Design board
 

I am using a sheet of thick six foot insulation board and am going to cover it with flannel. i was wondering what would be the most economical thing to use? Flannel sheets? Flannel material? Flannel tablecloth? Is there anything else that couldl be used? Thanks and happy sewing!!

I would use a inexpensive flannel-backed tablecloth (you can find them at Wal-Mart) I used felt on mine and it doesn't hold the fabric on it like I would prefer.

Ditto that. The flannel backed tablecloth works great. My material never falls off and it's so inexpensive (that's fancy for cheap!).

Our Dollar Store and Dollar Tree sells flannel backed tablecloths!

Here is a site that tells how to use insulation board for a design wall:

http://www.ohfranson.com/oh_fransso...sign-wall.html

It is a good tutorial for a design wall.

I used black polar fleece for my design wall .... less costly than the flannelette would have been, wider to work with, and after three years of use, I haven't regretted it one little bit!

I have fleece on mine works great (sent my DH to Walmart to buy flannel he came back with the fleece)

I put the Fons & Porter design wall on mine. I love the grid and works really good.

I used the cheap batting from WalMart. Perfect size and everything sticks to it. I also used a 4x8 sheet of sound board.

My 8' x 8' design wall is also covered in flannel....from a bolt of white bought on sale for the middle (batting) of summer quilts and also used for a few of the quilts we sent to the Barracks Quilts Project in 2010-11. The flannel-backed tablecloths I've seen were just not large enough for my use.

Jan in VA

DH made me a design wall of PVC pipe. Two 4' x 6' frames. Then we made a pillowcase like cover for each of them with CHEAP wide flannel on one side and some old crappy fabric on the other. By placing them side by side a client laid out the blocks for an entire queen size quit (without borders). Since I wanted to keep the design up and sew by groups we did use pins to hold in place. It worked fine for the designing part and can be taken apart and reconfigured for different projects.

I use inexpensive batting on my design wall. I think it holds the fabric up better than flannel or felt.

I have a Block Butler and it is great. I'd tried insulation, but the felines who run my house used it to sharpen their claws... major mess... So I invested in the Block Butler and it hasn't left my wall since early February. Everything sticks to it beautifully, without pins, and enables me to really plan colour choices and designs. It is one of those things that makes me wonder how on earth I got along without it!

I ordered one of those & it's still in the package. I need to get that out & up on the wall... it's not doing much good in the package! Do you like yours?

I've heard that cheap batting is really a good design wall. Plus it has some heft to it, more than flannel.

My flannel backed tablecloth works great! Easy to fold up and store when not needed.

I totally agree.

Since I have space limitations in the RV a flannel backed tablecloth is ideal for me to use as a design board. Lay it on the bed and design. If you stop, just fold/roll up the tablecloth and it saves the design for you. When you're ready to work again just unroll it and you're ready to continue.

My foam board has started to bend, I cannot mount it to a wall because of limited wall space in my cubby sewing room. I would glue some wood strips to the back to stabiize the foam board. I used 100% cotton batting instead of the original flannel backed plastic table cloth as the plastic cracked in the cold room (I keep the temp at 55 when not in there.

Of everything I have tried the cotton or poly cotton batting works best. I did find that the Hobbs 80/20 did not work as well

I use the checkered tablecloth from the Dollar store. Works great.

I bought some inexpensive white flannely but polyester thing in the curtain liner department at Joannes - it stapled on great to my frame and doesn't sag. Only prob is it hangs on to fraying threads when I take a piece off it so I have to lightly touch it with tape to unstick the stray threads.

I just used a twin-sized batting.

I don't have a dedicated design wall per se but did hang a flannel sheet on an empty wall and used that. DH not pleased with my solution but I loved it and it worked perfectly. Thanks for the tip about using the crappy batting as I've slowly been using it up in projects but that may be my design wall the next time I need one.

I used white flannel from the upholstery department in Joanns. It's 58 inches wide and worked beautifully to wrap around the sides. Also cost less than quilters flannel.

Sunnye - I LOVE your comment. Most of us are looking for "inexpensive" items that work. Thank you.
Dodee

My design board is a very large sheet of foam insulation board from Lowe's.
I bought a couple of yards of white flannel from Joann's and washed it to shrink up. Then I placed it crosswise on my design board so that I actually have two pieces, the overlap occurring in the middle of the insulation board...I simply pinned it on to the back of the foam insulation board. It was easy to make it nice and tight and I had enough overlap so there was plenty of coverage.
When the bottom section of the flannel gets too dirty or picks up too many threads or "shudder" gets hit by my boy dog as territory (mine has to be moveable-not enought space to mount on wall) I just unpin the bottom portion and throw it in the washer. Perfect. Repin and go on my way. I love this design board as I can either pin things in place due to the thickness of the foam board (about 2 inches) or I can place squares on the flannel and they stick. I wouldn't bother with a flannel table cloth because they wrinkle too much when washed.

I also used some cheap batting to cover my insulation board...works like magic!

I suggest this to... I found one that is striped and use it to line up my rows....

Thanks to someone's suggestion on here, I have a flannel backed tablecloth. I just attached it to the wall with tack (right under the crown molding, so the holes can't be seen) and I love it. $3.97 @ WM. Whoever suggested this is a genius!!!

This site didn't not come up for me...............oh my your Iris is gorgeous.

I use a large bulletin board with cork, then I covered it with some batting and then pull the batting to the back side and sew with needle and lots of long thread to sew it to hold all together on the backside pulling all edges together. I also added a small amount of padding underneath the top batting for extra cushioning. My quilting squares or blocks stick to it, plus the cork board makes it easy to use pins if I want to. To me it is easier to buy cheep batting from Walmart or elsewhere to use......

I used warm and natural batting, has been there for about 10 years...getting to look a little shabby, but it holds everything well.

I use a flannel backed tablecloth pinned to the wall. Works great.

I really like the flannel backed tablecloths because you can fold them and take them with you. I do this when I go to our quilt meetings or am stuck and need some design help. They work great.

Nancy/Ohio

The flannel-backed tablecloth that I have doesn't seem to be holding the blocks well, even with pins, so I'm going to check out the insulation board idea.

I don't live in an RV - yet - but I like that idea of rolling it up and then just unroll and continue when you are ready. :-)

Marysewfun

I used a plain flannel sheet that I got at the Salvation Army for 99 cents and it works quite nicely -and you can't beat the price under $6 for a design board

Don't use felt!!! I used felt on my design wall since it came in a wide width and I didn't want a seam in my design wall. However, fabric does not stick to the felt as well as flannel. Joann's is now carrying a wide width of flannel, but it doesn't come in white or off white. That is why I didn't purchase it originally and went with the felt. Batting works great also, but my design wall rolls up on a roller (over my closet) and I was afraid it would stick to itself too much and not pull down well. My DH made my roller design wall from an outdoor roller shade and I attached the felt to it. Now I am taking the felt off and need to put something else on. Has anyone pieced the flannel for their design wall?