Design wall questions...I want one in my sewing room
 

I have read online several ideas about a design wall, but can't make up my mind what works best to keep the blocks on the wall without falling off. What do you use to cover the styrofoam insulation? I have read some people use anti-pill fleece, flannel or felt, other have said Warm and Natural batting works.

I would like your opinions and also photos of your design wall. I have wall space of 82" x 82" to mount the design wall.

What worked best for you to apply your covering to the styrofoam.....staples, duct tape, glue, etc.?

I have also read using Command mounting strips work to mount the styrofoam to the wall....I can't put nails in the wall.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated! I am tired of running to the spare bedroom to lay out my blocks, then have to remove them if the kids come for the weekend. We have a small dog so laying blocks on the floor is not an option either.

Thanks in advance.

As my sewing room is the kitchen table, I have a portable wall. I went o JF, purchased about 2.5 yards of "Picnic Table" fabric (about 64 inch wide), stapled it onto a 1 x 2 board with a mounting hole on each end, and 2 large nails in the wall to hold it up. But those 3M Command Hooks should work well.
This back side of this fabric holds quite well, although it is a bit narrow, I can roll it up and move it to a closet when not in use.
Mike

I have the styrofoam insulation covered in white felt using quilting pins. I've had it 5 years and have been very happy with it. It's leaning on the wall in front of a light switch so I can't mount it on the wall, but I like your idea about the command strips.

My design wall is also portable. I used two 4' x 8' pieces of that green insulation board that Lowes sells. I laid one on top of the other and then used duct tape to tape them together at one edge. Next I opened them out and taped on the flip side of the duct taped edge making a good strong duct tape hinge between the two pieces. This gave me a wall that is 8 feet square when opened, but it can be folded to 8' x 4' if I need to move it from one room to another. It is not mounted to the wall since there is a dresser and a wardrobe in the way. Instead it leans against those two pieces of furniture and I use a couple of weights against the bottom edge to keep it from sliding. The insulation foam board is about 1" thick and is rigid enough to pin into even though the top part of the wall is not supported (it's taller than both pieces of furniture).

My wall is covered in black felt which came off a roll I already had. I used 505 spray adhesive to mount the felt to the boards on the front and pulled it around to the back and secured using duct tape. The advantage for me of using this type of board is that it can be pinned into. Individual squares stick to it without pinning, but if you want to hang a large top on it you can pin into it. I have also used mine for blocking art quilts. To do that I pin a piece of white cloth (a white flat sheet works fine) to the wall. Then using a 16 inch square ruler and a water soluble marker I mark one corner. This gives me a good right angle to use for drawing the lines that are the proper length and width of the finished quilt-- use the square ruler at each corner as you get to them. Next I pin the quilt to the wall using the drawn lines as a guide to get it good and square, spritz with water so it is damp (being careful not to spray your drawn lines) and manipulate any parts of the quilt that are still not square, or that don't lie flat. Let dry over night.

The black felt works fine for auditioning layouts, borders, etc. if they are made using light to medium dark colored fabrics.
I pin a piece of warm and natural or white fusible fleece to a section of the wall if I I am working with dark colored blocks or to audition dark borders on a quilt.

Flannel or warm and natural batting would work just as well. I'll try to post some pictures later today.

Rob

my design wall is covered by a vinyl flannel backed tablecloth. with the flannel facing out
it holds the fabric with out pins

Like Joset, I used a flannel backed tablecloth to pin to the wall with flannel side out. It's been on my wall for several years. If my blocks or whole quilt don't want to stay, I spray the wall with 505. Also if it's a whole quilt, I pin it to the wall. If I ever get around to it, I like the idea Ryder has.

I use a flannel backed table cloth. Found it on sale after a holiday. Command strips hold it on the wall pretty good

like rob, i use black felt. in my current home i have no room large enough for strictly sewing, so use the dining room for piecing, kitchen counter for fmq on my domestic machine. last home i had large piece of heavy duty cardboard from refrigerater packing box. no Lowes in that town & no insulating foam at local hardware store. i glued the felt to the cardboard & then we attached it to wall of spare bedroom. it would hold blocks w/o pins, had to pin the pieced quilts as it grew during assembly. it lasted for 15 yrs and would still be there if we hadn't moved. i currently have a large piece of black flannel hanging over deck door/windows in my dining room. i put a hem in bottom for rod to hold out straight. i put hem at top, attached those little plastic rings for crochet etc and placed push pin hooks into wall above door frame. out of site and be minimal repair when we move again. it has worked very well for several years now, but i really really like robs idea for portable wall (note #4 above) and will think of some way i can make it work for my house of cubicles. putting it away for dinner guests would not be as easy as taking down my felt panel & rolling it up for the occassional dinner guests or house full of visitors.
...but i'll think of something. thanks rob! such a great idea!!

