It surprises me that there are still quilters out there crawling around on the floor and working on their designs. Honestly when I started quilting, I was laying my patterns out on the floor and it was a couple of weeks before I stopped to think 'there has to be a smarter way to do this'. And there was.
After a little bit of looking, I found a thing called a design wall.
What's a Design Wall?
There are a whole different range of types and styles, but all of them come down to doing the same thing. Its basically a massive square of fabric suspended on a wall, onto which you plan out and pin on your pattern.
By pinning on your squares, you can plan out your pattern and see if you love it. If not, you can just unpin and rearrange the pattern as you see fit.
Why Would I Use This?
Truthfully, its much better than crawling around on the floor, not to mention cleaner!
Also, I spotted I had less soreness around my neck and shoulders. I did not know it at the time, but constantly looking down was putting a large tension on my muscles around my shoulders.
If you are an older quilter, I'm sure you will see how much more easy it's going to be to use a design wall than a table or the floor, especially if you're working on a patchwork quilt.
How Do I Make One?
Well you could buy one, but its so easy to make one that you actually don't need to.
The easiest way is to measure out and cut a square of material - flannel works best for this as it grips on to most fabrics and makes pinning squares simpler. Remember to leave a couple additional inches at the top.
This will let you loop it around and run a curtain rod though it, which makes hanging and keeping the fabric straight way easier.
If you do not have a curtain rod, you can stretch the cloth over a backing board of foam or a soft cork, which may be easy to put pins into.
If you have never had a design wall before, I can strongly encourage you to give it a go, you'll be far better off for it!
After a little bit of looking, I found a thing called a design wall.
What's a Design Wall?
There are a whole different range of types and styles, but all of them come down to doing the same thing. Its basically a massive square of fabric suspended on a wall, onto which you plan out and pin on your pattern.
By pinning on your squares, you can plan out your pattern and see if you love it. If not, you can just unpin and rearrange the pattern as you see fit.
Why Would I Use This?
Truthfully, its much better than crawling around on the floor, not to mention cleaner!
Also, I spotted I had less soreness around my neck and shoulders. I did not know it at the time, but constantly looking down was putting a large tension on my muscles around my shoulders.
If you are an older quilter, I'm sure you will see how much more easy it's going to be to use a design wall than a table or the floor, especially if you're working on a patchwork quilt.
How Do I Make One?
Well you could buy one, but its so easy to make one that you actually don't need to.
The easiest way is to measure out and cut a square of material - flannel works best for this as it grips on to most fabrics and makes pinning squares simpler. Remember to leave a couple additional inches at the top.
This will let you loop it around and run a curtain rod though it, which makes hanging and keeping the fabric straight way easier.
If you do not have a curtain rod, you can stretch the cloth over a backing board of foam or a soft cork, which may be easy to put pins into.
If you have never had a design wall before, I can strongly encourage you to give it a go, you'll be far better off for it!
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To get more nice tips about how to make a patchwork quilt, check out Jane Green's how to make a patchwork quilt site now!