I now have an empty wall in my sewing room for a design wall. I would like some ideas on how to make a nice one, rather than just hanging up a vinyl tablecloth with the felted side out. I do have good DIY (Do It Yourself) skills.

My dream design wall:

corkboard tiles (so I could thumb tack inspiration pictures, too), covered with thick flannel, surrounded by picture molding so it looks finished. Then above the design wall, near the ceiling, I would hang a decorative curtain rod with gorgeous finials. Use clips on the rings to hang a display quilt that can be moved out of the way when the design board is in use.

If you have pets, I would recommend washable flannel or other fabric. Years ago I hung Warm n Natural batting. This was a magnet for cat fur, especially where they rubbed up against the edges!

I bought two 4 x 8 x 1/2 sheets of insulform board from Lowe's. It has a silver side. I stapled felt on each one and then using a staple gun attached them to the wall with them butting up horz. I have big wall. The staples won't put noticeable holes in your wall and easy to take out. They go right through the foam board and hold it securely.

I like this idea. How do you put staples through foamboard into wall. Long staples?

Great idea here about the display/cover curtain! My mind just won't shut off when I've gotten design wall in full use...it hypnotizes me and draws me like a magnet! So being able to put the WIP out of sight without taking it down would be such a benefit....and it would be a way to have a "secret" project available to me without the recipient being banned from the area. I'm definitely borrowing your dream for my next space.
Thanks for sharing!

I did something similar to BellaBoo. I got a 4 x 8 sheet of insulation board from Lowes and covered it in batting. Then I got cream colored flannel at Walmart that was really wide (maybe 90"??) and wrapped it over the batting and stapled it on the back. The whole thing is really lightweight. I hung it on the wall with 2 long screws that I put through a washer first. One thing I learned is that you can't screw through the flannel; the flannel will wrap around the screw. So poke a hole first for the screw to go through. Have fun - you (and your knees) will love the result.

I used a Craftsman staple gun not a desk stapler. I found it on hubby's workbench and it's one of my favorite tools. I have recovered my sewing chair many times, just staple new fabric around the seat.

The gun is very powerful, the staples will go through the foam board right into the wall.

My design board is similar to what Bellaboo and Chay have done. Bought 4 x 8 insulation foamboard at Lowe's. My insulation board is pink and it cost less than $10....anyway I used fleece to cover it. The fabric sticks to the fleece and I don't have to use pins very often, but when I do need to pin - they go in and out of that foamboard very easily. I use my design board horizontally instead of vertically....I have a long wall, and it just leans up against the wall instead of being attached. I used white fleece on 1 end and black fleece on the other end, so it is like having 2 design boards that are 4 x 4. Sometimes I like to audition pale or pastel fabrics against black - white seems to drain the color right out of pastels. I forgot to mention that I used straight pins to attach the fleece so I can remove it and wash it anytime I need to.

My design wall is very much like everyone else', except I was lucky enought to 'bump' into a bunch of old wooden yard sticks form a sewing store that went out of business .... must have been in the 70's... because the phone number is something like Mayflower 7253...( I'd have to look at them to tell you what they really say..) When's the last time anyone heard a phone number like that? Last time for me was in the late 60's in Detroit Michigan. I use the yard sticks as a frame. since I make so many scrap quilts, it helps me with size. .. Before that, I made a couple too long , but not wide enough, think of a super long twiggy not quite twin.

I like the foam board ideas too!!! Light weight and easily attached sound like the way to go :D:D:D

Sounds like a great idea.

I don't have a sewing room or a spare wall so I use the floor. Not ideal, but it works for me.

Thank you for all the great ideas for a design board. A site was forwarded to me which I would like to share about design boards. It has other great quilting links too.

http://www.quiltmaker.com/articles/b..._a_design_wall

I made one w/a piece of pink styrofoam type insulation board from Lowe's. I nailed it to my wall w/big headed nails. Then I covered it in cotton quilt batting. You can kind of see it in my avatar photo on the right. It's been up for about 4 years now~love it! still haven't changed the batting or anything.... XO Sandra

Here's links to a photo of mine, and in the comments section is specifics of how I made it.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/athomesewing/2726109619/

Here's a couple of pics w/things on my wall. I'll look and see what that board is called. It's almost like a big, huge BOOGIE BOARD to take to the beach! lol You know how those floats feel. Well, go to Lowe's and get a big sheet of that type of styrofoam board and cover it with quilt batting and tack it on the wall. very simple. (I guess you could use flannel too, but I used cotton batting) These things are just sticking to it, no pins.... You can see some strings from all the years of use, but I use it every day and it's held up pretty good. Good luck! Have fun! Sandra

I just love the yardstick idea! I always see pretty colored ones at the store = I think I'll get a bunch in all different colors to frame my board. Pretty AND practical!

