Design wall
 

Who here has a design wall? Did you make it yourself and what materials did you use? I'm limited on height (my quilt room is an upstairs loft, and the walls are about 4 feet tall at the most. I went to a quilting retreat earlier this year, and realized how important this thing is! :)

Thanks!

I don't really have a design wall designated. I lay things out on top of my bed on a flannel vinyl-backed table cloth. I also have taken it and attached it to hangers that have clips for pants, then hang it on the curtain rod on my double window which has about 4 supports It isn't heavy. If I need to take it down but don't want to move any of the blocks, I can just roll/fold it up, take hangers off the rod and put on a shelf or off to the side. very portable.

I made a design board. I used a 4' x 4' piece of peg board, put a layer of batting on it, and then covered it with a table cloth, fuzzy back side out. I used a stapler to attached the covering. I then put a board (1x2") across the back near the top that nests with a 1x2" board on my wall so I can hang the board or lift it off and put it anywhere in the room I want.

We used a sheet of insulation board (the pink stuff from Johnson/Manville--pink panther logo--found at home improvement stores). Covered it with felt and hung it on the wall. It could also be leaned against the wall if you have low ceilings or if you want to move it around. The insulation board comes in 4x8 foot sheets but is easy to cut down to whatever size you need and it's lightweight. The guys at the store will even cut it for you if you smile real nice and say please!

2 yards of ivory fleece, 1 package of Velcro. The Velcro package was one side sew on and one side stick on. The stick on went on the wall - the sew on went on the fleece, so my wall is 60" x 72" and easily removable. The fleece holds very well unless a certain Border Collie clears the lower area with her tail.

I used a 4' x 8' white sheet of insulation board that I bought at the Home Depot. It is easily cut (watch those do it yourself shows on DIY or HGTV) I covered it with a neutral flannel. I thought I would want to wash it so I used safety pins on the edges of the fabric and took some jewelry jute and thread it back and forth for a tight fit. Insulation is the best since it is lightweight and you can stick pins in it. I have had it for over 10 years and I have never even thought of washing it. I just use one of those lint roller I got at JAF with a 60% off coupon and it seems to do the trick. Good Luck!!

Ditto except I used duct tape to attach the flannel. I too have it loose so I can move it around.

I use a flat flannel sheet suspended from three skirt hangers that are hung on command hooks high up on my wall. Read about this somewhere on the internet and it works okay for me, though I wish it were a little more stable. Since it isn't secured on the sides or bottom it moves or ripples a little but it's okay.

I got a piece of felt (60" wide) at Joanns when on sale and sewed a channel on each end and then inserted a rod I could hang it from in my sewing space. Easy to take down and not much mounting on the wall.

That's how mine is too, inexpensive and works well.

My husband made mine I covered it in flannel. It takes up most of one wall.

I bought two sheets of the 4' x 8' "pink panther" board at HD. Had to cut a few inches off each of them with a razor knife as we have 8' ceilings. Then bought a king-size fleece blanket on sale. Cut it in two and it easily covered each. "Laced" it together on the back of each with string. I just have them leaning against the wall. Can easily take them to the basement if I want to when company stays in the room. Pins go in easily when you need to make things more stable. A quick swipe with the lint roller is all that is needed to get the inevitable threads off. If I didn't have these, a flannel backed tablecloth would be my choice.

Flannel sheet, curtain rod in sleeve on top and bottom to keep it hanging straight. Hung up using several large command hooks.

We just did an 8 ft high by 10 foot wide design wall in my sewing room. Husband found 1/2 inch sound insulation board which we trimmed to fit and then I covered with Warm and Natural batting. It is good to use either a basting spray or light adhesive but not 100% necessary. I pulled around the back and stapled down. Then we screwed into furring strips on the wall. These were only necessary since we wanted to go over the molding that was along the floor.

The Warm and Natural is sturdy enough to pull smooth without making holes and it looks great and things stick. I can layout a whole quilt on the wall by just smoothing the pieces in place. Heavier blocks and chuncks are easily pinned in place. The batting which was on sale was the best choice for me.

