Quilting and Patchwork

Q & A - What is a Quilting Design Wall?

by Mary Emma Allen on July 26th, 2006

Q - What is a Quilting Design Wall or Quilting Wall?

A - Quilting Design Walls have become popular in recent years, but some quilters still wonder what they are.  They remind me of the flannel boards used in the classroom or Sunday school.

No, they aren’t a place in your home where you display finished work.  Rather, a Design Wall is a wall in your sewing room or work area with a felt, flannel, or similar fabric to which your quilt pieces will stick.  Sometimes this will be permanent; other times it consists of this fabric tacked to the wall.

Here you place your fabric pieces to try out a design and experiment with new patterns, colors, and fabrics.

Fortunate is the quilter who has a Design Wall she can call her own.  However, quilters are creative, so develop walls in small areas.  In our multi-generational household consisting of three generations, my daughter has to work at her quilting on one side of the living/dining room.  She often tacks her projects on the walls to view them as she’s considering various combinations.

Recently Beth acquired a 3 x 4-foot cork board to which she tacks and pins her projects.  When not in use, this will slide behind her sewing machine or a bookcase. 

(In her most recent novel, The Circle of Quilters, Jennifer Chiaverini (http://www.elmcreek.net/) mentions a Quilting Design Wall that one of the quilters uses when he takes up quilting after his wife dies.)

Share This

Related Stories

Can You Have Too Much Quilting In a Quilt?
Creating a Memory Quilt
Fascinating Vintage Fabric Wall Art…a Variation of Quilting
The Lure of Sunbonnet Sue
The Originator of Sunbonnet Sue

POSTED IN: Books and Magazines, General Quilting/Patchwork, Techniques