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Take a Peek into my Sewing Room – Overview
By Serena Smith | January 23, 2008
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Click the video player to view the tour of my sewing room. It may take a few minutes to load. For those of you with a dial-up connection, you can “view” the tour by reading my description below.
This is the first of a series on sewing room organization and storage, complete with videos! Over the next few weeks, I’ll share ideas for fabric stash organizing, thread storage and cataloging embroidery designs. Be sure to visit my blog every week or sign up for my newsletter for the lastest issue!
I’d love to hear the many ways you organize and store things in your sewing room, so leave a comment with your favorite sewing room ideas!
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Welcome to my sewing room! I’m so excited that you’re able to join me on this tour in this special room where I love to be so creative and where I spend a lot of my time. Not only do I do all of my sewing, quilting and embroidery here, but it also serves as my office, so I have to have all my office supplies right along with all my fabric, threads and notions.
I’d like to show you around my sewing room and maybe you can gain some ideas for your own room. I like to keep everything as organized as possible. That helps me sew to the best efficency that I can – get as much as I can accomplished in the little time that I have. I know – keeping everything organized and in its place is the hardest thing to do in a sewing room, but that is my goal. It doesn’t always get accomlished, but that is my objective.
And I have to admit, when I’m currently working on a project, especially if I have a deadline for it, I will have fabric all over the place, my instruction books and journals are scattered all over the floor, I have threads out, I have notions scattered, everything is completely a mess. But as soon as I have time and am done with that project, I put everything back in its place, so when I start something new, I’m starting with a clean, fresh slate. And I know where everything is in my sewing room again.
I’m very privilaged that I have a large sewing room where I can store just about everything I need in it. Not everyone has that. And I have to say, when I first started sewing, my room was very, very small. The advantage that a small sewing room has is that you can stand in the middle of the room and reach just about everything. If I stood in the middle of my old sewing room, I could reach my sewing machine, fabric, threads and books just by streching out my arms.
When you have a larger sewing room, you have to be a little bit more organized so your tools and notions are handy to get to. There’s different ways that you can accomplish being organized and I’m going to show you some of the ways and some of the things I have done. These are my ideas, what I like to do and what works for me. Some of them may work for you; some of them may not. But hopefully you’ll be able to get some ideas that you can incorporate into your own sewing room.
We’re going to briefly go around the room and I’m going to describe to you where I keep everything in my sewing room. Later on, I’ll go into detail and show you how I did everything and why I like it where it is.
So, come on and take a peek into my sewing room!
Let me give a quick 360 degree view of my sewing room. The first thing is my ironing board, then two bookcases, a stack of clear drawers for storage, two more bookcases with totes up on top, a stack of totes with projects, large closet, cutting table, thread racks on the wall, computer and desk, embroidery machine, sewing machine and serger.
The first thing that you see when you walk into my sewing room is my ironing board. I have a really wide and long ironing board, but that makes it very easy to press large pieces of fabric. I can shove it up against the wall for storage or bring it out into the room to use both sides of the board. Above my ironing board, I have a chalkboard message board and a bulletin board where I store notes and tools that I’m using when I’m ironing.
Next to my ironing board, I have two bookcases. Above the first bookcase, I have a cd/radio player and store my embroidery cards and cds in protective cases. On the top of the second book case I have totes that store some of my frequently used sewing supplies. I designed the bookcases with a fabric cover so I can close them and hide everything inside, but I can also open them and easily get to things on the shelves.
My first bookcase holds computer cds, scraps of interfacing and wonderunder (ready to use next to my ironing board), office supplies, cleaning products, starch and reference and supply books. The second bookcase holds my magazine to-read pile, handwork sewing basket, project notes that I’m currently working on, class notebooks, notebooks and journals, machine instruction books and magazines I’ve collected over the years. The totes I have on top of my bookcase are easy to take down and use the tools inside and then stick back on the shelf.
My stack of clear drawers next to my bookcases holds notions such as quilting supplies, rotary cutters, straight pins, cutting mat supplies, scissors, etc. The drawers are easy to get open, get what I need and put it back when I’m finished with it. My grocery bag holder is on the wall next to my drawers. I line my trash cans with grocery bags which makes it very easy to empty the trash!
