Show Us Your Sewing Room!

[Foofoogal]

In honor of this thread I am spring cleaning today. Anyone want to join me. lol

texasgirl has inspired me.

 

[texasgirl]

lol lol lol You made me laugh out loud at my desk, ya'll are funny!

 

[kamikat]

Ok, here we go. It's a MAJOR mess and I'm open to suggestions on how to organize it.
The thread wall
you can see my collection of different sizes of Uniquely You dress forms, as well as my male form. The shelves contain my other hobbies, cross stitch and vintage knitting books.

My BabyLock embroidery machine, the bottom shelf of back-up machines, next shelf is cosmetology equipment and supplies, second from the top is vintage patterns, top shelf is modern patterns.

bins of fabric. the stash has out grown the bins

My main machine, Pfaff 7470, which is currently in need of a very expensive repair and the serger is a New Home.

 

[texasgirl]

That looks great! I love the thread on the wall. May have to steal that idea I don't really have any suggestions? I took all my quilting scraps and have been cutting those into 5" squares, since there are a lot of patterns/books using 5" sq. But I don't know about when making clothes there is probably nothing to do with weeding through it. That looks like a great table though, plenty of room to work

 

[Laughing Magpie]

I love this thread so much I've come out of lurkerdom!

texasgirl - What a neat, useful and pretty sewing room!
Sunny - I'm envious of being able to put everything away when you're not using it.
kamikat - I love your thread wall! As you'll see in my pictures, boxes are pretty much the best suggestion I've come up with for organization. It was a lot of work, but putting fabric on bolts has really helped with keeping it neat and accessible.
CherryRed - Your room looks so inspiring. I love the colour of the walls!
Snookie - You have such a polished looking spot! I agree, you have to use the walls (up!) to fit everything.
Lauren - I can't wait to see your studio too!

How do you manage to cut on tables? I've tried a couple times (on the rare occasions I've cleared an actual table) and I always end up frustrated and putting the fabric back down on the floor.

I actually took some pictures of my sewing room a couple months ago after cleaning it (it was a momentous occasion), so I'd love to share.

My flickr set is here (this is the first photo. Click on it to go to the link and then just keep clicking on the next photo to see them all. They've got lots of little notes if you hover your mouse over the photos.)

And... as will become obvious... I'm first a SF/F costumer geek and second a vintage sewer, so be prepared



Jen

 

[Miss 1929]

I see Londo Mollari!

I love this thread so much I've come out of lurkerdom!

texasgirl - What a neat, useful and pretty sewing room!
Sunny - I'm envious of being able to put everything away when you're not using it.
kamikat - I love your thread wall! As you'll see in my pictures, boxes are pretty much the best suggestion I've come up with for organization. It was a lot of work, but putting fabric on bolts has really helped with keeping it neat and accessible.
CherryRed - Your room looks so inspiring. I love the colour of the walls!
Snookie - You have such a polished looking spot! I agree, you have to use the walls (up!) to fit everything.
Lauren - I can't wait to see your studio too!

How do you manage to cut on tables? I've tried a couple times (on the rare occasions I've cleared an actual table) and I always end up frustrated and putting the fabric back down on the floor.

I actually took some pictures of my sewing room a couple months ago after cleaning it (it was a momentous occasion), so I'd love to share.

My flickr set is here (this is the first photo. Click on it to go to the link and then just keep clicking on the next photo to see them all. They've got lots of little notes if you hover your mouse over the photos.)

And... as will become obvious... I'm first a SF/F costumer geek and second a vintage sewer, so be prepared



Jen

One of my all-time favorite characters...

 

[RedHotRidinHood]

I love this thread so much I've come out of lurkerdom!

texasgirl - What a neat, useful and pretty sewing room!
Sunny - I'm envious of being able to put everything away when you're not using it.
kamikat - I love your thread wall! As you'll see in my pictures, boxes are pretty much the best suggestion I've come up with for organization. It was a lot of work, but putting fabric on bolts has really helped with keeping it neat and accessible.
CherryRed - Your room looks so inspiring. I love the colour of the walls!
Snookie - You have such a polished looking spot! I agree, you have to use the walls (up!) to fit everything.
Lauren - I can't wait to see your studio too!

