoing a makeover and DH thought that right behind my sewing table was the perfect place to stow the mattresses. :? Well I just started a DWR and found I was getting my mellon units mixed up. The hook rug is WAY too small for a project of this size. Out of frustration I just started pinning the finished units onto the mattress!! Works great!!! We have decided that we are getting a new bed for the room, so I think I will ask DH to salvage the mattress, cover it with a flannel sheet and attach it to the wall somehow.

[Betty D.]

mandysilk, that is a hoot about the mattress. I had to share my sewing space with the guest room, so I would throw the mattress and box spring against the wall until company came. yes, it does make a handy design wall, but it took up precious space. so, because we only have company once a year, I thought "I get more use out of this room than anybody else", so the mattress/box went into the attic and I got a foam core board. 0ne inch thick compared to 20"? you do the math.

[Betty D.]

You gals are too much! Got a problem you can't solve - ask a quilter!!! DH and I have been debating about using this space as a guest room or quilt studio, so the mattress idea is intriguing. Consensus from these posts and my research on the net seems to be to use 4x8 foam insulation and flannel. I found 108 in wide flannel in white and black on line. Maybe I'll make two boards, or make one reversible. What a treat to have the option. Thanks for suggestions.
Ruth

[MaryJo M]

I was talking to my husband about adding a design wall in my "sewing studio" and he quickly started researching... he found a product called blockbutler, a special fabric that sticks to the wall and fabric sticks to it. Has anyone had any experience with it? Or what fabrics work best to use? Flannel, batting, fleece? I had been thinking about the foam core board and flannel before he started looking around. Thanks in advance for your input.

[MaryJo M]

I've read more bad reviews about the Block Butler on quilting forums than good ones. I would wait until that product is improved before investing that much money in it.

[MaryJo M]

Hello! What I did for my design wall is get the widest flannel I could find and sew 2 pieces together so it was wide enough and long enough to cover the wall I was using. I then stapled it to the wall along the top, sides and bottom in various places (used a regular stapler, so holes are very small in case I have to remove it--won't show). It works wonderfully well. It's much cheaper than buying the design walls.

Raggie

[Annette R.]

My sewing/craft room is 10'x20' "Texas Room" (sunroom) attached to our mobile. It has a sliding door in the back which we do not use and in fact keep covered to reduce tha possibillities of someone breaking in . It had been covered with old plywood for a couple of winter seasons because we had health issues that kept us from doing the heavy lifting. This year I decided to make it my design wall. I covered the plywood with batting and then with white flannel. I use the decorator flannel that is about 60 inches wide ( I also use that for batting in a lot of my projects--my great granny used flannel sheets as batting and some of her quilts have survived for almost 100 yrs. so what was good for gr. gran is good enough for me) The flannel has just enough texture to hold things for a short period of time and with the batting I can hold squares up there for quite a while. I love my design wall and am glad to be rid of that ugly plywood showing in my sewing room.

[Annette R.]

I am planning to make or buy one of those tri-fold room divider screens. Then, I'm going to put batting and flannel on one side. It will serve two purposes -- a design wall, and a litter box hider.

Currently, I am using a cheap flannel backed vinyl table cloth tacked to the wall. It holds pretty well and is much cheaper than the folding design walls they sell at the quilt shop.

Take care,
Chelley

[Annette R.]

I have been using a flannel sheet wedged over the top of some book cases and held there with hardback novels. This is not a good system really as the back is not solid so the sheet ripples but it was all I could use at the time. I am now refurbishing and need somethng portable that will stack against those shelves - no wall space big enough for a permanant display although tere is one that I coudl attach a removable one to - I came here to look for Block Bulter reviews - just one mention thought - anyone any more specific reports? Otherwise I am thinking some light foam board hinged and covered in something that sticks to fabric so I can hide the board in the garage when not in use.

[Annette R.]

I made my design wall out of homesote (I would use something lighter if I did it again) and covered it with flannel This worked well but kept falling off my counter--it is heavy so this was not good. I went to Lowes and started talking to one of the men there--told him what I had in mind--I wanted to have something that I could hang from the ceiling (kinda like your closet doors) but I wanted one to go behind the other and if possible to be put on the same track so I could see the quilt uninterrupted. He show me these tracks that are used for sliding closet doors. I now have my design wall hanging in front of the selves hold my fabric. Keeps the light from them and can be moved out of the way when necessary. I would like to make another set and have them hang in front of the ones I have but got to save my pennies! :cry: