Design Wall - Flannel, Fleece or Felt?
 

I have only one spot in my sewing room that I can use for a design wall, 4-5 foot wide. I want to keep it simple and easy to remove in the future if needed. I'm going to get some sturdy Command Strip hooks and put them up to hold a rod. I'll then either use curtain rings with hooks to hold up the fabric or make a hanging pocket on the back to slip the rod through. I know some people use the reverse side of a flannel backed tablecloth to hold their blocks. Or I could use a length of felt. Or I heard fleece could work. Or even batting.

If you've tried on of these materials, did it work for you? Is there one you think is better than another?

My design wall is flannel wrapped styrofoam board and it works.

Cotton is attracted to cotton, or as I always say "cotton has an affinity for cotton". Therefore I firmly believe a cotton flannel or cotton batting design wall works better than other fibers on the wall.
Felt is not cotton. Fleece is not cotton.

Jan in VA

i like your advice, Jan. i like hearing the reasons for the decisions.

This is so funny to see this thread. I know there have been discussions before on this subject and was searching for the threads. And up this pops with Jan's knowledge just jumpin' out at me. Thanks, Jan. I always respect your answers of wisdom! Now to figure out the best way to do this. :-)

I bought a Fons and Porter design wall when quilting supplies were 50% off at Joann's. That made it around $12.50. I haven't hung it yet because it's too large and need my dd's help. I didn't think I could buy supplies to make my own for that. It has 7 grommets to hang it. I bought the Command hooks. Hope it works when I finally get it up.

I think the cotton flannel covered styrofoam (or other type of lightweight insulation board) is the easiest. You can probably duct tape two pieces together if one is not wide enough. I would cover with cotton flannel all the way around to the back and fasten in such a way (perhaps duct tape again?) that I could remove the cover once a year or so to wash it. This makes a lightweight design wall that is easily moved around. There are several different types of lightweight insulation boards at the big box stores. If planning on using duct tape, I would make sure that duct tape will stick to the kind you buy; not sure it sticks to styrofoam. A friend used a light green type of insulation board and her son-in-law put together a wooden frame for it. She just props it against the wall.

I have tried the curtain rod and command strip type of design wall before, in which I had Warm and Natural cotton batting hanging down. It didn't work well for me. Because it wasn't fastened on all sides, the batting had a tendency to wave. Plus because there was air behind it, it was sometimes difficult to get larger blocks to stick well. When you have foam insulation board behind, you have a solid surface to press against and you can even insert pins if necessary to get large blocks to stay in place. Small fabric pieces tend to stay in place, but large blocks get heavy enough that they tend to fall off.

Edit: My suggestion to make a removable and washable wall comes from having pets in the house. I found that Warm and Natural, when close to the floor, attracts startling amounts of pet hair over the course of a year.

Edit: Also, with my hanging Warm and Natural that had a tendency to wave, I found out that just walking past it quickly sent enough air currents to make it move and have blocks fall off.

I have both felt and some Warm and Natural batting on my wall, and they both work fine.

I use no pill fleece with some batting on a 1/8" (the plywood is called luan (sp?) And I just screwed it to the wall.
It's about 4 x 6 and with the fleece I usually don't have to use pins to hold the blocks or pieces in place.

I use a flannel backed tablecloth fastened to the wall with thumbtacks. Works great.

Cari