As a seamstress in college, I need my sewing to keep me sane. It’s a pleasant break from the homework and exams, and it keeps my brain moving. I know I’m not alone in this, so I decided to make this little guide so that nobody has to think, my space is just too small to sew in.

The Desk
My sewing machine is always perched at the back of my desk. If I were to stow it away in a closet or under my bed, I would only rarely make the effort to get it out. This is what works for me; it allows me to spend less time setting things up and more time creating. I try to keep my desk relatively empty: sewing machine and laptop are housed on top, while the pull-out keyboard tray is where I do most of my book work. When it’s creative time, books, pens, and pencils slide under the desk on the tray and my laptop moves wherever there’s an open spot for it in my room.

To create a level sewing surface, I have this portable sewing table that I keep in my closet until sewing time. The legs can be removed, but I leave them on all the time because, again, if I have a chance to sew, I want to be sewing not setting up.

When sewing on such a high surface, it’s difficult to maintain good posture. I usually set one of my large textbooks on my chair to make me a bit taller (remember sitting on phonebooks at the dinner table?) and reduce wrist, back, and neck strain. It’s not like I have perfect posture in the first place… but I want to be able to sew ’til I’m 90.

The Ironing Board
If you’re working with interfacing, or articles of clothing that need hems, you’ll need an ironing station. When I worked at Jo-Ann fabrics, one of my colleagues told me, “you can iron on the floor, you’ve got a young back, but it won’t be young for long”. My dinky little dorm ironing board doesn’t have full-sized legs, so sometimes I’ll set it flat on my bed. Having a TV dinner tray around (make sure it’s relatively stable) is even better. Make sure you have a stable place to rest your iron, though… they don’t like falling on the ground.

Storage
I like to keep my thread and bobbins out in plain sight because it’s a lot easier that way, and they’re colorful and pretty. My makeshift bobbin rack is just a 5″ square piece of cork (mounted to the wall using removable foam adhesive mounts) with pins spaced evenly across. I do it this way because I hate bobbin boxes (like this one) because I can never manage to get the lid off without shooting bobbins across the room. okay i’ve got two hours to sew before class, let’s just get out the bobbin…. pop! and there they go! all unwound and under my bed. No more of that.

My thread rack came from a big thread storage box I bought, and it had two of these smaller trays. The box is really nice, but I leave it at home with my embroidery threads and just keep one tray with me at school because it’s small and handy.

I’ve got a small 3-drawer plastic chest that I keep my favorite fabrics in (the few that make the cut and get to come with me), and a rubbermaid bin on my closet shelf that holds my fleeces, since they’re larger. One drawer of my desk holds my scissors, tape measure, machine feet, and such. My cutting mat stands up next to the fridge, and my iron and ironing board live in the closet. That’s all I really need. Of course, it gets messy sometimes. And of course, I end up accumulating way more crafty things with each trip back home. But it works.

This is how I do it. Of course, if you’re trying to set up a sewing station in your room, you’ve got a good creative mind – I’m sure you can think of some great solutions to the small space issues! So my question for you: how do you deal with limited creative space? Are there any products or homemade items that you can’t live without?

a guide to sewing in your dorm room is a post from: Fluffyland Craft & Sewing Blog

I’ve got a tiny, simple tutorial for you today. I know the experienced seamstresses among you will say to yourselves, really? that’s tutorial-worthy?, and my reply is, sure. Because I’ve got a soft spot for you newbies out there.

I was walking around Target yesterday, buying up clearance boys’ flannel shirts to which I’ll add a few darts and wear proudly. The boys’ shirts always end up with the better plaids, somehow, plus they’re longer. And since I’m buying in kids, they’re cheaper (as in, less than $4 each). As Michael Scott would say, this is a win-win-win solution.

Suddenly I was hit with a revelation: what is it like to buy clothes when you can’t sew? How discouraged would I feel if I were forced to buy clothes exactly as they are, rather than buying them for what they could be? I can’t even imagine. I’m sure that I’d spend much more money on my clothes, and I wouldn’t be as happy, as me, wearing those clothes. So I’m planning a series of “before & after” tutorial/inspiration-based posts, meant to give a little push and instruction to those who might think “oh, but i’m not crafty”. Because modifying clothes, making them perfect for you, isn’t all that hard. And it is so very worth it.

So here’s a simple tutorial: how to stitch buttons to knitted garments. I found these convertible gloves, turquoise and orange stripe!, in the dollar spot. My favorite colors, but they had a black button! Who decided that? A change of button quickly carried these gloves to their full potential, and I’m hoping you’ll apply this simple technique to your gloves and cardigans so that they are perfect for you.