Mine is tentest covered with black fleece.
A full wall is covered, about 7-1/2'x10'.
I wrapped the fleece around the 4'x8' boards, tacking in place with duct tape.
The boards were screwed onto the wall to hold in place.
Yes permanently ... that was not an issue for me, but for some, it could be.

With the off cuts, I made smaller portable design walls.
You can never have enough design walls!!!
The smallest is single block size which works nicely at the sewing machine and ironing board.

Why black? ... I hated how design walls that I saw were looking so grubby and thread covered.
Yes, the black gets thread on it, but IMHO does not look as terrible as the white ones do.
A lint brush takes off the threads easy enough, but I don't do that very often.
The black shows the blocks nicely.

Pieces, blocks and even full sized quilts stick to the wall nicely without any pins.
However, I do put a few pins in for a larger one .... just in case!
Would sooner do that, than to walk back into the room and find a jumbled mess!
Pins are used when I want to pin up a pattern or notes to the design wall.
Or when I have PP blocks made, but papers not yet removed.
So it is important to make sure that what you use, that pins can be used.

When I started my DJ, I knew it would be for the long haul, so I made another design wall.
This one is corroplast with white fleece on it. Yes, white, as the background fabric is white.
It's lightweight and hangs simply from picture hangers/hooks from the ceiling to the floor.

While mine is never taken down, this would work perfectly for someone who needs to have a design wall that can go away. It could hang in your room, and then slide behind a piece of furniture when it needs to get out of the way! With only picture hooks virtually no traces are left behind!

The only regret I have about my design walls .... why didn't I have them sooner?

There's lots of variations as to what you can do that can work for your circumstances.

Once you take the step, I am sure you will never regret it and say the same as I .... why didn't I have them sooner?

pictures of my design wall
 

Here are the pics showing my design wall.
The first pic shows it set up in my sewing area. It is 8' x 8'. Notice the weights at the bottom which keep it from sliding as it is just leaning against two pieces of furniture.

The second pic shows the duct tape "hinges" and the duct taped felt where it overlaps the back side. You could also staple into the duct tape for added hold. By hinging it, I can fold it to move it out of the room if needed, and I can easily access the chest of drawers and the wardrobe that it leans against.

The third pic shows that the top is unsupported because it is taller than either of the pieces of furniture it leans against. The chest of drawers is beside the wardrobe and is considerably shorter than the wardrobe, but the design wall is very sturdy anyway.

Please pardon my rats nest of a studio LOL

Rob

Meant to say that it is very light and easy to move, even for just one person. Also, the foam can be cut to fit any size you want. Mine cost less than $40 including a new roll of super duper duct tape and the 505 spray.

Rob

i sew in the basement, and hung some warm and natural on a set of shelves - 8ft wide....

i like the w&n because it has some body and weight to it. Eventually, i turned the batting the other way so that it covers the entire width of the shelves.

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I've had 2 pcs of foam insulation covered with offwhite flannel for a design wall for years. I do have to use pins if the a/c is on because it blows the blocks off the board :D I have never mounted mine to the wall. I just stand them next to it. I like it that way because I can move them where I want. If I'm working on a big project the stand them next to each other so I can spread things out, but if I'm working on a lap quilt I stack them one in front of the other and just use one.

When mounting on the wall, I would suggest raising it higher than your dog. That way you don't end up with dog fur on the bottom of the design wall, from your dog brushing up against it.

I have styrofoam insulation boards, which I really like, covered with batting. My problem is we have cats who absolutely LOVE to shred styrofoam and batting. I can't leave it up. :(

Edit: I found that large blocks, and sewed rows of blocks, do not like to adhere by themselves even with the design wall tilted. Smaller blocks do not have this problem. Anyway, I like the styrofoam because I can pin into it. I would recommend bringing some pins with you when buying the backing board to make sure you can easily pin into it.

