I love my design wall. So much so that I made another one. I bought a piece of insulation at Home Depot - it comes in 4x8 ft sheets and is extremely light weight and cheap. I covered it with flannel using spray glue. It's so light that I can move it around in my sewing room - which is a small bedroom. I made the second one so I would have enough design space for larger quilts.

I also made mine from a light weight insulation board from Lowe's. It's light weight and the size of a sheet of paneling, I turned it side ways, instead of up and down like you would for wall paneling. I wrapped a large sheet of batting and hot glued the edges. Then I hot glued coke tabs to the back and hung it side ways on my sewing room wall. I always have a quilt "in progress on my design board. I love mine and it's cheaper and better than the ready made ones!

I also did the foam board. Lost part of mine on the way home from H.D. though wind caught the front and broke it off. Still ok. I can't bend that far down anyway. Mine is just covered with some thick flannel and nailed into the wall. Its not moving. I would like to have something wider sometimes though. I have the shelves I built for my fabric and I was thinking about getting the roll down shades to cover the front. I would use the roller to remake them with flannel so they could just be rolled back up. I am going to have to try it once I am back on my feet and see how it works.

I love the yard sticks.. neat idea

I would not be without my design wall. Mine is 8' by 16'. I used the shiny insulated backing board (very light weight and about 3/4" thick) you can get at Home Depot for about $10 apiece. Used two pieces...covered them with batting and secured batting on back with duct tape. Placed two covered boards side by side on one wall in sewing room and secured with deck screws. Fabric sticks to batting and you can also push pins in since it is foam. My design wall is large enough for me to actually layer my quilts...my backing, batting, quilt top and spraying each layer with adhesive. No more crawling on floor to prepare quilt and no more pinning!

I just bought a flannel backed table cloth for now, material sticks to it really well. Spent $5.00 at wal-mart.

I recently made a design board from foam insulating board bought at Home Depot, 4' x 8'. I had them score it length wise, but not all the way through. I did need to cut down a little because my ceilings are not 8' high. At home I covered it with flannel using making tape on the back to secure. When folded, it fits behind my door out of the way. Couldn't flip the picture, but you get the idea.

It is called "polystyrene sheathing" and does Not have foil on one side. Go to "Google IMAGES" and type that term in to see lots of pictures of it. It comes in pink sheets or blue sheets, depending on the manufacturer. Likely people in the Big Box Store will call it, "Rigid Insulation". One brand is "Foamular". This is a common building material which should be readily available at Home Depot, Lowes, or any Lumber Yard. If you get it at a lumber yard, where they go out to their yard to get the product, tell them that this is for a craft project and you need a CLEAN board(s).

They come in various thicknesses. I made one design wall with the one inch thick and one that is two inches thick. If I were starting over, I would do them both in two in thick, as occasionally I will pin into it and I've felt my pins go all the way through the one inch to the wall.

Here's a link with specifics on how I made mine, if that's helpful:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/athomesewing/2726109619/

Dama this is what I was thinking about doing. I saw this somewhere, but now can't find it. I have a closet that my hubby will be using for his "hunting stash" and I would like to hang it in front of that. It seems like it would be easy to roll it up out of the way when he needs to get in there. The inspiration picture I saw used a large ROLL patio shade made from plastic. I think they actually attached the batting to it by sewing it on the sides by hand. Has anybody seen this or used it? and does it work or not? TIA for any hints! Pegg

I have a block butler: http://www.blockbutler.com/cart/ and I absolutely love it. I use a spray bottle to moisten it with water when I stick something to it and it works like a champ.