I haven't reinstalled it yet, but before I redid the studio I had nailed a flannel sheet to the wall. It worked great unless the window was open and it was windy. Looking into getting ridgid insulation to use behind the sheet. (sometimes you just need to pin )

I don't have enough space to have a proper design wall but I did buy thermal curtain lining which has cotton on one side and something fleecy on the other. I just stapled it to the wall with a staple gun. Eleanor Burns has a tutorial on this on the quilt in a day website. She uses the fabric they put on the inside roof of cars (can't think of the name of it) which would be good because it would be easier to get loose threads off with one of those sticky roller thingys (can't think of the name of those either ) She uses a spray glue to hold it in place but I reckon you could just use a staple gun if you didn't want to use the glue. The design wall tutorial begins at about 6.20mins.

Happy quilting.

Here's the link -
http://vimeo.com/15572417

I did the same. I used a staple gun to attach the Warm and Natural batting up along the top of the wall. It was wonderful and quite large--floor to ceiling (8 ft) and wider than that. I was able to hang several WIPs at a time. This summer I moved so I removed it and stood there, inspecting where it had hung, the holes were nearly invisible so I didn't take the time to spackle and paint as I did with all the nail holes from hanging quilts and pictures. Now I have to see if my staple gun will work on the walls here since they are a cinder block and not dry wall. So far I am back to a "design floor" with one set of blocks are spread out on the floor.

i stapled 80/20 bedding on the wall (i live in rented home, and it doesnt leave too much marks on the wall).
the only thing is that i need to protect it from my cats, some times they love to sharp their nails on it, but i spray on it a spray that keeps them off.

Lois, you need another person to help you and don't use duct tape. For some reason it doesn't stick well. My first design wall I did by myself and used duct tape. It did not go well. I decided to re-do it. My sister pulled the flannel tight and I taped it down with clear packing tape. Success! I found that a thin flannel was easy to pull tight. It had a lot of stretch to it. I use a masking tape roller to clean off threads.

Good luck!

Very cleaver, Lorchen. Your quilts look like stained glass with the light shinning through!. Lois

Here are two ideas that work for me. Cheap floor-length curtains from Ikea. I pin anything to them. The room is small, but South-facing and has windows on three sides. I bet I have more 'design wall space' than most.

The other picture shows an inexpensive screen that can be moved around easily. Again, pinning things to it is easy.

I'm so glad this topic came up. I'm going to make a design wall, perhaps 2, within the next few weeks. Seems like lots of great ideas. I particularly like the ideas of framing the back with 1x2s and using a staple gun. I have never had a place for a design wall before, but my brilliant sons and daughter in law figured out two places in the reorganization.

Lois, my design wall has a frame on the back made of 1 x 2's screwed together. I screwed the board (homosote?) from the home improvement store to that. Then put batting on the front, and flannel, then stapled the flannel to the 1 x 2's. I put the frame on to keep everything from sagging. It was a lot of work, and I had help with it. I guess living in earthquake country I think about things buckling so that's why I did the frame. Kathy

My design board is made the same as yours; I used clear packing tape to hold the flannel. It's been up for several years with no problems.

I used foam core (purchased at 50% off), a $1 thrift store white flannel bed sheet, and safety pins in the corners across the back to hold the sheet taut over the foam core. It's worked well for me for several years now.

Greg and I wrapped my flannel (at least that's what I think I used) around to the back and used his staple gun to staple it to the foam board. I love my design wall!

I used pins on mine. Not my favorite quilting pins, but those pins that well meaning family members and non-quilting friends like to gift you with.

I used fleece on mine. The first time I pulled it so tightly that my foam board bowed a little. The next time (when I moved) I wrapped it looser. It now sags. So, there is a happy medium, and needs to be paid attention to. Also, like Bridget, I put in lots of pins. But then, I wanted my pins back, so I just duct taped it. My duct tape worked just fine. Stuck like a charm!

Dawn,
In beautiful (and freezing!) Northwest Montana