Play Date/Design Wall

I did not have school today!  Most schools have no school on Monday for Presidents' Day.  My school celebrated Lincoln's Birthday today instead,  afterall, this is the Land of Lincoln! 

I did have a great day.  One of my sisters came over to "play".  We worked on a crochet project she wanted to start, made a shopping list for supplies for a beautiful quilted chenille jacket she is going to make and planned a new quilt for her bedroom.  We are going fabric shopping next week and will be able to get the fabric for the jacket and the new quilt all at once.  We also went through some of my fabric stash looking at the dragonfly fabrics I've collected.  She loves dragonflies and we are starting to formulate ideas to incorporate some of these fabrics into......you know it's coming.........another quilt!!!

Our conversation turned to the use of a design wall and we decided to make one.  A design wall is a surface used to help plan and work on quilts.  It is a vertical surface that will hold the pieces of quilt blocks, applique designs, borders or whole quilts while you plan them and work on them.  It is easier to use than the floor and gives you a better view of your work than a table, floor or other horizontal surface.  A design  wall can be an entire wall, a piece as large as the quilt you are planning or any size that suits you.  We made a portable design wall that my sister can fold and stick in a closet or tuck under a bed when not in use.  This is a simple, inexpensive, very usable version of a design wall.

We started with a project display board.  These are available at office supply stores, department stores and teacher stores.  They are typically a white, laminated tri-fold piece of heavy corrigated cardboard that are often used by students to display science fair projects at school.  To make a design wall for quilting,  you cover this board with white flannel.  To do this, cut the flannel six or more inches longer and wider than the display board.  Lay the flannel on a flat surface like the floor or your kitchen table.  Lay the project board on the flannel.  Wrap the flannel around to the back of the project board and secure it with duct tape or a hot glue gun.  Now it's a quilt design wall!!!

To use the disign wall you simply put your block pieces, blocks, sashing pieces or border pieces up to the wall.  The pieces will stay put like magic!  You can lift the pieces off and reposition them as many times as you please.  Step back and look at your creation.  You will love using this tool to help plan your quilts.  Try different combinations of fabrics and block designs and be able to get a good look at them before you sew them together and decide which work best for you.   Enjoy!

Happy Quilting,
Laurel