Mama, tickle my feet!
Making a Quilt Design Wall
I’m almost embarrassed to say I went a couple of years with no quilt design wall. How, you might ask? I’m an avid quilter. Well, my family moved and then I had a baby. I had a lot going on.
I finally decided to get down to it when I relocated my sewing space to our basement after my baby got moved to my sewing room. (The sacrifices we make, right?) Actually the basement is much bigger and was underutilized, so it’s worked out great. But I digress…
While researching online different kinds of quilt design walls (I was actually going to buy one), I came across this blog post on Diary of a Quilter by Christa Watson. I loved the size of this design wall as I fortunately had a large wall to cover. This seemed easy enough and just right.
I started with two insulation boards 3/4 inches thick. I almost got a thicker version, but there was a $10 price difference for each board. Fortunately, 3/4 inch as proven to be just thick enough for pins to sink in deep!
I cut the boards at the bottom with a box cutter to the length my wall could take. Then, I joined the two boards with simple packing tape.
I had ordered a large piece of flannel to cover the boards without having to piece. I opted for natural color, versus white – personal preference. I pulled the flannel taught to the back and secured with packing tape and a staple gun, working from the middle out.
The corners are the tricky part. You want to reduce as much bulk as possible so the design wall will lie flat. You’ll want to staple on the diagonal as photographed below, cut the bulk, then staple and tape the opposite diagonal as best you can.
Next, I had to enlist the help of my hubby to screw it into the wall. You’ll need another pair of hands to hold the boards up while someone else screws it into the wall. If dry wall screws are necessary, plan out where the screws will go in advance.
Use a seam ripper or something to punch a hole in the fabric where you will be screwing, otherwise the screw will twist the fabric. Use washers to keep the screw from going in too far. It also looks kinda cool.
That’s really it. It’s pretty simple and cheap. If you have a large wall and someone to help you, this is the route I would go. I’ve been enjoying this ever since!
PS – It’s also great for photographing quilts!
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