How do you manage to cut on tables? I've tried a couple times (on the rare occasions I've cleared an actual table) and I always end up frustrated and putting the fabric back down on the floor.

I actually took some pictures of my sewing room a couple months ago after cleaning it (it was a momentous occasion), so I'd love to share.

My flickr set is here (this is the first photo. Click on it to go to the link and then just keep clicking on the next photo to see them all. They've got lots of little notes if you hover your mouse over the photos.)

And... as will become obvious... I'm first a SF/F costumer geek and second a vintage sewer, so be prepared



Jen

Holy crap. I thought I had alot of sewing stuff, but you've got me beaten hands down! I love your space, it works for you, it's obvious. I have always thought that a sewing room should have stuff all over the place because you never know what will inspire you next. As evidenced by my own sewing space, which I am still deciding if I want to show. It's pretty crazy. But yours is great-I want to start digging around in all that fabric!! lol

 

[JupitersDarling]

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That. banner. is. awesome.
I recognized the White Tree and the seven stars immediately.
The rest of the room is awesome as well! I like the idea of using bolts instead of wadding fabric into boxes.

Alas, I have no sewing room to call my own right now. I usually borrow my mother's sewing nook in her spare bedroom, which currently is in a total state of chaos.

 

[Lady Day]

This is where the magic happens.

Here is the 'romantic' view of my sewing nook.

But I have to share this space with everything I do. A 7' by 6' space I use for sewing, painting, drawing and sometimes, computin'.

I live in a closet (studio), so all my sewing stuff is everywhere.

Here is the island that separated my kitchen from the nook space. Im rocking it with my little $10 Wallgreens travel iron. I have a real cool GE vintage one, but its too heavy to use on that board, and I dont have the space or income right now for a real ironing board. Here is where I keep all my notions. Those three plastic bins are filled with vintage buttons

That shelf is my fabric stash. I sorted it by fiber content. The green bags are filled with scraps, all sorted by color, but nothing over 2 feet squared. So I use a lot of that for interfacing and stuff.

And a random bag of cone thread I keep in the closet.

Working in this space is starting to tax me, as there is cat hair everywhere, and its daunting making clothing that requires space to cut it out. I hope to move by the end of the year into a larger space where I can at least have a sewing corner.

LD

 

[Miss 1929]

Lady Day, I am amazed you can do all those great clothes in that tiny space! You are a superwoman!

 

[Snookie]

Laughing Magpie - you have such nice pictures hanging on your walls, I love it! I have several pieces, but I can't seem to manage getting them hung on the walls! I spy some Ikea Gorm sheving, yes? I keep my fabric bins on the same system.

Cutting on tables is much easier if they're taller - most tables are meant to be sat at, so they're short and make you bend more. A cutting table also needs to be pretty big to be helpful, more like a dining room table than a kitchen table. I bet you like the floor because you can spread out.

Kamikat - it looks like some serious work happens in your room! There's no question a true seamstress is in there. For organizing, you've got some good pieces - the thread wall, shelving, great tables. I agree with Laughing Magpie, that good boxes would help a lot - if they're uniform in size they can fit together/stack easier, your fabric bins are a good example. Most of your shelves could fit twice as much stuff if everything was in a box instead of piles. Like you, I use clear bins for my fabric, it's easier to find things.

One more thing, I keep my patterns in comic book sleeves (cardboard back and plastic bag). It's cheap, attractive, and I totally trust comic book collectors to make products that protect paper. It's also way easier to keep pattern pieces together - not an easy task with unprinted pattern pieces and decrepit envelopes.

 

[Snookie]

LD, I've spent so much time thinking about making an ironing board on top of a kitchen trolly, you beat me to it! Since I never collapse the ironing board, it kills me wasting all that space under there. I want to store all my big rulers and pressing tools in it. Way to go!

 

[Lilliput]

Texasgirl, thank you for the link to the desk at target.com

 

[kamikat]

Kamikat - it looks like some serious work happens in your room! There's no question a true seamstress is in there. For organizing, you've got some good pieces - the thread wall, shelving, great tables. I agree with Laughing Magpie, that good boxes would help a lot - if they're uniform in size they can fit together/stack easier, your fabric bins are a good example. Most of your shelves could fit twice as much stuff if everything was in a box instead of piles. Like you, I use clear bins for my fabric, it's easier to find things.

Ha! Thanks!
The patterns started out in boxes, but the collection keeps out growing them. I'd always rather spend money on more patterns than boxes.
I LOVE the idea of the comic book sleeves. I never would have thought of that. I'm sure my husband has some extras he could spare me.
My bins are organized. One bin is for knits and stretch wovens, one bin is for cotton and linen, one bin is wool and the last bin is children's fabrics. That's the only system I've kept to even while the stash grows.

 

[Snookie]

Kamikat, I know what you mean about the pattern boxes! Those suckers are expensive, especially considering they're sold flat and you have to assemble them yourself.

I can't take credit for the comic book sleeve idea - I've received patterns from Ebay a couple times that were packaged like that. They're much better than ziplocks or any other bags I've tried, and the archival quality is important, too. I like that the cardboard supports the pattern, so they don't get crumpled.

When I went to the comic book store and bought my stash a couple years ago, I didn't tell the guys there what my plans were - I think they were pretty excited that a young girl was SO into comics that she needed a hundred sleeves!!

 

[Pink Dahlia]

Moving Monday! I can't wait to put pics of the sewing room up!

 

[fishmeok]

Hope you don't mind if I post here- this is my workspace. My main axe is a 1920's Singer 78-3 industrial, and there are 7 other vintage machines stashed around the room. My main non-leather machine is a 1940's Necchi BU. I was lucky enough to find an old drafting table that I use as my main prep area, with another tabletop over it for cutting. I have a cabinet for most of my stuff, but as you can see I'm overflowing a bit. The computer is also in here, along with the desk, file cabinet, and printer. It's a little crowded, messy, and eclectic...

I'm teaching myslef how to make leather jackets, it's slow going, but fun.
Cheers
Mark

 

[Rachael]

I was going to tidy up a bit, but since this is a working sewing room, that just isn't going to happen for a while..

One of the things I loved about my new home when we looked at it was the former beauty salon between the floors (we rent the flat five steps up from the street, another couple rents the basement and this is on the ground floor). Imagine it organized, without 5 projects in perpetual motion:

my main work table, which is also the cutting table.

shelves with notions, yardage, and my small village of mannequins wearing this week's to-do list.

my pressing station, hats, corsets, and Wicker Woman, who is very impractical but will one day be a topiary.

now if I could just get the patterns and sundries to jump magically into their designated places.

 

[Vintage Betty]

fftopic: I don't have a sewing room, but hope to have a working studio some day. I found this issue of Cloth Paper Scissors® recently, and it is EXCELLENT! It is so good, I purchased an additional copy for my mother, who is a quilter. I thought that if you are looking for some ideas or organization for your sewing room, you might be interested in this issue.

Cloth Paper Scissors® Studios is a special issue dedicated to creating beautiful, inviting, unique, and functional studios for making collages, quilts, handmade books, and other types of fiber and mixed-media art.

our special Studios
issue will feature:
101 Organization Tips
An Extreme Studio Makeover for our Editor-in-Chief, Patricia Bolton
Budget Storage Solutions
10 Art Projects to Personalize your Space
plus: artists’ dream studios; a sneak peek into some of your favorite artists’ creative spaces; our staff’s favorite tools, gadgets, and storage systems; and more.

Table of Contents

It's currently available to order online here for $6.

Thanks for showing your pics, I am enjoying seeing your sewing rooms!

 

[SuperKawaiiMama]

Oh I am so inspired now. My sewing room is always in a state of flux as it has to double as a guest room, and I have been hosting A LOT of guests recently. It makes it difficult when you have several projects on the go, but so long as the guests don't step on a pin in the night, they don't mind sharing their space with my chaos. I'll have to take some photos today to post later on.