DIY Design Wall Tutorial: the one MUST HAVE addition to your sewing room

This is ONE must have item in your sewing room!  It is so easy to see quilts up on your wall without pins and keep blocks/pieces in place. 

Supplies:  * foam core (in your desired size! You might need multiple smaller sheets or a big one) This is also easy to find a home supply stores. *Fons and Porter Design Wall (has built in grid lines) , Flannel  (using coupons can save greatly) *Knife or something sharp to cut foam core

*Gorilla Tape (I like the clear plastic kind)

Instructions: 

1. Decide how big you want your wall.  Bigger is always better!!!  The one I will be describing here is 8' wide x 7' high because that's how big my wall was.
2. I bought 2 4x8 sheets of foam core.  They come in varying thicknesses.  I bought the 1" thick boards because I wanted mine nice and sturdy and I also wanted to be able to put pins in if necessary.
3. 

   I taped them together with gorilla tape (the clear plastic kind) and used a knife to cut off excess 1' of board.  I was lucky because the door to my sewing room is a double door.  Just make sure you can get it through your door.  You could always just butt the 2 boards up together and not tape them together.
   
   
   
4. I bought 2 Fons & Porter Design Wall packages and sewed them together, plus I added some white flannel to get the size I needed.  You can really use anything that fabric will stick to (i.e., felt, flannel, fleece, batting, etc.)  I chose Fons & Porter Design Wall because it had 2" x 2" grid lines!!! I just laid the covering on the ground and then put foam board over it and then taped my cover to the back of the foam board.  It's that easy!!!

1. 5. I just set mine up against a wall, but you could secure it against a wall with screws and washers if you want it to be permanent.  I liked the idea of non permanent so I could easily change it up if necessary.  In fact, I decided that I make a lot of quilts with a black background now so I bought some black flannel and taped it to a closet rod and hung it over my board so now I can see what my designs will look like with a black background or a white background!!!  The possibilities are endless.  I do find that I like the foam board backing because once I've sewn a whole panel together for a queen/king quilt it gets a little heavy so I usually pin it in a couple of places.
   
   
   

   
   
   

The design wall has been a real back saver and a time saver.  Previously I would lay out my designs on the floor and arrange/re-arrange until I was happy with the pattern and then I would have to pick them up row by row to sew them!!!  It also meant that I had to have a lot of floor space which I don't and people kept walking on my tops!




Happy Project Making!  
If you are looking for ways to make this project even easier check out these short cuts!  (would work well as a gift for a quilter in your life too!) *Use a grid lined fabric for accuracy in how the finished quilt will look *use a Flannel Backed Tableclothhung up instead of a wall - GENIUS for space saving.   Our is so integral this wouldn't be ideal but for a small room or someone needing portable space! *Wrap a board with quilt batting instead!  Great for using what you probably already have! * Wrapping a cork board (especially if you have on hand!) works just as well and preserves the light weight aspect that make a Design wall work so well. 

Check out the rest of our sewing room tutorials HERE: