MY SEWING SPACE

I'm always interested to see the sewing spaces of other quilters.  Some quilters manage to sew in spaces barely large enough to sit down and others have the luxury of a quilting 'studio' with all the amenities ~~  cutting table, pressing station, design wall, beautiful windows that let in natural light, etc.

My sewing space is in a small spare bedroom.  Until last summer the one solid wall had a daybed that was comfy but did little to help me stash away fabric or get organized. 

See What I Mean?

Jeff and I decided I needed cabinets in the worst way and off to Lowe's we went.  We came home with three wardrobes that needed to be assembled.

Volumes can be written about the trials and tribulations of putting together three huge cabinets in a tiny room using directions that only offered pictures ~ no words.  I'm a word person and Jeff is a fly by the seat of your pants kind of guy for projects like this.  He assured me he could assemble them with his eyes closed.  About two weeks later I had a lovely row of cabinets that I'm actually in love with. 

There is a shelf or cubbyhole for nearly every color/type of fabric I stash and eight roomy drawers for notions.  You are welcome to look around ~~~

 

I like the clean look of white cabinets.  On the top are several old family quilts, baskets and the only surviving doll from my childhood.  She is wearing a sweater and cap that I wore as a baby.  The little satin shoes were my daughter's.

 

 



 

 

Cabinet #1 houses black, gray, blue, green brown, pink, purple and orange fabric.  There are a few works in progress on the bottom left and on the bottom right is my collection of stabilizers for machine embroidery.  The glass jar is full of buttons.  The drawers hold embroidery hoops and miscellaneous notions.  The owl will be going to a child along with a quilt.  All of my fabrics that are a half yard or larger are wound on comic book boards and stand up in the back of the shelves.  Fat quarters and small cuts are folded and are lined up in plastic shoe boxes.  I keep small scraps in a tote underneath my sewing table.

 

 



Cabinet 2 is my favorite because it holds precious my pre-cuts on the third shelf right and left.  Whites and creams are on the top left.  A quilter can't have too many of these!  The red shelf also holds a bobbin winder and small heart pillows made from an antique quilt.  On the third shelf, jellyrolls and charm packs are on the left and layer cakes are on the right.   The top right shelf is my collection of holiday prints, followed by batiks and aboriginal prints on shelf two.  The drawers hold scissors and rotary cutters and blades, pins and clips and small rulers.  Extra fabric and pressing sprays are on the bottom.

 

 



Last but not least is cabinet 3.  This cabinet houses solid cottons, my UFOs (second left), yellow/gold fabric, 1930 prints, wide backings, yarn and my Featherweight machines plus miscellaneous items.  On the yellow shelf is a jar of hexagon papers and a button box.  The small basket on row 2 holds my thimbles.  The drawers currently hold strips, embroidered pieces and blocks ready to be sewn into quilts.  Let me not forget to mention that the large shelf on the left holds yarn and knitting 'stix'. 

I keep most of my regular sewing thread on holders on the wall.

I do most of my sewing with neutrals.  The stacks of white bobbins are for machine embroidery.  The green shelf holds colored threads and some machine embroidery thread.

Other than that, I sew on a folding table and do my cutting on the island in the kitchen.  I don't have a design wall or a wall large enough for a flannel-backed vinyl tablecloth.   I'm in the process of making a pressing surface to fit the end of my sewing table.  I'm not comfortable having the ironing board up with the iron on top since we got the dogs. 

I remember the day I was able to put my fabric onto comic book boards and organize them in the cabinets ~~~  that day was a little slice of heaven!!  Since then I've reorganized the shelves and added quite a bit more fabric, but I still love the cabinets and being able to close the doors.

What kind of a sewing space do you have?  This room is the best setup I've had so far.  I remember sewing with my machine on my lap at times for lack of space! 

Thanks for stopping in!!