Aug 1, 2012

An Awesome Hinged Design Wall Made by My Awesome Husband!

I can't believe an entire month has gone by without me posting! I have been super busy quilting and now it's time to show you what I've up to. 

Before I show you quilts, I have to post about the absolutely, fabulous design wall that my husband made for me. I already have a great design wall in my quilt room, but it is always covered with a long term project and many times I have to take down the blocks to put up another project for a while. 

One day while my friend Judy was visiting, she said that she had been thinking about a design wall that would be hinged on the side so that you could swing it away from the wall and put blocks on both sides. I have the perfect spot in my quilt room for this, so I mentioned the idea to my husband. He spent some time mulling the idea around in his head, deciding how to make it light enough to swing well and not pull out of the wall. He decided to make a "frame" from PVC pipe and put insulation board on the front and back. I could then cover that with batting and flannel. Here are the pictures of how the project progressed from start to finish....

















Here is the frame-this is a dry fit without the cross bars. The two T-joints that are sticking out on the left are where the design wall will attach to the wall. 

This is a close up of the T-joint used for the hinge.


Next step was to glue all the PVC pipe together and then cut the insulation board to size. He used Duck Tape to join the boards.


Then he glued the insulation board to the  PVC frame. He glued large pieces on each side and strips around the edges  to make it smooth.
















This is the wall mount part of the hinge. He used a block of wood, drilled it out and fitted a dowel in it for the T-joint to fit over. That was affixed to the wall with a board-screwed into joists for support.

















Here is my design wall hanging on the wall. Now I just need to pretty it up and make it usable.


First I covered it in batting. I bought warm and natural at Jo-Ann's on the roll. It was the perfect width. I used hot glue on the sides and bottom to hold the batting in place once I had it stretched and smooth.

















Lastly, I covered it with white flannel-because it was 45" wide I had to buy twice the length I needed and seamed it. Again, I used hot glue to keep it in place, but I only used the hot glue on the edges, top, and bottom. I did not use any glue on the surface of the wall.


Here is the front of my hinged design wall! 

















And here it is, swung open. You can see that I have quilt blocks on the back too-and on my original fixed design wall. Now I can work on several projects at once.

I hope you are inspired by my new design wall to find a place for one in your own quilt room. Happy stitching.............

17 comments:

  1. I love it! What are the dimensions of it? I am moved into my new quilt room but havent got a design wall up yet maybe this is the one! So glad to see a new post from you!

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    1. This design wall measures 72" w X 80" h. You can certainly make it any size you want to. He made this one the same size as my original one since it's in front of it.

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  2. A lot of thought went into this. Great design. How neat your husband did this for you. You can really display all your work in progress. Great job from the two of you! Enjoy!

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  3. Love it! I saw your post on Quilting Board and had to come see. It really is a great design idea. I am thinking of one that's a bit smaller. I try not to have too many large projects going at once, but I can handle several small ones, so this is perfect. Thanks for sharing!

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  4. Your frame is perfect for my studio. I'm going to have my hubby build me one. Is the batting behind the flannel really necessary?

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    1. No, the batting is not essential, but since I was using white flannel to cover the blue insulation board I wanted an extra layer to hide color showing through the flannel.

      I'm so glad you like my design wall. I would love to see a picture of yours when you and your husband have finished it.

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  5. Thank you so much for sharing your design walls! My husband is making some for me, thanks to your post. We're modifying to fit my space by mounting a large design board right on the wall with a hinged design board on each side, like French doors, yielding five surfaces. I'm so excited to have it in my studio, and it's all thanks to you. Your quilt blocks are beautiful!

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  6. This is a wonderful idea! Thanks so much for sharing:)

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  7. What a wonderful design wall, perfect for doing multi projects. Now to go down to the sewing room and make some plans. Thanks for sharing.

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  8. bonjour! je suis tres enballée de l'idé du mur design mais moi je n'ai pas de mur pour faire ce mur, mais mon idé est un murdésign mobile sur roulette, avec a coté un paneau perforé,car pas bc d'espasse est-il ?fesable merci

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  9. Oh my how wonderful!! I sure hope my husband and/or I can figure this out. I absolutely love this!! Thank you so very much for sharing. Jennie

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  10. This is by far the best design wall I've seen to date. I was wondering since it's been a few years you've had your design wall up, is there any sagging? Thanks so much for sharing.

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  11. Too bad you didn't make both of the design walls double sided so you had even more space. I too have too many projects for just one wall and often have work on top of one another. It is fabulous you are one lucky quilter!!

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  12. What size pvc pipe?
    Thanks...it is awesome

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    1. It was either 1” or 1.5”. It’s been a while!

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