Sewing Space Organization

There are lots of great deals in the stores these days. Here is purchase I am quite proud of: a flexible, clamp-on Ott light for my Gammill. It was on the Clearance shelf at Michael's Craft Store in North Raleigh. I was able to use my 40% off coupon with it, for a grand total of $12.00 for this great light. The only other light in the room is an overhead fan with light fixture, and a floor model Ott light that just did not work out with the Gammill, since I was always knocking it over.

I am continuing to try to organize my sewing space on the third floor. I have just about finished with organization of my "stash." There are two narrow closets in the sewing room. Here is the first one, which holds my fat quarters, hand-dyed fabric in the tall drawers, and pre-cut squares and strips in the shoe-boxes.Bonnie Hunter came to our guild this year and explained how she "tames" her scraps by cutting into strips and squares of 1.5", 2", 2.5", 3.5", etc. I already had a lot of these cut up. I'm not sure I will keep them in these fabric shoe-boxes, because they are collapsible.

Here is the other closet. This one is directly behind the embellisher machine table, so I can just wheel my chair backward and reach for some yummy stuff. Like this basket of hand-dyed cheesecloth, part of my postcard challenge prize from Vicki Welsh.

The two tallest plastic drawers are my scraps, sorted by color.

The two shorter drawers are for ribbons, trims, and other embellishments. I used one of my old organization tools from my elementary school experience: label everything, and include a sample of what's inside on the label.

My larger pieces of fabric (half-yard or more) are sorted by color in these plastic bins on another 9-cubby shelf unit against the wall.

This wall is only about five feet high because of the sloping ceiling of this finished attic space. Looks like I need to use up or get rid of some of these pieces so the tops will actually fit on the plastic tubs. But, it is looking a lot better than the old system. I used to keep the fat quarters in the wooden triple dresser, and the plastic tubs on top. That was not working out too well, was it? Along with my little stereo and talking books and CD collection?

I did not plan to ever show off the wreck that was my old sewing room, but I guess as I get it cleaned out, I will show the old versus new. Can you see why it is taking me so long to shovel out this room?

To try to keep things off the floor, I am using pegboards on the walls. This one, for rulers and rotary cutters, fits on the narrow space between the two closets.


This one is on the wall next to my sewing table. Yesterday I bought some more thread racks at Joann's, so I would not have any plastic drawers and boxes of thread lying around. I have not put those up yet. I have already discovered that I do not like having rotary cutters and scissors stationed directly above my head when I am sewing- those will have to move! I like the little wire baskets that attach to the pegboard. A good place to put sewing machine oil, fray-check, etc.

I still have only one design wall mounted, but will try to get DSH (Dear Sweet Husband) to help me hang the other one this weekend. I have unearthed the basket and boxes of fabric and UFO's that I brought home from our friend Spike's house after his wife passed away two years ago. Pam made these very precise blocks with perfectly mitered frames, and I intend to finish the quilt for Spike. I found an assortment of squares left over from some of her other projects, and auditioned them next to her blocks, which are already sewn together. I don't know why she used so much pink in a quilt for a manly man, but I thought I would try adding more blue-greens and tans for an outer border. I'm not sure about that... but I definitely do not want to make any more of those mitered log cabin blocks. It will have some kind of scrappy border. There are yards of what looks like sashing strips in a lime green...don't think I will be using that for this project. I wish there was a pattern or hint of where she was going with some of her UFO's. Memo to self: store UFO's with a copy of the pattern or book, along with the fabrics selected for that project.

We might have a little snow here this weekend, although there is a much greater chance in the mountains. I'm glad we had our family gathering last weekend, because many of the folks had to travel from Boone and other points west. We are planning to go to try out Dave and Emily's new hot tub on Saturday. Sitting outdoors in a hot tub, watching it snow...sounds delightful!