I have been making very good use of my design wall in the last few weeks. The design wall is a specially-made sheet with a printed grid on the back (which shows through to the front) and a textured front. It hangs from a series of eyelet holes at the top, secured to the wall with simple map pins.
I bought mine while on a visit to Canada at the beginning of the year in a quilt shop in Vancouver. This is the the product I chose, by Fons and Porter:
I have it pinned on the wall behind my ironing board in the studio. It needs to be in a place where I can step right up to it (the ironing board is easy to move) and where I can step back to have a good look at the work on the board (I can see it from the other side of the room.
I’ve used it with learners on my ‘Quilt in a Day’ class; they can properly admire their work from a distance when the quilt blocks are hanging on the wall. {Find out about the class here,)
I’ve used the design wall for designing and making a new quilt ‘In the Corner’. The quilt uses a variety of fabrics, with the common factor of a four red corners within each block and white outer corners. I’ve used bright greens, dark greens, and chartreuse, mixed with grey/white prints. The blocks are quite different from each other and I put each up on the wall as I made it, to judge how it worked with its neighbours.
Although in the past I have auditioned blocks for a quilt on the floor, or on a double bed, it was much easier to do on the wall and also easier to see.
The blocks changed position several times before the final decisions were made and the rows sewn together. One block was rejected and completely remade.
The quilt is now done, bound with red and quilted with dark green thread. The backing fabric is dark green fabric printed with gold stars (just glimpsed in the photo below).
Its subtle use of greens and reds could lend it to being used as a Christmas quilt, perhaps. It’s a good-sized, square throw or single-bed quilt, measuring 64 x 64″ (162 x 162cm).
The pattern is written too. It’s available in the Etsy shop now – just click on the link under the photo above.
Thank you for reading my blog. Quilt patterns are here, Fabrics are here, Classes are here.
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