Directions for a Quilt Design Wall

Put a design wall in your craft room to experiment with quilt block designs.

If your quilting has gone past the absolute beginner stage, you probably have considered creating a quilt design wall. For those quilters who have progressed to experimenting with their own colors and patterns, a quilt design wall is a valuable tool. These large surfaces allow you to temporarily stick fabric patches to the wall, giving you the ability to try out different combinations of color and pattern without sewing any fabric together. A quilt design wall requires you to commit part of one wall in a room to your craft, but you can put it together in an afternoon.

Things You'll Need

• Three pieces of 2-foot by 8-foot foam board
• Spray foam board glue
• Full-sized white flat flannel sheet
• Straight pins

Instructions

1. Glue the long ends of the foam board sheets together. Cover one edge surface with the glue and butt the other edge against it. Set the sheets on the floor to allow the glue to dry.

2. Spray the other edge surface with glue and butt the other sheet against the first one. You will have created a wall that measures 6 feet by 8 feet.

3. Lay the flannel sheet on the floor. Center the foam board wall in the middle of the flannel. Bring up the edges of the flannel sheet and pin them to the back of the foam wall. Make sure that the flannel is pulled tightly to the back.

4. Stand the flannel-covered foam wall up against the wall in your craft room. Place your cotton fabric patches on the flannel wall. The nap on the flannel will hold the cotton patches in place.

Tips & Warnings

• Always use white flannel. Colored flannel can influence quilt color shades. Placing a light quilt fabric on dark flannel can make the light fabric appear darker, because dark colors can show through the thin cotton quilt fabric used in quilt blocks. Using a neutral white background eliminates this problem.

References

• Quilt.com: Design Wall FAQ