Everyone seems to use something different for the top--fleece, batting, flannel. What seems to work best for everyone?

Here is a suggestion
http://www.cherylannsdesignwall.com/

I tried flannel on my first one but didn't like it. I tried felt next and love it.

I ordered the large size in one of these and I liked it, but at some point I had some of the elastic things pull out that help snap the tupes together. Several months ago I got my husband to help me and we put the tubes together that hold it in shape, but not the legs. Then dh put picture hooks on the wall and we just hung it up. It has worked great and holds fabric pieces with no pins.

A suggestion for anyone looking for fabric to cover a design wall would be flannel printed with a grid. I saw this on Alex Anderson's show, tracked it down and got a big piece. I use it to lay things out and had originally planned to put it on the wall, before I did the Cheryl Ann's thing. :D

I bought a piece of tablecloth vinyl. It has a flannel back. I hung it on a rod that I can raise or lower, and it works good for me.

Eleanor Burns' son made her one out of car header (fabric that goes on car ceilings (or at least used to). He framed it very nicely, I just bought about 1 1/2 yards of the stuff at JoAnns
and tacked it to a wall in my sewing room. It has a clingy texture which holds fabric pieces.

My hubby just made me a design wall a few months back and I love it. We used the foam board (insulation board) from the hardware...we used the thicker board, I think it is 3/4 or 1 inch. My design wall is 6ft x 6ft. We bought 2 boards and cut them 3ft x 6 ft, covered them with batting which was cut to fit and only covered the front of the board to the edge. (glued that down with glue from Walmart, can ask my hubby if you need that info). <br>We then covered the batting with flannel and that was cut to wrap around the edge of the board and cover the back about 3 inches all the way around. I tacked the flannel to the front of the board with thumb tacks and then flipped it over and we glued the 3 inch flannel edge to the back of the board with the same glue. We spread it with a sponge paint brush and then just pressed the flannel to it and it stuck held and dried very well. After it was all dry my hubby screwed both pieces of the board to my sewing room wall with 3 long screws along the top piece and two down the side. The bottom board had 3 screws along the bottom and two up the sides. Hubby bought large washers about as big around as a 50 cent piece to use to keep the screws from being pulled thru the coreboard. He even painted the washers the same creme color as the flannel and after screwing it all to the wall he got a piece of paper and made a little hole and spray painted the head of the screw so it all matched. You barely notice where the screws and washers are. The design wall works great and I am really glad I used the batting behind the flannel to cover the boards. I will take a picture and post it as soon as I can if anyone is interested. I just love it and when I am not using it for quilting I use it to put up photos of my grand kids with a few stick pins. So it serves as a big bulletin board too.

if you need to put you desine board away i would make it out of foam insulation and make it a screen it is simple three boards the same size with hindges attached than it can be folded and put away if you need to it also makes it portable if you take your sewing on a trip with you i take my machine and everthing in the camper with me just love quilting

I just got the Connecting Threads catalog and they have Fons & Porter's design wall on sale. It is flannel with brass grommets that can be used to hang it up. It is 5' by 6' and is on sale for $20.

You might look at it to get ideas or see if this is what you want. I imagine it would work well if you need something that could come down and be moved easily.

Just thought you might check it out... :-D

Oh, they have books on sale, too!

I made my like Eleanor Burns, blue insulation board and car header fabric. The little threads don't stick to it like with the flannel/felt, etc. I didn't have to buy a whole role, my friend that owns the LQS store I love had her husband build a big wall and she's let me have enough to build my half wall. I took pictures, just have to upload them tomorrow.

What color is the header fabric?

My design wall is made from a buck board we don't use with our bed anymore. We have a pedestal bed, with drawers underneath, and if we used the buck board, the box spring and the mattress, we would be sleeping right up next to the ceiling! :shock: For those of you who don't know what a buck board is--it's the board that goes in between the box spring and the mattress. We have an oversized queen. The box spring is regular queen sized, and the buck board is the same size as the mattress and sits on top of the box spring. Anyway, after that long explanation, we took the buck board and covered it with flannel. We have it leaning against the wall in the basement right outside my sewing room. It is the same size as the mattress top, and works great! I love it when I can repurpose something like that!