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DESIGN AND EMBELLISHMENT TIP
Make a Quick-and-Easy Folding Design Board

I made a 4-foot-high folding screen and use it often as a design/display board for sewing projects. It was easy to make—I just sewed it together. I slid four 24- by48-inch panels of 1/2-inch foam core into a large fabric envelope divided into four pockets. (The pocket stitching forms the hinges and allows the panels to swing in both directions.) I hand-stitched the bottom closed and the folding screen was ready to use.

Sew the two seams with the fabric right sides together and then turn right side out before topstitching.

make a versatile folding screen

Stop topstitching 1 in. from raw edge. Tuck in raw edges and whipstitch closed.

I use my screen as an 8-foot-long design/bulletin board. I can nail it right to the wall or stand it on my cutting table. I can fold it up and slide it under the bed, store it in a closet and fit it into a car, but it expands into a 4- by 8-foot surface for display that can travel with examples pinned to it. The screen will zigzag open for double-sided displays or a privacy screen, it can be arranged as a column, or used to keep the dog or toddlers out of your sewing room.

Foam core panels and a large fabric envelope make a versatile folding screen.

finished screen

-- Judith Neukam

Adapted from Tips department, Threads magazine, June/July 2004 (#113), p. 14.

© 2004 The Taunton Press, Inc.

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