My Design Wall hangs from the ceiling. A couple of eye hooks in the ceiling, a clothes line, and curtain clips from Ikea and a piece of Flannel. total outlay about $15.

I use a sheet of 4' x 8' foam insulation board as my deisgn wall, and I covered it with felt.

The felt is attached to the design wall with T-pins, which are available at most any sewing store. One box should be plenty.

This method is durable -- My felt has been attached this way for about 5 years and it has never become loose.

I used white felt, but Kaffe Fassett or his assistant recommended on Simply Quilts that the background be camel-colored.

BethMI

QuilterLynn wrote:
Haven't seen that, Lynn. I'll have to look for it. Bista likes to sit in DH's bathroom sink. Our other cat, Jazzy, likes to sit on the counter in my bathroom and stare at me until I turn on the tap for her to have a drink. The water hits her on the back of the head and then drips off her nose into the sink, where she licks it back up. Silly girl.

Anne in Vancouver

My design wall hangs from the ceiling.

Hmm. She looks like mine, too!

There are alot of those tuxedo's around!

Have you ever seen the web site "cats in sinks" or something like that? It's hundreds of our felines posing in the sink. And I thought my cat was so unusual doing it!

Ha

Lynn

NancyAnn1959 wrote:
Nancy, my Bista likes to sharpen her claws on me! LOL! She's the most loving cat I've ever met, and also the roughest when it comes to playing.

A studio isn't a studio without a cat in it, is it?

Anne in Vancouver, Canada

Anne, I've been wanting to tell you that your kitty looks so much like mine! Mine is called Mindy and she's just about 2 years old. She loves to sharpen her claws on my sewing machine tote. It's kind of a coarsely woven tapesty type fabric and I don't think she does any harm, so I let her. I love that she comes into the sewing room with me when I sew and has her own basket under the window.

Your design wall sounds like the best one yet. I'm still waiting for a permanent sewing studio. For now, a flannel backed table cloth on the dining room wall does fine!

Nancy in western NY

I have my design wall on huge sliding doors in front of my fabric cabinet. You can see pictures of it on my profile page.

I had the cabinetmaker mount donacona board over the wood, so I'd be able to stick pins into the wall if I wanted. Then I covered the donacona with gridded flannel. I used 404 Basting Spray (it's repositionable and permanent) to affix the flannel to the donacona. After I pulled the flannel around the edges of the doors, the cabinetmaker trimmed the excess and then installed thin strips of oak all the way around the doors, to hold the flannel in place and give the doors a professional finish.

The only problem was that one of my cats thought it was a giant scratching post! I used a dry iron to stick the flannel back down, then covered the bottom three feet with clear vinyl held on with thumbtacks. She hasn't looked at it since.

I LOVE my design wall!

Anne in Vancouver, Canada

I have a 3x8 piece of foam insulation wedged in between a window and a corner. Right now I don't have anything over it, I just use pins.

I have a flannel backed vinyl table cloth tacked to the wall behind my ironing board. It's usually big enough and blocks stick to it really well. I have another that I take to retreats and tape up.

I got the foam board from a home inprovement store but found it way too big. It's now cut into 4ths so each piece is 2' x 4'. One of them is covered in flannel so blocks stick easily, the others I pin things to. They can be stacked together out of the way and I can move 1 or 2 when I want. I've even taken one to a meeting for a display.

Am I the only one?? My design 'wall' is a little unusual. I have a small room at the back of the house that has large windows on three walls. I close any number of the 6 calico floor length curtains (thank you, IKEA!) and pin things to them. It suits me and the way I work.

Lorchen

I have two pieces of the heavy (thick) foamcore that are taped together down one side. It's huge, I think 4x10 each? (Believe me, I didn't buy these, but it was something DH had, it's got a space shuttle photo on the other side ) Anyway, it's a bit taller than the ceiling so it leans on an armoire that's behind it, not too much angle, and when it needs to "go away" (guest room) it folds in the middle and I slide it behind the door. I used T-pins to pin white fleece at the top & on the sides, just pin directly into the foam from the edge, voila, no holes! The fleece just overlaps a bit at the middle and hasn't caused any problem, it sticks to itself.
Florence

I used 2 4x6 foam boards taped together with flannel wrapped around the board and attached with duct tape. then attached the design wall with those mirror brackets. I wanted to be able to fit a bed size quilt top on it. I had to juggle alittle, but managed.

Eleanor Burns has a great system that she describes in a video, as well as other things for the sewing studio. You might want to check that out.