New Sewing Space

Today I am sharing pictures of my nice new sewing space.

I had a basement room all to myself previously. This is what it looked like before I started packing stuff up:

I definitely craved more organization and having my stash in the large purple and pink suitcases was clunky for browsing through fabric for new projects. Without seeing it and seeing how much I had to work with, I would buy a lot more fabric and have no clue that there was likely a great fabric that worked in my stash. I also had my patterns everywhere in the room and not very well organized either.

I craved natural light. I really missed it when I was sewing away in the winter. There are precious few hours of sunlight and often I would sew after work and then go upstairs into the dark to prepare dinner. I made the space work, but it wasn’t perfect for me.

In the Spring, we had a few leaks in the room from rain and snow melting that left the place smelling musty and horrible. The carpet needs replacing. We used to have our bedroom in here and one of the reasons we moved into the Master bedroom (other than no longer having a roommate) was because of the leaks in the basement room. Once the carpet is replaced, we’re repurposing the room and I won’t be moving my sewing back down there.

My new sewing space is the other half of our bedroom and I love it so very much! There is still some minor organization left to do, but I’ve been sewing in it now so let me take you on a tour.

The cabinet that now houses my fabric and sewing notions:

Behind the doors is my fabric stash:

Heavier weight wovens are on the top, knits in the middle, and lighter weight wovens on the bottom.

In the drawers are sewing notions and some fabric. I need a little more organization in these, but they are okay for now:

The top drawer has zippers, buttons, velcro, and elastics and some suede that I bought on sale locally.

The middle drawer has tons of bra making supplies: laces, duoplex, elastics, underwires, stretch mesh, power mesh, rings and sliders, little bows and flowers for embellishments, and many other things. I also decorated the cabinet with washi tape that has pins and safety pins on it. It was a prize from Jenny. 🙂

The bottom drawer holds satins, silks, crepes, linings, and many other more delicate fabrics.

On top of the cabinet is my knitting WIP and my pattern sash (yes, that is still the cardigan I was going to make for the Outfit Along….haha!):

The blue container holds my printed pdf patterns, which are still in the process of being organized, and the red holds my paper patterns organized by pattern company and then into categories (dresses, coats/jackets, separates, costumes, etc.).

On the side of the cabinet, I stuck a couple of hooks for my measuring tapes.

Do you have this many measuring tapes? I always feel like I need a bunch of them hanging around. They usually end up all over the room and I always want one accessible.

Beside the cabinet above my dresser are a couple of containers with craft supplies (felt, ribbons, polymer clay, and jewelry making supplies), along with my WIP basket (on the left) and my “to-be cut” basket (on the right..overflowing because of a huge project I am working on right now).

On the other side of my stash cabinet, my cutting and work table sits. Right now, it is a folding table, but I definitely want a proper table one day that can adjust to counter height and has locking rollers on the feet so I can move it about as needed. I would also like it to be slightly shorter in length.

Unfortunately, the folding table is a little warped in the middle from years of pressing on the table top ironing board there; I’d stop doing it, but it can’t get much worse that it is. Plan is to also get a proper full sized ironing board and have it folded away beside my dresser when I am not using it, since there is a perfect space in that corner.

Under the table is my exercise ball and a rogue box of unorganized pdfs that I will get to after I finish a ton of Star Trek uniforms for my improv show, Holodeck Follies. You can see a few in progress on the top of the table there along with two that are all cut up and I put together just last night.

Behind the cutting/work table are a couple of DIY pictures that I put together using fabric scraps, dollar store frames, and a few feathers. I really love the look and it makes the wall a little more interesting. My husband said he likes them, too! Win!

Finally, here is my sewing space with my sewing machines!

Right in front of the window with natural light pouring over me as I sew. I eventually want to make covers for both of the machines to keep dust off of them and increase the neat and tidy feeling of the room.

I organized the messiest drawer in the desk:

I used clear plastic dollar store organizers and am really pleased with the look. The other drawers are just thread, rulers, instruction manuals, and interfacing:

Beside the desk on the right is my little dry erase board to make notes about stitch lengths and measurements and notes on works in progress:

I do so many adjustments that it helps to see all my measurements on the board and to adjust as my body changes. I can never remember the perfect bar tack stitch length for my machine. Having it up there has saved me sew many times.

To the right of the desk is a little wire cart:

I eventually want to have more clear containers in that area with lids for some more organization. The caddy currently holds my several kinds of tape, ironing supplies, pens/pencils/markers, and the electric wires for everything in the area. Kind of messy, but I will figure out better ways of dealing with these things.

Here is the other half of the bedroom:

Beside my desk on top of the small bookcase is my very small stack of sewing books and my ipod for my sewing playlist.

Above the bed, I made a heart with LED fairy lights. It’s just wound around some push pins. Above the heart is a little wooden plaque that says, “Love is spoken here.” ❤

The tall bookcase usually holds family pictures, but I took them off for the picture for privacy. My Harry Potter series gets top billing at the very top of the shelf. 😉

The body pillow cover was made by me and is inspired by the Star Trek TNG uniform. I will add a Communicator badge to it one day, but for now I love it. It’s made with black t-shirt material and burgundy fleece.

This is between the door and the closet. I finally brought this painting and the red one above the small bookcase up from our previous basement room. I love both of them. My husband has a nice art collection and great taste (especially in women…ha!).

We also did some reorganization of the closet and packed a few things into plastic bags due to a moth issue:

I’ve also put my yarn stash in a plastic bin and finally have my fabric scraps in two plastic bins in the closet. They are pretty full! Surprising how many scraps you acquire from sewing for a few years.

I have the fabric scraps organized by knit and woven. Eventually, I want to go through them and get rid of a lot of the tiny pieces and cut bigger pieces into rectangles or squares or triangles and organize them by fabric type and complimentary colours/prints to make scrap quilts one day. But that’s a pipe dream really, because I much prefer garment sewing! I do think pulling out the bigger scraps for using as accents on projects will happen, though. A nice little tiny pocket here or button tab there in a contrast colour is more in my interest. Although, I love the idea of a knit fabric quilt. I see that getting done a lot sooner than anything else.

I really love the new space. Smaller, but far more functional. It’s a lot easier for me to see what I have and be able to use it effectively. I can easily work on my projects without having to search the room for what I need. I got really disorganized in the other room. I am hoping that won’t happen with this one since I am starting in a much more organized space.

Of course, the whole thing helps me realize that I should not be buying fabric anytime soon and should be on a fabric and pattern buying fast….

Yeah… Like THAT is going to happen…. 😉

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