Where do you sew!

 

 

 

 

 

 

It is where I sew month on Pink Chalk's blog!  What a fun idea! I posted a link to my space,  why don't you post a link to yours?

Here is what I wish I had today.  Today was very rainy and I am parenting alone  AND trying to get some sewing done.  

 

I got buried in some lovely Delilah!  

But I kinda wished for this, a sunny day and a lovely drink. LOL! This is the view from my sewing table, but it doesn't usually have a fruity beverage in it.

 

When is summer going to come to the Pacific Northwest?? We've been at 64 and rainy for weeks!

Trying to be more organized

As with many creative people, sometimes my creativity overwhelms my work space.  That is a kind way of saying that sometimes we let our work space get messy!  Having recently won a contest at The Cottage Home blog that included some of these Fabric Organizers, I had some of the tools I needed to organize my space.  What I lacked was proper space in which to put them.  I really want to get some new shelves but until I can make the trip to Ikea, I decided to clean out my cupboards and find a way to make these work. I really needed to get my fabric away from my cats! They keep using it as a bed!

So, here is what I came up with.

 I was very lucky to find this built in craft area already in the house we bought 6 years ago.  I took the space over as my crafting and computer area.  I also have my mom's old sewing desk.  But I was not using the space well. There were bins and small shelves of fabric everywhere! So, I moved all fall and winter fabrics into bins in the garage, put all knits in one big bin and put the rest in the cupboard above my work area.

 Here is my work area. I share the space with our filing cabinet, which I really want to organize and move into the garage. I have my growing collection of Ottobres in a magazine holder and bins with current projects cut out and waiting to be sewn.  My kids helped me decorate, by the way.

And here is the cupboard above my work area! Thanks to Lindsay at The Cottage Home and another mama I did a trade with, I now have a lot of fabric organizers. I am not even using them all!  When I get some proper wooden shelves for the room, I will use the rest.  For now, these are the fabrics I anticipate working with in the next few months.

 The cupboard next door has the growing lace and elastic collection.

Thanks for looking. My space is not exciting nor will it ever be featured in a design magazine but it is very workable and usable and I am going to continue to make it more and more organized and efficient!

Getting organized and a bit of sewing

So, the theme of the new year is new beginnings and, of course, you cannot begin anew if your work space is a mess.   So, today, I took a look at my sewing area.   This is what I saw:

Sewing table, notions drawers, and work area = MESSY!!!

Fabric everywhere!!!  Box for new sewing machine still out!

What a mess!  I decided it had to be cleaned up but I would work on this organizational project in steps.  Step one, clean up the basic clutter so I can actually sew. 

Ah.  Much better.  The grey boxes are outgrown clothing from my girls' closets.  I need to sort through them, in the next few weeks, and sell it all on ebay or take them to a consignment store.  When those bins are empty, I am going to organize my woven fabrics and knit fabrics so that the shelf next to my sewing machine has only the fabric for upcoming projects.  Everything else will go in those bins.  Until I get a better storage system, this is how I do it.  I open the bins enough that the fabric gets aired frequently.  So, it is safe and sound in those bins.  

I did not take a picture of the work area because that is still a mess.  I am finishing up some projects and will clean it when they are done and I can better organize.  Today, I made cloth napkins and placemats for my parents.   On the new machine, it was a breeze!  I made four of the placemats you see below and four of each kind of napkin. 

Work space and organization

Yesterday, I was fed up with my fabric being spread all over the sewing area in a bunch of bins so I organized them.  The fabric I am working with for the next month is now all nicely folded on my rack.   Isn't it pretty? 

The large bins hold the knits and fleece and other fabric that I am not using.  The small bins have notions.   You might be able to tell by looking at the small bin on top of the two large ones that my ribbons are a disaster!  I am currently looking into how to organize them.  I love the idea shown here.   But I don't like how those cookie containers get brittle quickly.  We have saved them in the past for children's crafting and they become brittle in less than a year and crack easily.  The softer plastics last longer, especially the Rubbermaid brand.  I have not had a Rubbermaid container every crack!  Sterilite, on the other hand, is terrible. (I digress)

So, I am thinking of combining the blog's idea and just using my Rubbermaid bins.  I just took all the cardboard to the recycling center so I will have to wait a while to collect more.  Then, I can try out this idea of cutting the semi circles.  I still have not figured out a good way to store the ribbon circles.  Ideas?

So, here is my sewing area for now. 

Fabric Storage

More fabric, but perhaps this could be only for notions?  Not a bad idea.

Part of my Ottobre stash.   I keep the pattern maps and tracings in a file folder.

My work area.  I need something on the wall but the cats used the corkboards I had up as scratching posts.  Only one left!  Damn cats!

Sewing table, with view of front yard. I sew in the daylight basement/family room. 

Basket to left is cat bed.  They claimed it. Kinda cute.