First, pick out a rather large needle. We’re going to be stitching through the gaps in the knit, so there’s no sense fussing with a tiny needle for this project! Cut a decent length of thread (16 inches or so, more if your button has 4 holes), and thread your needle – but don’t tie any knots.

Pick out the spot where you want your button to go, and insert the needle between the knit loops of yarn. You may have to stretch the fabric a little bit to find your hole, but you generally don’t want to have your thread go through the yarn because that can decrease the structural integrity of the knitted object. Be sure to leave a tail on the other side, see?

Pass your needle through your button, then go back into the knitted garment a few loops away from where you were before. Make sure your tail is still there on the other side!

Now take your tail and your “active” length of thread and tie them in a reef knot or two. Make sure the first knot is tight… this ensures that your button will not wobble around.

See? A nice tight knot. Don’t cut your tail!

Now keep going up through that first hole, through your button, and down through that second hole until your button is sturdily attached.

After you’ve done enough passes, pull your thread through to the back side and tie it to the tail again with a few more reef knots. Now you can trim both your tails! And you’re done!

See? So much better than that plain black button.

And now I can sew in style. ;)

before & after: how to sew buttons to knitted garments is a post from: Fluffyland Craft & Sewing Blog

For some reason, I always thought that making mitred corners using bias tape would be really tricky. It turns out it’s super simple! Now you have no reason to fear binding around corners… using this tutorial, you can put bias tape on potholders, pockets, collars, you name it! Bias tape is just such a cute touch. This tutorial utilizes double-fold bias tape.

First, you want to have your fabric ready. This means if you want it quilted, you’ve already finished all that. Trim your edges to make sure all your corners are sharp, perfect 90-degree angles. Then cut a piece of bias tape that is long enough to go around all four sides of your piece, with some extra to overlap at the end.

It’s harder to start with the end, so I like to start somewhere in the middle. Usually I fold the tape in half to find the center, then place that in the center of one of the sides. That’s the side I start with.

Now let’s go!

Step 1: See how your bias tape is folded in half? One of these halves is more narrow than the other. Place the more narrow side on top: this ensures that the underside is caught even if your fabric is a little bit thick. Make sure the tape is on straight, then sew all the way down your first side.

Step 2: Fold your bias tape around the corner…

…line up the half that stays on the back…

…and Step 3: play with your corner until it looks like a pretty, clean mitred corner on both sides! At this point I like to give it a quick “stay there!” press with the iron… pins don’t do too well since there are too many layers and they just end up shifting things around.

Step 4: Sew all the way down your next side, starting with the anchoring stitch at your corner. Continue for all four sides!

Congratulations on some beautiful bias tape work!

easy how-to: make mitred corners using bias tape is a post from: Fluffyland Craft & Sewing Blog

A quite daunting pile of flat whales. They’ve all got eyeballs now, so they’re ready to be stuffed and stitched up. While installing one of over 30 eyeballs yesterday, I decided to make a Safety Eye Tutorial to teach you all my method for preventing lopsided eyes on your plush. I hope you find it helpful!

Of course, once I had this huge pile of whales to work on, my creative brain started thinking of ways to procrastinate the handsewing (which is my least favorite part). So of course I started digging through my fabric stash and cutting out an obscene number of new wristlets. Those, fortunately, have no hand-finishing at all, so they’ll all actually be finished soon.

lots of flat whales is a post from: Fluffyland Craft & Sewing Blog

Sometimes it’s really difficult to get good inspiration, motivation, or both. There are days when I’d love to just sit and think about sewing amazing things, but I have no willpower to actually get up and make them. Other days I’m just itching to sew, but I can’t think of anything that I’d really like to work on at the time.

Today was a bit of both. I found my dress pattern over at BurdaStyle, the AMC Dress, and last night I bought my solid trim fabric, a nice chocolate brown. Today I knew I needed to start working, but I wasn’t feeling particularly creatively motivated. Regardless, I got out my pins and scissors and started snipping away.

I started by basting the lining together and making alterations to make sure it would be a good fit, and after this simple bit of sewing my head is spinning through fabricland again. My tip for the day? If you’re going through a creative dry spell, work on something simple with rigid instructions that doesn’t require much thinking… just getting into it, hearing the snip of the scissors and the whirr of the needle, should help you along.

getting through a creativity block is a post from: Fluffyland Craft & Sewing Blog