My design wall is a piece of flannel thumb tacked to the wall. Works fine unless the window is open, then the pieces fly. I also have a small block board, a piece of 2'×2' sanded plywood from Home Depot covered with Warm & Natural batting. I love the block board, that has saved me so much ripping time.

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You can see both the design wall & block board in this picture, plus the area is tidy for a change:-)

I posted this recently:
https://www.quiltingboard.com/missio...l-t288480.html

Keep it simple. I tacked a large piece of W&N on my wall. Easy and quick. Don't need pins or foam or anything else. Blocks just stick to the batting.

At one point I had flannel on the wall, but anytime someone walked by, or the dog wagged his goofy tail, everything would fall off. I don't have that problem with W&N, it's very sticky.

I bought Velcro tape with one side sew on and one side stick on. I put the adhesive part on the wall at the top. I sewed the sew on part to a huge piece of fleece fabric - not the anti-pill. It holds everything except a sewn together quilt. I never pin blocks or rows or columns. The only thing that will remove a few blocks is a certain Border Collie's tail. The advantage? Easily removed for holiday dinners and quickly replaced - it's in my family room, so I prefer to have the wall uncovered when I have a lot of company.

My son in law put up a rod 12ft wide plus stuck command hooks underneath. I have the fons n porter wall up & I use hangers for pants to put on the big plastic rod to hold sewn strips up so I can see what they look like b4 I sew the whole thing together. Works for me was very reasonable

I recently purchased two insulation boards at Lowe's or Home Depot and used Gorilla tape to join them in the middle. I then covered it with inexpensive batting from Joann's using a staple gun to pull the batting taut. I have not yet had the opportunity to secure it to the wall so it's just leaning up against it for the time being. I followed a tutorial...maybe YouTube.

Can you PM me? I would like to share what I have that works, is "cleanable" and can be put up and taken down in less than a minute.............

It sure would be nice if you would share with everyone!
Always looking for more ideas ...............

I use the Styrofoam boards with headliner attached to it following Eleanor Burns tutorial. I don't know how in the world she uses it without pins because my projects fall off constantly if I don't pin. I have had it for years and when I moved I didn't attach it to the wall it just leans up against it. I may have to try the command hooks.

I also use Warm and Natural, stuck to the wall with giant push pins. I know you said you can't use pins, but I just wanted to say that the W & N works great for me as far as "fabric stickiness" goes. I can put a whole twin size quilt top (~ 65"x 80") on there and it stays stuck without pins. Anything bigger needs help.

My only problem is that that room's ceiling is very low, only 6.5', so the bottom of the quilts hang on the floor. First world problems. :rolleyes: It is almost the entire width of the room though (8'+), so that's really nice. I have room to stick some small projects on there too, in addition to the current WIP.

At some point, I would like to have a portable and taller design wall, but for now, this works for me.

Rob, I LOVE both of those quilts on your design wall! Especially the one on the right. :)

Mine is Warm and Natural and I love it. I showed it to my sister and she was amazed. The pieces stay on very nicely.

Since I only need a portion of the wall most of the time, I have 2 insulation sheets covered in felt. On the backside I have attached several pieces of duct tape so that the sheets can be opened when I need the full size and stay together or I can only use one when they are 'folded together. This way they can be used in the workroom or moved to the big room when I want to work there.

My sewing room is small and crowded. Add to that two windows, two 24 inch closet doors, and one pocket door. Wall space is non-existant (almost). But I've been playing with the idea to use the pocket doors. I want to add cup hooks above the door frame, and add a flannel backed table cloth with buttonholes sewn where the cup hooks are. Maybe will sew a narrow pocket to the bottom and slide in a dowel rod for extra stability. Anyone thing this will work???

Love all the ideas. I'm thinking I am at the point that I would love a design wall-- I'm so tired of laying everything out on the living room floor!

I too use a flannel backed tablecloth ... I have binder clips at the top to hang it up on command hooks. If blocks don't stay put I use a few pins ... it is portable from my hallway to my travel trailer. Simple, cheap and portable!

My design "wall" is really over one of my windows. We cut solid insulation to fit the window (cut for 3" x 3" holes in it so that the window doesn't sweat). Then I hung white flannel on a curtain rod over the insulation (they are each separate from the other). This works well for me. It is about 48" x 48". The flannel runs down farther than the window and I just pine those blocks on if I need them there.

