My studio is full.  To the brim.  There’s no more room at the inn.  The walls were all perfectly planned and executed with waist-level electrical outlets every three feet, pegboard in three different locations and furniture that takes up the bulk of any leftover wall space available.

What I didn’t plan for was a design wall.  Once everything was set up in my studio, I lacked any wall space that could be used for a design wall.  Unless I wanted it to be two feet off the floor.

What a dilemma, right?  A beautiful quilt studio that was a dream I never even considered before it was gifted to me…and no design wall.

I determined I needed a mobile design wall.  One I could pull out when I needed it and put it back when I didn’t.  It was okay to cover up an outlet or two behind my longarm and if they were needed, the mobile design wall could be turned on its side for storage.

After hours and hours of research, I found a number of workable mobile design walls online.  None of them were perfect for my needs but many of them had elements that were great.  I put all the good stuff down on an instruction sheet and my husband and I set out to right a wrong, fix an overlooked but crucial element in my studio.

Supplies Needed:

• One (1) 4′ x 8′ sheet of foam board insulation with one side of the sheet having a silver reflective foil moisture barrier.
• Clear strapping tape
• Large Binder Clips.  These clips serve two purposes.  They help hold the batting to your design board but you can also use them to clip up blocks or parts of blocks as you work on a quilt project.

• Warm & White® twin-size quilt batting

Tools Needed:

• Saw, carpet cutter or sharp knife
• Yardstick
• Scissors
• Iron (optional)

Construction:

1. Begin by cutting 2′ off of one end of the foam board insulation.  Since I am 5′  9″ tall, I don’t need a design board that is longer than my reach.  Plus, is much easier to store a shorter-versus-longer design board.
2. If your Warm & White® batting is wrinkled or has fold lines, gently press the batting with a cotton setting on your iron.  DO NOT iron it, PRESS it.  If you iron it, you will stretch it out.
3. Measure and draw or lightly score a line 2″ from the bottom of one end of the foam board insulation.  The batting does not need to touch the floor when you move it about.  You will probably not use a lot of the lower space of the design board but if you need to turn it sideways, those 2″ should not matter.  This step is to keep the batting from getting dirty if the floor of your studio or sewing room is full of threads and dust bunnies <eek!>.  Once the batting is in place, use the clear strapping tape to hold it in place, all across the bottom of your board.
4. We chose to put the reflective foil moisture barrier side toward the front of the design wall.  This way, if I needed to use pins to hold up some of my designs, in the future, they would have a little bit more security than using the insulation the other way around.
5. Lay your batting flat on the (clean) floor and lay the foam board insulation on top of it.  Then, cut your batting to size.  I cut my batting about 5″ wider than the left, right and top of the insulation.
6. Now turn the design board and batting around so the board is on the floor and the batting is covering it.  Using a gentle touch, smooth out any wrinkles that may show up.  Also use a gentle hand to make sure your board is covered up by the batting.
7. Next, add the large binder clips to the sides and top of the design board.  We used a yardstick to place the clips about every 9″ from the middle of one clip to the next.
8. Now turn everything back around – batting on the floor and board on top of it.  With scissors, trim the batting so it overlaps the edges of the board by at least 5″ on the left, right and top of the board.  Your binder clips should be holding everything together.
9. Back to the strapping tape.  Use about 6″ of tape segments to secure the batting to the board on the back of your insulation.
10. Now it’s time to enjoy your new mobile design board!

This tutorial was sponsored by The Warm Company™, makers of Warm & White® Batting