Same here with insulation board. I have one of those houses too. Ours has a barn roof, so the walls angle. I cut my board at 6'. Because it is so light, you can move it anywhere. I put a flannel backed tablecloth on it & used large binder clips to hold it in place.

that is what i am doing now. i put hooks in top hem and then hang it from those press in angled picture hanger things that i have put into top of trim arounf deck door. i hace a 1/2" wood dowel from ace hardware in bottom hem to hold it out straight. easy to take down when we have company at meal times. then hang it right back up again. last house i had a spare bedroom for a sewing room. we had bought a new refrigerater and i used the packing carton covered with felt for a design board. hubs & i screwed it to wall w wide washers. it hung and was still in excellent condition when i moved after 13 years. in fact it was so rigid still that i had a little trouble taking it down by myself :)).

Wow - I can't go wrong with all these answers! Thanks ya'll so much!!

I went to Home Depot and bought a piece of foam insulation, the kind they insulate houses with. I cut it down a bit, I think it was a 4' x 8' sheet, covered it with flannenl (wrapped the flannel around and pinned to the back.) I atached a board across the top, then put large eye hooks on the board, then put screws into the wall above the closet and attached wire to that, which ends in a loop. The eye hooks hook onto the wire loop. It can be taken down and storeed in the garage when not needed.

Beach Bum, I know you have a low ceiling but maybe you can hang from ceiling, or hang horizontally

Paint - There is an area in the hall where the wall height is higher, so I'll lean it against that. :thumbup:

Mine is made of foam core and covered with headliner fabric. Size is 4 feet x 8 feet. I have two. One is always upright in my sewing room and used for individual blocks, pictures, etc, the other is used in the family room when I a whole quilt to lay out. Unfortunately my cats LOVE the design walls for climbing. One climbs the wall in the sewing room and sleeps on the top. When I get the other one out they all come running as they think it is play time. Once they have that out of their system I can use it to preview the layout.

I love my design board. I made out of 2 4' X 8' sheets of 1 1/2 inch foam board, from lumber yard. My husband cut them both down to 6 1/2' in height, as my basement ceiling is only 7' high. I taped them together on one side with package striping tape. Then I covered them with a large piece of flannel and pinned the flannel to the foam board (this is construction foam insulation). Where I taped the two pieces together, I can fold them in half, thus taking up 4' of wall space, except when I am using it. I can also stand it in the middle of the room, as when I open it, I leave in the a very shallow V, and it will stand alone by itself. I really love it.

I got one of those project display boards that kids for school and glued a piece of felt to it. I bought mine at Office Max, I think, for about five bucks. Next one I make will have cotton flannel. I don't think stuff sticks to the acrylic felt as well. It's great because it folds up and out of the way and I can tote it to classes if I ever get to take any more. My dream sewing room would have an entire wall dedicated as a design wall, with one of those old-timey library ladders that slides back and forth.

So, felt doesn't stick as well as fleece? What are ya'lls opinion on that?

Are there any pictures here of design walls? Or can you ladies post pics of yours? I even tried a search and this thread doesn't even show up!

I got three large stiff pieces of cardboard from Costco and taped a yard of white flannel to the top. I carry it around where ever I want to use it. Occasionally, I'll wash the flannel.

I bought a plastic/flannel backed table cloth. Attach to any wall with the hooks, etc of your choice. Put it up when needed, take it down when not needed. Works great!

This makes me laugh this morning. I currently have one of the foam insulation boards on my wall. I had it cut in two at Home Depot, covered it in flannel and stuck it on the wall. I also use the flannel back of a vinyl table cloth. I hang that with the command strips in front of a closet. That is up right now, too. Unfortunately, I had to get into the closet yesterday and half my squares fell off and had to be put back on. The top on the wall (with the dog) is too big for either of these so I went back to Home Depot last night. I bought three foam boards and had them cut off 24" from each. I now have 3 boards that are 24x72" and I will cover those in flannel and leave them freestanding (no real choice about that) and I will lean them against a wall when I need them ... and I will need them for the dog quilt. I also plan to cover at least one of the 24x24 pieces that were cut off for a small design board that I can use for smaller tasks. These will just have to be enough. I'm running myself out of house and home looking for places to lay out quilts. The bed is out of the question as the dog will get on it and my dining room table is too small.

