I have a 4x6 ft piece of the yellow insulation board covered with flannel.
It is very light and can be moved very easy if needed.

My husband took a piece of warm & white batting and took trim board and tacked the board on the wall and when we move all he has to do is remove the tack trim and voila the quilt batting comes off to use in a quilt. I thought he was BRILLIANT!!! I love my design wall it is floor to ceiling! If you need to see a pix PM me and I will post one for you. It is wonderful & simple!

My husband took a piece of warm & white batting and took trim board and tacked the board on the wall and when we move all he has to do is remove the tack trim and voila the quilt batting comes off to use in a quilt. I thought he was BRILLIANT!!! I love my design wall it is floor to ceiling! If you need to see a pix PM me and I will post one for you. It is wonderful & simple!

lacelady -

i corrected myself. yes. ideally i want 100 x 100. the wall gives me 12' wide and 9' tall. that allows me to lay out an oversized queen (i like 98 x 98 ) or even a king. in order to cover that space, it takes two panels of 6 x 6 across and another panel of 6 x 6 cut in half to go across the tops of the other two in order to fill that gap. one flat king-size sheet almost, not quite, fills in the whole space. when i compare the prices, i can't justify the justify the difference, even though it may be much better for the job. even good quality batting would cost less on sale with a coupon.

Lacelady - when I emailed block butler in the US, they said they had no UK suppliers and I'd have to order direct! So thanks for that link! Their Superior Threads are a good price too...!

My son made me a design wall out of soundboard (at Home Depot). He reinforced it on the back with .5 x 2 inch boards. Then I covered it with batting from Wal Mart (first I used the cheap kind in the package, now they don't carry that so on the next one I used the regular $3.90?/yd batting) and it works great. You can stick even the thinest flower pins in the soundboard. Without pins it works only with a lightweight block. The board just rests up against the wall at a slight angle.

I have a felt covered board. I attached the felt with a staple gun. it works great to hold fabric and every stray thread :!:

Oh, if you have a cat.............................good luck. :P

the homasote that i have now works with pins also. that's what i'm trying to get away from. but thanks for the hint.

Perhaps you could write and ask for a quote for bulk buying!

OK, I tried my Block Butler on painted wall. It WILL NOT STICK, I taped it with plastic tape, carton sealing tape, painter's tape, and masking tape. NOTHING will stick to it ---ALSO MY QUILT BLOCKS will not stick to it!!!?????#$%**

I e-mailed the company, and NOT heard back. I followed all the instructions and suggestion including: "Wait for it to acclimate"???? to it's new environment, spritz with water to "restore" it's properties, etc. The only thing I haven't been able to try is that it is supposed to stick to porous surfaces better - my sewing room walls are painted with semi-gloss paint, but didn't stick to my flat painted living room wall either.

I"M DISAPPOINTED!! And $$$ poorer. :) :)

I e-mailed the company, and NOT heard back. I followed all the instructions and suggestion including: "Wait for it to acclimate"???? to it's new environment, spritz with water to "restore" it's properties, etc. The only thing I haven't been able to try is that it is supposed to stick to porous surfaces better - my sewing room walls are painted with semi-gloss paint, but didn't stick to my flat painted living room wall either.

Oh, dear, I am soooo sorry. I haven't had any of those problems, neither has my quilty friend. Mine has been on the wall about three years now (painted in matt finish emulsion), and is still nice and tacky. My friend uses hers, then takes it down when not in use, and hasn't had any problems. I hope you hear from the manufactuer soon, there must be a problem with yours.

Better News:

I just called the company and talked to them. They are sending me a new one. Said occasionally one will "dry out" before it is properly processed, and cannot be revived. So---will be anxious to try it again, because it sounds like a great product if it works!!!

(Thanks for your encouragement, Lacelady.)

I can not keep up a permanent wall, but have used a king sized flannel sheet hung from a piece of PVC pipe through the pocket of the turned back edge. The blocks stick great except when the kitties get to playing behind it and knocking it around.

