Monday, February 13, 2012

My Sewing Space

Yesterday I spent a good couple of hours cleaning up my sewing space. Although I'm the kind of girl that likes everything to have a place, I'm also a very messy person by nature, so things are often not in their place. My messiness drives me quite nuts and I'm often disappointed in just how messy things get. I do tidy up A LOT! It's just that it never ever lasts. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depends how you look at it) I also live with four other messy people. It's just that we all have so much going on, whether it be sewing, art & craft, music, cooking, lego, puzzles (I could go on and on), that tidying is the last thing on anyone's mind.

Anyway, I did spend quite a bit of time tidying my sewing space yesterday and as I always enjoy looking at other people's space, I thought I'd share it while it was actually tidy. You can't imagine what it's going to look like by Wednesday!



The bottom two shelves used to be filled with art materials and other stationary. I managed to find other homes for all that non-sewing stuff and fill them instead with sewing stuff. The higher of the two shelves contains crates of smaller pieces of fabric,  scraps, fabric for toiles and craft cotton. The bottom shelf contains two crates filled with patterns. The rest of the shelf is used for sewing bits and pieces such as buttons, zips, ribbons and trims.

I actually put my overlocker on this bench for the first time yesterday. I used to be able to swivel between the two machines but have decided I'd like a clear bench (he he) as a work table. We'll see how this goes.


This bench used to be for my overlocker. My husband built it out of the original pantry shelves from this house. The timber is silky oak and it is really quite divine. The shelf behind it houses other sewing stuff - WIP, UFOs, cotton, sewing tools and sewing books. The shelf also acts as a divider between my space and my husband's desk.


I decided that rather than store my nicer fabric in my sewing room in crates, I would store it in my wardrobe. I have hung all the woven fabric and placed all the knit fabric in the bottom basket. This way, it's easy to view. I'm hoping a can just sit on the floor staring and be endlessly inspired.


The other function of this room is a guest room. This is actually a sofa bed. The filling cabinet contains general household paperwork. The stuff on top is currently all I have at home that is work-related. Since having children I dropped down to part-time teaching and during that time have I've managed to get rid of most of my teaching resources. I figure the curriculum changes so often that there seems little point on holding onto it all. Although it does break my heart to think of the hours spent creating resources that are now in landfill...sniff.

So now that I have a beautiful, tidy space I've decided to dedicate this week to completing all UFOs and making progress on my WIPs. Here is my list:

UFOs

1. Beach tunic - this was supposed to be completed in time for the Xmas holidays.

2. Meg's bikini top - I sewed most of this a few weeks ago. It looks so dodgy that I cast it aside.

3. Handbag - This has been cut out for over 2 years! Not good!

4. Swimmer bottoms for Monty - another hangover from November last year.

5. Zippered pouches x5 - I started making these for a friend nearly three years ago. Bad friend!

WIPs

1. Kwik sew knit top

2. Burda Pants

FINISHED AND YET TO BE PHOTOGRAPHED

1. Cowl-neck top


Warning:  The following photos are appalling. They are my 'before' shots. Thoroughly disgraceful.





5 comments:

  1. Oh wow - I would give an arm and a leg for your perfectly organised sewing space! I'm currently sewing and creating on the dining room table (space is limited) so I'm always dreaming of what my future creative space might look like - love the hanging fabric stash!

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  2. I just cacked myself at your before photos .... I now do not feel special! My room is about the size of two toilets with a computer desk and as of last week only one sewing cabinet. (making way for a surprise for me!) but ironing board, fabric, patterns pens blah blah blah... actually now you should feel special as your room looks very functional and inviting! I think my son is untidy because I always have stuff everywhere!

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  3. Looking good! So where are your clothes now that your fabric is in your wardrobe? Good luck keeping it all tidy.

    I got some half-crate type boxes from office works today for my patterns...not as good as drawers but I'll let you know how they go.

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  4. I can so relate to the untidy workspace. I like to think of it as a sign of a creative mind :) Nice work on the clean-up.

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  5. Well done, how good is a clean up!

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