Some people may think that because I run a sewing business my space for sewing must be amazing!
Well I have to dispel any thoughts of a superbly designed sewing room with neatly stacked fabrics and everything I might need to hand. Painted in beautiful restful colours with gorgeous twinkling lights…. Well you get the picture. The image above is not my sewing space but from Andrea’s Notebook and is an image I found on Pinterest. But I love the colours and simple quirkiness of the furnishings.
No – my sewing space is certainly not like that. I don’t actually have anywhere to sew at home. Unbelievable I know, but my house is rather on the small side, so I have to do any sewing I want to do at work. And it is more practical and by necessity than Instagram perfect that’s for sure.
Granted we do have a beautiful fully equipped studio where we run the workshops, and it can be very handy to have umpteen machines threaded up in different colours so I don’t have to stop and re-thread for top-stitching etc. But since moving to the new studio I’m finding that I need to have a corner of my own set up for sewing.
This is where I work at the moment. It’s not glamorous but it is basic and mostly practical.
I have a cutting table, desk for my computer, some shelves and boxes of fabrics and I can shut the door. But I am not by nature a tidy person. This may not come as a particular revelation to those that know and work with me! But I am hoping that by creating more of a personal creative space here in our new studio space I will inherently want to keep it tidier.
So, I have a wish list!
- Enough table space to have my machine, overlocker and coverstitch machine out and available.
- A system for storing all the tools I need making them close to hand but easy to tidy away.
- Enough storage for all the fabric and old patterns I have. Yet stored in a system that means I can see and find everything easily.
- Display space to have up images and inspiration for new patterns. Rather than storing them all in scrap books and folders.
- A designated pressing area – sounds grander than it will actually be. Just a space to have the ironing board up and all the pressing paraphernalia close to hand.
I even have a Pinterest Board full of other people’s beautiful and practical sewing spaces. So I am making a plan and by telling you all about it, it means I really have to do it. And not make the usual excuses of being too busy!
Now you’ve seen my space maybe you have some ideas you can share with me on how to organise my sewing stuff and I’ll keep you posted on how the transformation goes.
Happy sorting
Jules
Can offer no help but it’s tidier than my sewing space!
The one thing I will recommend is sturdy see through boxes. I use the really useful boxes as they really do put up with a lot of pulling in and out. I’ve even invested in some of the really useful units to store them in as the base of my workbench, which is just a kitchen worktop over the top of two units. It works really well and is also adaptable if I want to reconfigure the room.
What a great recommendation Jenny!
I’m planning my own sewing space now. I have loads of pictures in pintrest as well. I will still only have part of a room so will be going for the largest table I can get away with and will be getting a pinboard from Ikea. Can’t wait seen what you do.
I’m completely with you on the ‘wish I had a tidy/beautiful studio’. I’m lucky, I have a studio but it’s full to the brim with fabric and… stuff. How do the tidy bods do it? It’s comforting to know I’m not alone. No Way will I be taking any photos until I’ve had a de-stash and a complete overhaul of what I actually need over what I can’t let go. Good luck with your studio space, boxes definitely help, label everything!
I hate to have to be the one to break it to you, but it is never going to happen! You can’t be creative in a vacuum! I am lucky enough to live in a really old house with a whole attic for my sewing space, up four flights of stairs, with its own little bathroom. Guess what? I sew and work in the kitchen, because it’s too lonely up there.
And to make matters even more complicated, I work for half the year on a campsite, which requires me to live in my caravan, so I decamp (!) with my lightweight sewing machine and my knitting bag to such a tiny environment that you could fit it all into my kitchen with room to spare. There, I really do have to be tidy, but my poor other half still trails around, picking up threads and scraps constantly.
I have come to the conclusion that, try as we might, conventional tidiness and the dreamy image of the perfect atelier simply don’t match up with creativity and good use of the stash.
I’m completely with the comments above about the good clear storage boxes. My chests of drawers hold mountains of stuff, but it all still gets pulled out and stacked around so I can see what there is. I DO have one drawer for overlocker stuff and another for machine stuff; I also find keeping particular types of stuff together helpful, one drawer for threads, one drawer for buttons and fastenings, lining material here, stretch fabric there. Then, of course, there are the baskets with the scraps too big to throw away……..
Your workspace looks great to me – just make sure that kettle is safe and secure for me will you?