I have heard to make sure you do not use fabric softener when you wash it.

I would recommend an off white or very neutral color what ever you get.

that 's what I use, went to wallyworld, bought a $5 vinyl talbelcloth and used the flannel side, worked so well, I went back got another, got a double design wall. Love it!I am surprised I haven't worn it out yet! Works great!

that's what i ended up using. flannel sheets. my basement wall is 9' tall and 12' wide. dh planned it that way. i covered the whole thing with sheets.
washed and dried but not softened. attached to a homasote (sp?) wall. this me doing the happy dance. finally. http://www.freesmileys.org/smileys/smiley-dance018.gif

this has been a very interesting thread. I have a 4' x 8' board with a piece of flannel, but end up using pins also.
I think it depends on the flannel. Think mine is not fuzzy enough. Board has become something to drape things over.
Will try some of these ideas. :D

i think the flannels has to be very flat against something. when i had it hanging looser, it didn't work as well. now i can kind of smack it against the wall and it doesn't go anywhere.

Block Butler update:

The "new' block butler ( 6ft x 6 ft) came in the mail yesterday. DH helped me put it up on my sewing room wall. I fearfully peeked in this morning -- it is still on the wall and the blocks are sticking to it. I must have gotten a faulty one (I'm thinking maybe one that had been in the store for a long time) the first time.

THis one works great so far, and if it continues, I will love it!! :) :) :) :)

:thumbup:

I bought a 110 in wide piece of Warm and Natural quilt bat. I attached it to my wall using a long curtain rod, it hangs from ceiling to floor and really works great. The pieces cling right to the bat and rarely fall off unless there is a strong breeze coming thru the window.

Hurrah, I am so pleased for you. I felt really bad recommending something that didn't work for you. I will keep my fingers crossed that this gives you years of satisfaction!

unappealing as this sounds - how about a light/medium gray or greyish tan or tan?

I went to the Quilt Museum in Paducah and, if I remember correctly, the walls were sort of one of those colors. Definitely not white.

I also read in one of the quilt books - sorry, don't remember which one- to use a tan or gray - that way the contrast is less intense and it's easier to focus on what you have put on it. I'm thinking it was a Kaffe Facett (I know that is spelled wrong) or a Jinny Beyer book.

I am so glad that you did share your experience and recommendations with me, because it motivated me to keep checking with the company instead of just throwing it away!!!!! That is the value of this board, to help us think outside our "usual boxes". Thanks!!! (And some of the solutions others have posted on this thread were alternate solutions, so it was reassuring that if one thing didn't work, another would!)

If you have QNNTV or QuiltersTV you can watch Quilt in a Day build a design wall. They used auto headliner.

I really looked at that and seriously considered doing mine with that, Rose Marie - but the headliner fabric really shot the cost up and my Heirloom batting had worked very well for a long time - so that's what I went with. I'm still lovin' it, too :wink:

Wow - this forum is so informative! My son wants his ping pong table back, so I need to create a design board that will hold well. All your knowledge is a gold mine. I just had to say thank you!!!

i had my cousin husband make me one out of head liner staple to a board look at quilt in a day .com elenier makes one their

I have felt on mine, but I still have to put pins to keep the pieces from falling off. Then my dog, Buddy, walks by it and knocks the low stuff off, pins and all. :roll:

wally world tablecloth works for me and trust me some of my blocks hang there forever. To many projects going at once.

This is what I use, too. I've had the breeze thing happen :oops: I had an entire top up (Stepping Stones & Bricks swap, plus extras I made to make it bigger) and went to work, leaving windows open as DD was home. Strong winds came up, but DD didn't think to close windows. There are 7 blocks (of 140) still up :( Luckily, I had taken a picture to compare 2 layouts - now I've just got to get them back up there and start sewing.

This is a relatively inexpensive, well-working solution. And if space is really tight, you can just use the "design wall" for the batting, then purchase more for the next quilt. :lol: