A peek into the sewing room

It's been a while since we recarpeted, repainted, and organized the sewing room. I'm so glad to have taken the time to do this. My bins all match, I have a bookcase that doesn't show in the picture, and the desk is a great place to work on the laptop when I don't have it on my lap. The view is glorious. As I mentioned to someone today, my sanity is in that sewing room. The last thing to do is to change the light fixture; we'll get there!

Where the magic happens. 

Sewing room progress

We have been renewing/remodeling the house over the past several months. One of my projects has been to reclaim the sewing room. When I had to empty it, I made sure to divide fabric and "stuff" into keep, give away, and not sure piles. I have gotten organized before, but this time, am taking the opportunity to get organized and keep it that way!

After the carpet and painting was done, I bought two shelving units and tons of see-through plastic bins that snap easily (hands are aging and the old one were getting harder to open!). I got 18-gallon bins for most things, smaller for other things, and kept 4 of my large bins for things like junk jeans and bigger runs of fabric.

As of today, I'm about 85% done moving my sewing goodies back into the room. It's so organized that I almost can't stand it! I ended up with 2 large boxes of fabric to give to my friend.

One side of the room has my 2 desks for sewing machines. I'm talking to a furniture builder about making a custom desk. The size of the room is a limiting factor, but I do like the size of these desks. I'm used to it. I have a folding table stored on the opposite wall to use for cutting. The only down side of the whole space is that the ironing board is in the other room, but that's a small price to pay for a good sewing space. 

Example of the shelves. Everything is categorized and the bins are marked front and back. I have 2 quilt tops that are done on the top shelf; I need to send those out for quilting. I know I'm never going to do it myself. On the other side of the room, I have an old reliable bookshelf and another small set of wire shelves. We will use the small shelves for items that we'll need outside (this shelf is right by the sliding door to the back yard). 

I told my husband today that I'm ready to retire and get to sewing! The new space is making me really want to get going.

Happy sewing!

Coming up

We've been redoing the interior of our house, including my sewing room (our formal dining room). I am currently moving my fabric and notions back into the sewing room. Before I put things back, I'm going through every single item and have purchased two sets of shelves and lots of storage bins (clear), and it'll be as organized as all get out when I'm done. I've ended up with a large amount of fabric I'm giving away, and I feel good about passing it along. Within the week, I want to be done getting set up. And then comes my list of sewing:

• Western baby bibs using bandannas for applique decorations, similar to this one I made years ago. Two things have I have in abundance are denim and bandannas. 

• Baby quilt for my daughter's best friend. This is their first child. Her husband is a train engineer. I have everything but the batting cut out for a cute little log cabin quilt.

• Halloween placemats. I have a lot of ideas. Below is a set from the past. I'm not sure I'll duplicate this pattern, but I do have several Jack-o-Lanterns cut out already. (Here's my tutorial for making placemats of your own!)

• Lastly, I want to make Christmas stockings to give away. I have some Hanukkah fabric as well. Who knows? I may make some of them. I also have some dachshund fabric to make bone shaped dog Christmas stockings. 

I've been working on some hand sewing during the transition, but I'm ready to get my hands on my sewing machines now!

What's on your agenda?