Tagged: sewing machines

sewing room tour, 2015 edition

Hi friends! It’s been 7 months since I posted the first tour of my sewing room, and a lot has changed. With every project, I tweak the room a bit to make it work better for me… it’s so fun to see how little changes can make my sewing organization so much better! A few things have stayed the same, but the changes have added up, so I hope you’ll enjoy spotting the differences with me.

sewing room tour: fluffyland studio

The view from the doorway has gotten much fuller with time. I’ve been trying to take advantage of the high ceilings: walls are precious real estate for storage and inspiration. Of course, the biggest difference is the bookshelf in the corner, a gift from my friend Katie. I visited her at her new apartment soon after she moved in, and commented on the bookshelf that was standing in her entryway. “You like it? Take it,” she said. “It’s on its way to Goodwill.”
It was meant to be… the shelf fits perfectly on that wall and it makes a world of difference in my supply storage. It even has cubbies!

sewing room tour: fluffyland studio

Coming in from the door, first we’ve got a full-length mirror. Crucial and so convenient. I’ve added a little handmade corkboard to the next skinny little wall to accompany Hannah’s cross-stitch. My second favorite souvenir ever (first here of course) is that handmade ostrich marionette, purchased in Barcelona circa 2007. It shares a wall with the doggies.

My Husqvarna Viking is back in her rightful place. I love the million-pound Adler, and sew with it frequently, but it’s too heavy for this little table. And, of course, the Viking does things like zig zags and buttonholes.

sewing room tour: fluffyland studio

The serger corner is looking far less bare than in the previous tour. I hung a small pegboard rack for my scissors and cutting tools: I’ve learned that having scissors within reach is crucial to my sewing happiness.

A quilt hoop with muslin stretched over it becomes a simple pinboard, and a garland of felt beads hangs from the ceiling. One of my tape spots came down, so the garland is drooping; I’ll have to have Brad (the tall, helpful one) tack it back during his upcoming visit.

sewing room tour: fluffyland studio

The shelf of glory. It fits perfectly on this wall and holds many of my must-need items, freeing space on my cutting table for, well, cutting. Serger thread, colorful tapes, patterns, pattern books, pattern binders. And, of course, narwhals and a party turtle on display.

sewing room tour: fluffyland studio

I picked up these awesome green drawer things at an estate sale last weekend for $1 each. Yep. And they fit perfectly in this cubby of the shelf. When I bought the drawer units, they were already being used to store sewing supplies, so it makes me happy that I’m continuing the legacy of the previous owner. I cleaned out the drawers (unfortunately, no great treasures: just a few old buttons and straight pins) and sent all the drawers through the dishwasher so they’re sparkling clean.

My favorite feature of the drawers, at the moment, is the fact that most of them are empty. I shouldn’t have to explain how luxurious it is to have empty drawers in a sewing room.

sewing room tour: fluffyland studio

Here’s the window wall. Much more full than last time, but it’s also much more efficient. Three overflowing bins of fabric under the table, and a small 3-shelf unit on the left-hand side that serves as my ironing station. The shelves also hold some trims, zippers, etc.

sewing room tour: fluffyland studio

Another quilt-hoop-turned-pinboard. I like them because they’re lightweight and easy to hang on the wall. I included this corner shot so you can better understand the shape of the room.

sewing room tour: fluffyland studio

The tiny, glorious closet. Not much has changed here, but the fleeces have moved to my vintage dining room hutch and this drawer thing has been reassigned to hold Fluffyland items: patterns, cut-out narwhals, tusks, samanthasnap necklaces, etc. I’m actually learning to like the small size of the closet: it makes it easy to keep the space from becoming cluttered and overrun.

sewing room tour: fluffyland studio

This tiny shelf is almost identical to before, except, again, more full but more efficient. Bins of supplies and the tools I like to keep handy. Up top is a tiny painting I made one day, just swishing a brush around… hadn’t done that before and I’ve kept the painting up there as a reminder to try new things. It’s definitely ugly but it’s also cool and it makes me want to try again.

Full circle! What do you think?


Links and References

sewing room tour 2014

I love this room so much I’m not sure how to begin. I suppose we’ll just walk through the doorway. Shall we?

sewing room tour - window light

It all starts with my giant, South-facing window. It lets in so much light. You’ll notice my Cleveland thrift store curtains: I’m starting to grow out of them, but they still make me so happy.

