KalamaQuilts

wide back flannel (or standard-ish nice quilting flannel I guess I'm saying)
and something called drapery flannel?
I added a second working wall in my quilt room, and while on vacation I've been visiting quilt shops looking for plain wide flannel for it. No luck so far, but today I noticed at Hancock's of Paducah they have something called drapery flannel.


it doesn't indicate anything else about weight. I'll probably order it because it is the size I need rather than 108" but I'm curious. Thanks!

Lena1952

Sorry, I've never heard of drapery flannel. I would think as long as it has nap, it would work for a design wall. Or perhaps a flannel sheet would work and you may be able to find that locally.

1CharmShort

Drapery flannel often has flannel on the front and a sateen sort of shiny fabric on the back side. Not sure if that is what you are looking at...?

KalamaQuilts

ah, even though it would be tacked to the wall I wouldn't want slippery. I tape roll the strings off often and slippery might make wrinkles even if it weren't pulled tight.

stitch678

I'm a retired drapery seamstress 😊. The drapery flannel is only available in white, is high quality ( if from reputable mill), and is made to give body to silk drapery fabric. Most of it's milled at 54" wide. Anything wider l would suspect was made as " sheeting". All flannels shrink when washed, but doing so would make nap fluffier, which would be beneficial for a design wall.

KalamaQuilts

thank you stitch! how many miles of long seams do you think you've sewn?
that is exactly what it says it is.
I do love a lot of brains working in tandem!

peaceandjoy

I buy most of my backing fabric at Hancock's of Paducah. Earlier this summer, I got Robert Kaufman batiks for $3.99/yard. Yes, I had to piece it, but for that price, a couple of long seams is worth it to me! Something close in color is good enough for me. I bought 2 15 yard pieces to get a quantity discount, so have enough for 3 king backs plus some extra. One each of the fabrics, and one that will have both fabrics in it. Something close in color is good enough for me. Right now, they have flannels that start at $5/yard, and I can pretty much promise they are nicer than what is available in a big box store. Buy 15 yards of one and the price goes down. Line up the selvage, sew at an inch, then trim back to 1/2". (I don't know why, sewing that long seam is easier before trimming the selvage off for me.) Pic of a quilt I just picked up from the LA to show that the backing I used is a green, and there is green in the quilt, so it's all good... Not the same green, but I'm not in the habit of showing the backs of my quilts anyhow.

peaceandjoy

So I TOTALLY misread your post... Sorry about that!

I bought a king size flannel sheet from Amazon. It was big enough for me to cut in half lengthwise and cover 2 foam insulation panels. Mine are not attached to anything as I have to move them when not in use. I wrapped the cut edges around to the back and tacked down.

KalamaQuilts

I liked looking at the mystery finish anyway
my backs are always tops so piecing those is second nature.
I got wide flannel for my big working wall and love it. This is a smaller sized one about 50X60 so the drapery style will be perfect. I've redone my quilt room this summer to better accommodate my vision + the changes that has required, and in doing so I made a second sewing station for the 40X40 quilts I'm making for the balcony loft rail over the living room. I have about a milliion planned! and it won't clog up my big wall for big quilts. I'm loving being on vacation, this week we visited Mesa Verde, but I'm also looking forward to getting home and playing in my revamped space.

dunster

I prefer felt for my design walls because it won't sag like flannel sometimes does. It comes in wide widths in various colors and is very cheap. A single layer of felt can also be used to practice on the longarm. (I learned that during a longarm class at a major quilt show.)

When I moved into this house the downstairs windows were adorned with very formal draperies that were once very expensive (at least that's what the previous home owner said). Many of them were silk fabrics, with several panels of vivid colors combined in a single drapery. But to me they looked like circus tents. I took them down and when I deconstructed them I found that they were lined with a very high quality white flannel. I didn't realize it was a special flannel made for draperies. Thanks stitch! I'm not sure yet what I'll do with it, but I'm sure I'll come up with something.