My next two bookcases are covered with a fabric cover and hold my fabric stash. Up above the bookcases I store smaller pieces of fabric in a couple of totes – pieces that are too small to put on my shelves of fabric. I also keep beads, sequins, 3D embroideries and a few current projects in totes and boxes on top of these two bookcases. On the shelves of my bookcases, I have prints stored on one and solids stored on the other. The great thing is that I can get into my fabric easily and if I need to hurry and get things cleaned up, I can shove all my fabric on the shelves and drop the cover of the bookcases and everything is enclosed and hidden. It looks nice, keeps my fabric clean and protects it from the light.
Right next to my fabric is a little corner where I keep all of my quilting rulers and cutting mats. It was dead space and of course, there can’t be any dead space in my sewing room, so it became the quilting ruler stash wall. It’s just a few steps from my cutting mat and easy to reach over and grab a ruler.
I moved a stash of totes filled with unfinished projects and pillowcase full of finished projects into my sewing room to show you how I store all my projects. I normally keep all my projects – finished and unfinished in another storage room, not my sewing room. That way they are out of my way and I can bring them into my sewing room when I’m ready to finish them.
Right next to my stack of projects I have an over-the-door hanger where I store lots of totes, plastic bags and things I need once-in-a-while. The next thing is my closet – every sewing room has to have a closet, in my opinion! I can store fabric on hangers that I’ve just pressed or I also use my closet for storing garments that I’m sewing. Because I want to use every inch of space in my sewing room, I have clear drawers below my closet where I store ribbons, garment notions, buttons and embroidery stabilizers. The drawers are convenient and easy to reach.
My cutting table is next to my closet. I usually keep my large cutting mat on the table along with three large stacking baskets toward the back of the table. In the baskets, I keep pins, scissors, fabric and things that I’m currently sewing and I don’t have to have them cluttering up my cutting table. Below my cutting table I store my embroidery thread, zippers, shoulder pads and patterns in totes and drawers. Also underneath my cutting table is my trash can, fabric scrap bag and totes for class projects.
A table holding drawers with computer supplies and my printer sits next to my cutting table. Underneath that table – because you know, every single inch of space must be used :) – sits extra paper, new samples and projects to try and a tote full of extra computer supplies and accessories. And most importantly my step stool which comes in handy to reach those high things in my sewing room!
Above that table is where all my sewing thread is stored on racks under a fabric cover. I can lift the fabric cover, hook it into the ceiling and pick out the thread I need. Then I can lower the cover when I’m finished. This keeps my thread clean, protects it from the light and makes my sewing room look neat.
The next table is my computer table that holds my computer and accessories, Another table sits next to my computer table which I use for many different things. It’s lightweight and I can move it around for the different projects I am working on. It holds paperwork, fabric parts and pieces for quilts, notions and tools I’m using at the moment and also serves as additional space when I’m quilting a large quilt – whatever I need it for, it’s there.
On a six foot table, directly across from my computer sits my two sewing machines – one set up for embroidery and one set up for sewing. So I can sew as I’m stitching a design and keep and eye on both projects. Toward the back of my table sits a lazy susan organizer and clear holder where I store machine feet, needles, scissors, rippers, markers, etc. I also have a small, decorative thread rack on the wall which holds my frequently used embroidery threads and bobbins filled with bobbin thread. My serger sits on a smaller table right behind my sewing machine.
Thanks for taking a peek into my sewing room! I hope you enjoyed seeing it as much as I enjoyed showing it to you!
Over the next few episodes, I’m going to show you some of the aspects of my sewing room in detail. I’d like to show you how I made my fabric bookcase covers, how I store my different threads and why I store my projects the way I do. Hopefully you will be able to gain some ideas from the things I’m able to show you from my sewing room.
So be sure not to miss a single episode – I sure wouldn’t want to! I’ll see you then!
How do you arrange your sewing room? I’ve love to hear what your room is like!
Topics: Organize Your Sewing Room, Sewing Room Tour | 2 Comments »
January 24th, 2008 at 3:49 am
what a great idea..can’t wait for the next video
January 30th, 2008 at 11:03 pm
This is so fun to watch! And so many ideas!