Speaking of the doorway: I removed the door. Don’t tell my landlord, but it’s currently residing in my bedroom closet. The door opened into the room, and since the room was small to begin with, the door only added to the cramped feeling. Now it’s open to the adjacent living room, which makes both spaces look and feel bigger. The only downside? The sewing room can be seen by everyone, so it can’t be a mess. But I love showing off the sewing room, so I would have tidied it for visitors regardless.

The big table was my dad’s homework table when he was in college, and then it was our family’s kitchen table back when I was a baby. I love it because it’s smooth, easy to wipe, and solid – it can hold anything. I’m trying to keep it clear so I can use it for cutting or spur-of-the-moment projects, but that’s always a challenge.

sewing room tour - sewing machine desks

After gazing toward the remarkable window light, if you turn to your right you’ll see my sewing machine wall. I have a small plastic 3-drawer chest of fabric in the corner, then my serger on a loaner desk from my mama, where I sit in my favorite orange rolling chair. A mini 3-shelf bookshelf holds my thread box, supplies, and patterns. Then I’ve got the straight-stitch station, currently featuring the amazing Belvedere Adler that I snagged at the thrift store a few weeks back. $15, 42 pounds of cast iron. She’s a beast and a beauty. She does zig-zag stitches as well as straight, and obviously sews through everything I’ve tested yet. My Husqvarna Viking is on deck for buttonholes, fancier stitches, and walking foot projects.

sewing room tour: serger station with orange chair

Here’s a close-up of the serger station. The tiny desk is perfect, since the serger is relatively self-contained and doesn’t need as many accompanying notions as a regular sewing machine. The Small World art was created by my mama, and the drawing is last year’s birthday card from Brad (they get better every year!).

sewing room tour - belvedere adler sewing machine

I know you were dying for another peek at this 1964 Adler. It’s so cool. And you may recognize this as the reupholstered sewing chair from last year… it’s a good chair.

sewing room tour - adler corner

As you continue to turn to the right, there’s this funny angled wall that hosts the greatest doggie hankie of all time. Then I’ve got an amazing cross stitch by my favorite Hannah, and a small plastic chest of drawers that currently houses my small cuts of multicolored fleece. I left this photo full size so you can see the high ceilings… so much vertical space! Perfect for ideas to float around ;)

sewing room tour - supply shelf

The doorway is just to the right of the fleece bin, and then there’s another wall at a funny angle. This estate sale bookshelf was a great find – it’s shallow enough that it doesn’t interfere with the doorway, or the closet door to its right. The shelf houses some regularly used supplies, and then I took advantage of free wall space to hang my rotary mats and rulers. They’re basically art.

sewing room tour - fabric closet

Continuing around the room, there’s a tiny door that opens to a very petite closet. This closet was literally the LAST thing to get organized after the move. Unfortunately, unpacking takes forever, so I had to prioritize. Kitchen supplies, clothes, toiletries… every room in the house required more urgent organization than my fabric closet. When I finally emptied this closet of the bags and bins I had stuffed in there as “hold space”, I was thrilled to approach it with a better vision.

The goals were: nothing large, since the closet door is significantly smaller than the closet itself; a well-organized space that makes me happy when I open the door; and well-utilized vertical space.

The wire shelving, even though there are only two shelves on the fixture (it was already here), help push everything up. And the shoe organizer holds fabrics at-the-ready: ideally, every fabric in this station is earmarked for a project in the near future. And I’ve already used one of the rolls since taking this picture! Points for me.

sewing room tour: fabric closet gazing with beer

After finally turning the closet into a functional, joyful storage area, I couldn’t contain my excitement. I spent the entire following workday loudly lamenting the fact that I couldn’t just sit at home all day and stare at my closet. When I finally left after 8 long hours devoid of fabric-closet-gazing, I proclaimed that I intended to sit in my sewing room, put my feet up, eat my dinner, and drink a beer while staring at my closet. The iPhone photo above serves as testimony to the truthfulness of that statement. What a wild evening.

sewing room tour - pretty bowls, pretty things

What kind of sewing room tour concludes without showing off some pretty bowls filled with pretty things? The Pyrex is half of the Balloons chip & dip set, a gift from the amazing Bradley one Christmas. The whale pitcher and the Raku-fired pot are my favorite pieces from the semester of ceramics that I took in college. I love displaying pretty supplies.

The best part about this whole tour is the fact that I took these pictures about a month ago, and it’s already even better. I’ll keep you guys posted on the improvements! With each project I work on, I think of yet another way to make the space more efficient. It’s hard to judge the organization of a sewing room until you’re sewing in it… so it’s constantly evolving. And I’m loving it all.