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I bought a large foam board. My husband cut it in half. I covered it with white flannel, wrapped the edges to the back and taped them with wide masking tape. I chose not to mount them because it makes them portable. I use one for smaller quilts and for larger quilts I set two of them side by side. I just prop them up along my sewing room wall. When not in use, they fit perfectly behind my sewing room door.

I mounted a long designer curtain rod over my sliding closet doors. My wall space is limited and that was the only available space to have a design wall. I started out with a large flannel sheet and it works fine, but, I am thinking of making a felt one instead. It would be nice not to have to pin the blocks on.

I take it down when it is not in use. That way I can use the rod the hang clothing on ironing day or to hang items that need repair or altering. My fabric stash and many tools are stored in my closet, and I hated drawing the design board up like a drape to one side. Especially if I had blocks on it. So I put it up only when I need it and keep it folded up when I don't.

By the way lilbitoheaven, I like how you used your baker's rack for your rulers and machine storage.

I used insulation boards, mounted on the wall by hubby and 5 yr old grdsn helping. I put flannel on it, and have to use pins. at the time I didn't want to spend the money on felt. but like the idea of the tablecloths, and using the back side. my straight pins work just fine tho.

My husband built an easel with horizontal bars at two heights, and on it I put a 4'x6' 1/2" foam board covered with white flannel, which I pin around to the back. I can use the board in whatever orientation I need, and it all works just fine.

I use Warm and Natural attached to insulation board with duct (duck?) tape. Mine just leans against the closet/wall and I move it when I need to. It has worked great since I started quilting, which was 7 years ago. The board I bought had the pink panther on the back and was 4 feet by 8 feet. I cut about a foot off of the top, and now I wish I hadn't.

I have added a picture of it, in case that is helpful.

Dina

I used to have a flannel sheet attached to the wall but when I moved and set up I didn't have wall space so I watched craiglist and picked up an office divider that had cloth on it but fabric wouldn't stay stuck so I used the same flannel sheet to cover it with and stretched tight and thumb tacked onto back side trim. If you have floor space.

I used two pieces of 2" foam insulation and W&N for mine. The W&N holds perfectly. I also drew a level line across the center of the boards after they were hung so I could line things up nice and straight. Using 2" foam allows me to use any length straight pins, which lay completely flat when I push them in, instead of sticking out.
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My design wall is a layer of headliner foam, covered by a layer of batting, covered by a layer of flannel; all thumbtacked up to the wall.

Things stick to the flannel pretty well, though I do slide a few pins in if I'm putting up anything larger than a couple blocks.

I also tend to work on multiple things at once, so often I will decide I need "more" design wall - usually I don't want to take down what's up there but I want to work on something else - in that situation I pin a large old bedsheet up over the current work and then roll out another spare batting I keep on hand and pin that over the whole shebang - now I have a fresh design wall layer! If I need to get at the layer below I can just pull the bottom of the bedsheet out a bit (it's very long) and fold it over the bottom of my new design wall and then roll those two layers up - the sheet keeps the blocks from sticking to the wrong side of the batting and it can all be unrolled again neatly when I am ready to go back to project #2.

It's a little crazy sounding but it really works for me. I often have "my own" project going but work on simpler things with my "students" so it's very useful for me to be able to switch between projects or create a fresh space for someone else's work to temporarily reside.

And yes, I thrive in chaos. LOL!

DSIL made my design wall. He built a frame using 2 pieces of insulation board and 1x2 pieces of wood around the outside and in the middle of each piece of insulation board. I attached warm and natural using hot glue. DSiL then attached the whole thing to studs in my sewing room and there is stayed for 15 years. When we moved 3 years ago, we took it down and moved it to my new sewing room. I had to replace the W&N because it got really dirty, but the insulation board was in great shape. I use pins if I am using long strips, but for blocks I don't need anything.

Hubby put up my design wall today! I will love it, no more laying loose blocks on the bed or floor for the dog to walk on. The large one measures 81" wide x 48" long. I had limited room on the wall so we had to cut off 15" of the 4' x 8' insulation board. I did not want to waste the small 15" x 48" piece we cut off the main insulation board, so I made a small design board.
It's is not big enough for an entire quilt, but it's a start. I plan on putting up another design board to mount on the "empty" wall to the left of the current large design wall. We used gorilla tape to attach the Warm & Natural batting to the board and then mounted the boards with Command strips, since we could not nail into the wall. Thank you for all of your replies and suggestions, it made this project much easier with your help!

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