Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Sewing Room Tour... part one

I've had a lot of sewing spaces over the years. I started in our first apartment sitting on the floor with my machine on a step stool (younger days!). I've set up in the dining room of our first house, an unfinished basement in another and a 10' x 10' spare bedroom in our third. When we found our current place, one of the things that sold me was a bonus room built over the two-car garage. Huge 20' x 20' space - I could picture it immediately. Reality set in, and since my husband works from a home office (and is really the one who buys the fabric), we built a dividing wall down the middle and I ended up with a nice 10' x 20' sewing room. I love it!

I like that it's somewhat removed from the rest of the house - a little sewing sanctuary. You walk up a set of stairs in the back of the house off the kitchen. Here's the room from the doorway...


I consider myself really lucky to have 2 sewing machines. They're in cabinets placed back to back giving me ample table space for quilting large quilts. I use the larger machine primarily for machine quilting and the smaller one for piecing. This allows me to go back and forth without changing thread or the setup. Crazy how just having to rethread the machine used to stop me from getting to my machine quilting!


Here's the setup from the other side. I love my little TV that swings both ways on the wall...


On the left wall is my design wall. Simply sheets of styrofoam, duct taped together and covered in a white flannel sheet. Easily reachable from the piecing machine...


Just around the corner is a piece of framed pegboard holding my rulers and rotary cutter...


It's within easy reach of my nice big cutting table. I've had this table for many years and I love that it's lightweight and folds down to the size of the drawer you see in the front. I baste all my quilts on this table - it's on wheels and I roll it around to get to all sides of the quilt.

I made the step stool so I could reach to the top of my design wall.


My ironing station is around the corner. It's made from a wire shelving unit (also on wheels) with a 20" x 60" MDF board on top. I've had this board for many years and it's still perfectly flat. It's covered in thin batting with a pillowcase-type cover. I take 2 yards of fabric, sew up the long end into a tube and slip it over the board, folding and pinning under the ends. When one side is ruined, I flip it over on the second side.

The shelves are used for fabric storage...


To the left of the ironing station are couple of small storage cubes from Target. Here I keep my most frequently used books. I'm a quilt book hoarder, so I have lots more stored on a bookcase in the hubby's office right next door.


On top of the books is a bit more storage and my dry-erase board that keeps me on task...


To the left, I have another shelf for fabric storage and 2 cabinets for more fabric storage. (More on that tomorrow). The shelves above the cabinets are shoe storage shelves turned upside down. The boxes hold patterns...


And finally, just inside the door is my desk. I've my books displayed on a picture ledge from Pottery Barn...


 a bit of sewing art and pictures of some of my favorite people...


You can see everything is fairly cleaned up and tidy. I work better when there's not a mess, although that happens when I've pulled a lot of fabric for a project. Mountains of unfolded fabric!

Tomorrow I'll be back with some of the little details and storage solutions.   . . . Cindy

27 comments:

  1. I've looked at many sewing room set-ups on line, and yours looks beautiful, practical and real! Too many of them don't really look like a person could get anything done! It's a lovely space, open and light and attractive - want to come help me with my room???

    ReplyDelete
  2. Nice space! And what makes are your sewing machines?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Really nice quilt room, lots of great ideas in case I am ever lucky enough to have my own space,

      Delete
  3. Such a pretty and well organized sewing room!!

    ReplyDelete
  4. What a dream! Your studio looks like it came out of one of those "organize it yourself" magazines! I'm absolutely in love and inspired!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Thanks so much for the tour of your lovely sewing room. It is so neat and uncluttered...I have surrounded myself with many items that are deeply tender to my heart, gifts from family members, things that were my mom and dads, etc. And though I hate to think of putting many of these things away, I really need the space in my sewing area to open it up and to be able to see better in a glance, what I have and where it is. Funny how sentimentality can take over the way your do things isn't it. I think what I need to do is pick one token from each person and put the rest neatly away, then rotate them them occasionally if I wanted to. you have no idea how much space it would free up and I know mom and dad would be tell me to 'get that room organized for my benefit'. Seeing all these beautiful sewing/quilting rooms that everyone is sharing with us lately has been a great encouragement. But this is the rub...every time I think about putting away a little stuffed animal from my dad (for example) I start to feel quilty. Good heavens, I'm soon to be 63 years old, married 45 years this July with four grandchildren and I feeling guilty for wanting to store away a stuffed animal?????? Lord preserve us, LOL. Besides, it is the ONLY way I can make room for a design wall. Like you I am much more productive in a neatly organized space and always try to start my day with a nice neat work space, so after seeing your lovely room, I think I finally am ready to tackle this "de-cluttering' operation. You and all the others I have seen these last few weeks have inspired me...wish me luck, LOL Hugs...

    ReplyDelete
  6. Thank you for sharing your room Cindy; I love it!
    Very functionaly and thought out, while still pretty and full of your favorite things!

    ReplyDelete
  7. I am embracing your ironing board idea. I had planned on converting an IKEA buffet table w/shelves under; alas, we do not have a store here and it is too big for them to ship... Soooooo, your metal rack and shelves is a great alternative! Thank you for sharing!

    ReplyDelete
  8. This is great! Thanks so much for sharing Cindy--you are always such an inspiration!

    ReplyDelete
  9. What a lovely sewing space. So light, functional, pretty and tidy. Beautiful!

    ReplyDelete
  10. One day Cindy...one day, I'll be lucky enough to build myself a studio like yours that is relaxing, organized and inspirational. Thanks!!!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Wow, it looks just beautiful!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Thanks for the virtual tour, Cindy. So many neat (and beautiful) solutions. What a gorgeous space to create in!

    ReplyDelete
  13. Loved the tour -- thanks so much for providing it!

    ReplyDelete
  14. So beautiful!!! I love the cabinets your sewing machines are in - do you know what brand they are?

    ReplyDelete
  15. Oh wow - such an amazing sewing space! I'm very jealous, I sew on the dining room table... one day... :o)

    ReplyDelete
  16. Wow! That is a wonderful space - go you! And I love your ironing station idea...I think you just saved me a couple hundred bucks on an extra-wide ironing board! I'm planning on cleaning up/organizing my sewing nook tomorrow, in hopes I'll be able to sew at home this weekend for the first time in a long time! At 26 weeks pregnant, it's about time I made a quilt for my son!

    ReplyDelete
  17. Your space is perfect! Thanks for sharing!

    ReplyDelete
  18. I love the frame around the peg board. That makes it looj so much nicer. I wis I knew how to pin this to pinterest. Tank you for sharing.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Your space looks so inviting, I'm needing a new sewing table. I'm wondering what brand your white table is.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Your space looks so inviting. I am in need of a new sewing table and really think your white one would work for me and my quilting. Could you tell me the brand name and style? Thanks! Charyl from Spokane,WA

    ReplyDelete
  21. What size is your wire shelving unit?

    ReplyDelete
  22. I use sealtex foam. It comes in a 4 x 8 sheet. It worked well for a design wall. Covered mine in flannel too. I even cut some off the end and used a small piece for at the machine side while creating blocks. Very nice room by the way! Sounds like it came together very nicely after all the moving and such. :D Pretty too!

    ReplyDelete
  23. where did buy that wire rack with shelves table for your ironing station? I am wanting and needing that very badly for my small home sewing business?:)

    ReplyDelete
  24. Thanks for sharing all those great ideas. I saw shelves similar to yours at Ikea. I think I will look into making same ironing board unit for my sewing room. Great idea and practical, eliminates the need for wood and building and economical.

    ReplyDelete

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.