I had been wanting/needing a design board for years. I admit, I take way too much time to finally decide how I want to do something (I call it being anal). Finally, I just dove in and purchased two 4x8 sheets of pink insulation board and yards and yards of flannel. I sewed the flannel together because it was not quite as wide as my 4x8 sheets. My neighbor came over and helped me spray the foam board with adhesive, then we stretched and glued the flannel pieces to the boards. When I need both boards together (making a queen or king size quilt), I use florist pins to hold the two boards together. If I don't need the design wall out, I can stack them together in my fabric storage closet up against a wall. I have a queen size quilt on it now. Being short, I use a ladder or step-stool to get to the top of it to pin blocks on it.

I love my design wall. Hubby and I made it using two pieces of 4x8 insulation board, covered in white flannel and attached to wall. I need to 'redo' it really, because I can faintly see through the flannel the blue insulation board :-). I was so excited to get it up I just ignored that and never mentioned it to him. One day...

You could put up hooks on either side of the gable or a PVC pipe across and hang it that way.

I have double doors on a closet and I taped a old vinyl tablecloth with the felt back facing out. Used the blue tape and put pieces I rolled into a tube so that it was sticky all the way around. I put it randomly all over the to doors, than pressed the vinyl side to this tape. Than cut up the center so I could open the closet doors. Cheap , fast and I love it.

I went to our local "Restore" or "Habitat for Humanity" store and bought a office wall divider that has cloth on it and it works perfect ~ took it apart and hung it on a track like for sliding door for closet in front of my shelves and can get double the width. If you don't like the material on the wall you can cover it with felt and that works too. Good Luck!

I used the insulation board that so many others have mentioned. I looked online and found 2" grid flannel made by Mayfair, I think. I cut the boards to the right height, covered the boards with the grid flannel, taped it to the back with packing tape, then mounted to the wall with screws in the corners. I covered each board separately since the flannel was only that wide. Works great to keep my blocks lined up straight.

I have hooks that fit over my tall cabinet door, a closet pole and a piece of batting (hemmed) to hang on the pole. this works great can be stored when not in use.

I've used felt for years and never had a problem. In fact, my design wall is just that - a wall with felt tacked to it. It works great for me, and I rarely have any trouble with blocks or fabric coming off until I take them off - only the very heavy blocks are a bit of a problem. When I first used felt on the wall, I wasn't worried about form, only function, and this functions quite well for me. :-)

Thanks for asking this question...It answers some questions about how I was going to make a design board.

Oh thank you! I was going to try it anyway. Boy howdy, I sure need it! LOL I am pretty good at envisioning what I want, but the borders are about to do me in! Thank you for responding to me Skratchie!

I also used a pink foam insulation board (4 x 8), covered it with a piece of batting and my DH attached it to a wall with strips of wood trim. Originally I purchased two 4 x 8 sheets of the insulation boards to hang side by side to make the design wall 8 x 8 BUT I did not judge the space I had for them correctly. They are easy to cut down and I was going to do just that. However, my DH got busy and put one up with the 8' going across and the 4' coming down the wall. Anyway, it works great and is very helpful. No more laying quilts out on the floor and trying to get a good look at it before sewing.

Hello, yes I have a design wall which I made myself. My sewing room is in the basement and all the walls are covered in chip board. So I just made a frame 68" tall by 90" wide as my ceilings are low and I have baseboard heating. I covered the area with batting as it seems most fabric will stick to it when you don't want it to. I also use Quilt Basting Spray or 505 occasionally when the fabric won't stay up there. I thought about putting a layer of styafoam behind the batting but I also press the quilt right on the design wall at times so the heat from the iron could/would melt the foam so I left it out. This has worked for me. I wish I could have made it taller but with low ceilings I had no choice.

Suz in Iowa