Monday, April 9, 2012

A New Space! (sort of)

After I finished up my sweater on Saturday, I had to pack up my sewing room in preparation for these...
We went to Ikea and got a wall of shelving for my fabric! My sweet honey and the big kids spent all afternoon putting them together. Then I had to do something about this...
Don't judge, mmmkay? I spent most of the rest of the weekend putting everything away and organizing my room. I'm so thrilled with how it all came out, I want to show it to you.
Here is the finished fabric wall. My sewing space isn't that large, but for reference, the shelving is 90 inches wide. The fabric is loosely organized by type, with knits filling the entire left side unit, cotton prints, shirting, woolens and silk/silky fabric in the middle and linen, rayon and bottom weight fabrics on the right. Next to the fabric wall you can see my envelope pattern files. They are organized loosely by type.
Across from the fabric wall are my machines. The Singer has her own table. I mostly use her for her superlative buttonholes, topstitching jeans and for sewing thicker fabrics that Janome has trouble with. You can see Janome in the middle. The coverstitch machine is behind her, and the serger is to the far right. I love having all my machines out and in a row. My chair is on wheels, so I can just scoot from one machine to the other. Totally awesome.
In the middle of the room is my ginormous cutting/pressing table. I love this thing so much. It is a 36 inch wide hollow core door that I padded with wool army blankets and covered with linen. My sweet honey made me two sawhorses that are the perfect height for me to stand comfortably and cut, trace and press at the table. Under the table, the are two sets of drawers that hold my yarn stash, some interfacing and larger tools and notions as well as cone thread. The file boxes in front are my Burda and Ottobre magazines. Sandra Dee is watching over all from the corner.

I'm so excited to sew in my "new" space! And I found some fabric I had forgotten I had! I love that I can see it all now. What to sew next?

17 comments:

Karen said...

Oh serious fabric shelving envy here! They look great and I love your cutting table. I bet you feel all inspired now!

Dr. Fun (AKA Sister) said...

I'm speechless! You should charge admission. Why would you ever need to leave that room?!

Beangirl said...

what a fabulous space!

Lori said...

Great space and wonderful shelves. So jealous of the shelves and fabric stash! :)

Carolyn (Diary of a Sewing Fanatic) said...

Isn't it just fantastic that you have it all out and that you're able to see it?! I know that the best part of my sewing room now is that all of my fabric is out on the shelves. No more guessing and/or rebuying. Glad that you are happy sewing in your wonderfully creative space!

KID, MD said...

Those darn kids keep wanting to be fed. I think once a day should be plenty, don't you?

KID, MD said...

Your fabric wall was my inspiration. Getting all of the fabric out of those dreadful bins is so inspiring!

Sarah C said...

That looks fantastic! I have been eying those same shelving units for a very long time now.

KID, MD said...

They were surprisingly affordable. The shelves are pretty wide spaced, but we just got an extra shelf per unit, which made it about perfect for fabric. Piles start to topple over if they are stacked much higher. What sold me was that it came deep enough for 60 inch wide fabric folded double. Very convenient.

For those who may be wondering, they are the GORM series from Ikea.

Marjie said...

And my dearly beloved thinks I have a lot of fabric. Hmph. Your new sewing room is wonderful!

And you'll need to start teaching those kids to make their own peanut butter sandwiches soon. Then you can leave the sewing den less often! Only kidding; I didn't make mine start making their own lunch until they were in first grade. Sounds like I'm a bad mom. But at least they developed a little bit of independence at an early age, which a lot of kids these days lack. Enjoy them while they're really little.

Marie said...

What a great sewing area. I can't believe how much fabric you have. I am really loving the cutting table too.

marysews said...

Wow! A REAL sewing space. Congratulations!

MySummerTouch said...

I envy your stash and glad that you have a nice space to sew! Great cutting table!

Elizabeth Made This said...

Great organization! That's something I really need to dig in and do...things have gotten a little wacky lately. I love the pressing/cutting table. What a great idea to use a door--and how nice to have such a wide space for pressing--no wonder you can whip projects out so quickly!

Tawny said...

Fabulous space! I too have shelves for my fabric all organized by type of fabric. And my prize is my cutting table. Don't know what I ever did without it. I love yours. It looks tall enough that you wouldn't have to bend down as much as I have to with mine. Awesome!

The Slapdash Sewist said...

How wonderful! The shelves look great. I have my fabric on shelves and I love to go and pet it. Super jealous of your cutting table, mine is the dining room table with a cardboard cutting mat over and isn't *quite* big enough.

Joy said...

Wow, looks great! My fabric's on shelves, too, but inside a closet. (Ummm, the rest is in rubbermaid bins, hehe.) I love your door cutting table idea, too. Would you believe we have a spare door....?