Inspiration/Design Wall.

After strip club on Saturday, I came home determined to make a design wall for myself. Especially since the new quilt is complicated enough to require one.
My sewing/craft room has zero space for anything more than an object the size of an orange. I have crammed so many things on the walls in there, it looks like a patchwork quilt all on its own! So, I had to think out of the box, literally. That is how my sewing room leached itself into the family room.
A trip to Home Depot yielded a sweet discovery- a 4x8 sheet of white Styrofoam, 1 inch thick, for $7.35. Cheap, cheap, cheap! Next, it was a trip to Hancock Fabrics, where I bought three yards of snowy, white fleece- on sale. I also grabbed three packages of red jumbo ricrac for trim. With the fabric, ricrac, washers and screws for installation, the total cost was right about $25. Perfect! (And no arguments from the hubs. Even better!)
One word of caution- do not buy the Styrofoam panel on a windy day and you will need a truck to get it home in one piece!
To cover the panel, lay the fleece out flat on the floor, place the panel on top and square it yup. Then, clip the corners to make neat folds. Start in the middle of one side and squeeze some craft glue on the panel. Then, pull up the fleece, smooth it over the glue and staple to hold it until the glue dries. (I also found duct tape to be helpful, as sometimes the staples did not want to hold.)
Continue gluing and stapling all along the entire panel, beginning in the middle and working your way out to the ends. Allow the glue to dry for about thirty minutes before placing on the wall.
Next, have someone hold the panel for you while you screw it into the wall with drywall screws.
And Voila! You can now have a place to play to your hearts content!
Just outside my sewing room door is a bit of wall space made for this project. Just a hair over four feet wide, the panel slipped in like a dream. Ah, lovely. It is also right next to my ironing board, which makes that press and lay-out step a breeze.




As you can see, I had to make a cut to accommodate an electrical outlet. It was very easy to do.



What? You don't have wall space available for a design wall? There's a solution for that! Use the doorway (a closet would be great for this.) Purchase two tension rods to fit your door opening. Make a rod pocket at each end of your fleece and insert the tension rods. Attach the top rod first, then the bottom, making it taut but not so tight that the rods slip. And another Voila! Done. When you are finished, just roll it up and slip it out of sight.
If you are a quilter, you need one of these. I didn't really think it would make that much difference but, boy howdy, does it ever.
Now all that is left for you to do is sit back and let inspiration be your guide!