Design Walls

[Lilo B.]

I love this idea :shock: It's like shopping for those large carpets. And it keeps the fabrics from the sun. Can you send photos of yours? I would love to see them in your studio.

Lilo

[Lilo B.]

I love this idea :shock: It's like shopping for those large carpets. And it keeps the fabrics from the sun. Can you send photos of yours? I would love to see them in your studio.

Lilo

I can try. It will have to wait until tomorrow though. ritzy

[Linda V.]

I have a 6' wide, 6' tall bookcase which holds my fabric. I am going to put velcro across the top, and put a piece of batting on it. Then I will put a piece of velcro on the top side of the batting, and place a fabric curtain on top of that. That way, threads that adhere to the batting won't look nasty when the design wall is not in use, and the curtain looks good when company comes (my sewing studio is in my family room).
Linda in NJ

[Pamela T.]

I just have a small room for my sewing, all wall space is taken with shelves. So I made a design wall using 1/2" pvc pipe, the connectors that go with it in the same size. Then just used flannel for the wall part. This is portable, easy to take apart and put together. Mine is 5' square, and has a pole going from the center top in back to the floor to support it. Works great and is very inexpensive to make. I even made a smaller one just to use for block layout.
Pam ( aka Tnhoney)

[Eileen K.]

Pam,
I think I wrote to you asking about this. I have to get hubby to get on the ball and do this for me :lol:
eileenkny 8)

[Eileen K.]

I also bought the 4 x 8' insulation board and at first it was a nightmare! I barely got it in my van. It's too tall for most of the ceilings in the house so I had to lay it sideways. That took up way too much room in any of our rooms. I don't have the use of a full-time sewing room.

I finally cut it into 4 2' x 4' sections and this has worked fairly well. I usually keep 2 of them standing against the wall next to my ironing board. Right now they have my 3 BOM blocks pinned on. The third is covered with a piece of flannel. I can stack them 4 deep when I need them out of the way or spread them across the front of the tv cabinet when I need a large area. I can take one into the other room right next to my sewing machine. Portable!

I also use a flannel backed table cloth. It's a great portable design wall for taking to retreats. I look forward to the day when I have a real sewing room and can mount these 4 pieces side by side and cover the whole thing with flannel. Nancy in NY

[Lynn K.]

Had to laugh, NancyAnn, because I went to Lowe's last week and bought the 4x8' core foam board and took it out to my Subaru Forrester to take home, never having given a minute's thought as to how I would get it home!

I also had a bunch of other stuff in the car (like a dog crate) so as I was struggling with the thing in the brisk breeze, a nice gentleman came over and helped me squeeze it in after the seats were down, etc.

Talk about poor planning! :lol: :lol:

Glad I don't do my quilts that way!!!

[Lynn K.]

At the moment I'm using the unused jigsaw puzzle folder. I has two smaller additional boards inside too that are useful and the whole thing is a neutral grey colour. Not huge I know but it helps with blocks.

[Anne B.]

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.

I bought a Block Butler to take to guild retreats. It was kind of frustrating because stuff kept falling off it. It also fell off the wall if I put anything heavy on it, like a bunch of blocks that had been sewn together. I finally gave up and bought a piece of gridded flannel for retreats, instead.

I have the same gridded flannel on my permanent design wall at home. I have a large cabinet with heavy oak sliding doors, which are covered with donacona and then the gridded flannel. I can stick pins in the donacona. It's the perfect solution for me. You can see pictures of it in my profile.

Anne in Vancouver, Canada

[Eileen K.]

What is donacona? I have never heard of it before.
eileenkny

[Anne B.]

What is donacona? I have never heard of it before.
eileenkny

It might be spelled "donnacona" rather than "donacona," Eileen. I can't find an authoritative source. "Donnacona" seems to be a generic name rather than a brand name. Most building supply stores in my area carry it, but no one seems to be able to tell me who makes it!

It's a type of fibreboard that's used in sound insulation. It's half an inch thick and very light--you need a frame to hold it stable, or you need to attach it permanently to a wall or door, because it will break if you don't.

Anne in Vancouver, Canada

[Hannelore N.]

I don't really have a design wall, but my solution suits me.

The room where I do most of my quilting has several large windows. Some years ago I bought very cheap floor length calico (I think you call it muslin in the US) curtains from IKEA. There are six panels, each of them 1.40m wide and 2m long. I just close some of them and pin fabrics, blocks and quilts to them. I never run out of design wall space.

Lorchen