Sunday 29 April 2012

My sewing space


I've organized my sewing area! For me, the purpose of the Ikea-trip earlier this year was to get the last things needed to put the final touches on my sewing area. Some small things to organize it and make it user-friendly. Since then I've been torn whenever I've had a day over: organize or sew? Last weekend I finally set the sewing aside, and re-organized my stuff.


I started with taking out all my fabrics, and only keep the ones I have a planned project for (and a small pile with fabrics that I have a few different ideas for, but haven't decided on which idea I prefer). The rest, about 1/3, went to the storage room in the basement. Some of it I know I want to keep, but have no immediate use of (like 12 m of white linen. For example), other stuff I'm more uncertain of. Ah well, later problem =) The fabric above is what I kept in the appartement...


The fabric all neatly(?) stashed in my vintage linen cupboard, aka the fabric closet. See, there's even room for more! Yay! Does mean I can go fabric shopping? ;) Before, I've sorted fabric by content, now I tried something different: sorting by type of garment it will become. The jersey's got their own pile, though.
I know a lot of people store their fabric on open shelfs, which is very pretty and inspiring. However, I've had some of these pieces for more years than I care to admit, and keeping it safe from sunlight and dust is a priority. Hence, doors are a must.


Overview of the fabric closet, the sewing bookcase, my hatboxes, and how I store my pressing table. Easy to reach but away from sight, just how I need it to be to have the energy to put it away between sewing sessions!


I cleaned out the bookcase rather good to, all my sewing books actually fits into it now! And my boxes for supplies/thread/special scissors etc (notions and haberdashy). My patterns also lives here, in the white+grey boxes.


I had some problems of what to do with all the toille fabric (I bought 25 meter at Ikea...). I made the underbed storage box a pure toille-supplies box with fabric, tracingpaper etc. The other box is for all the non-sewing related craft supplies, like yarn for knitting, knitting needles, lace-patterns, crocheting supplies and so on.


Where the sewing actually happens: the desk. Made a lot easier to use with all the small thing out of way and up on the wall. The wall hanger is actually an Ikea kitchen tool, very handy. The computer's on the small hutch, and when I spend more time in front of it (like now, writing a blog post) it takes 5 sec to lift it up on the desk. I find having it like this means I don't get stuck in front of the computer so much.
The thing on the right of the desk is a closet that one can spin around, on the other side there´s a full length mirror. Very practical when fitting! It holds the project boxes I got at Ikea, plus pressing supplies and my UFO-pile (which is safely hidden out of sight). It's so easy to have it all in a box, pattern, fabrics, toille, and then a lid on it so it doesn't get dusty.


Over the desk: a print of 19th century outfits. I did realise when mounting the handle on the wall that I had bought too few hooks. Don't worry, it will be remedied this summer!

So there you are, a full tour of my sewing area! I don't have a cutting table, but one of the best things with this huge bedroom is that I can place 4 metres of fabric, 150 cm wide, flat on the floor and there's still room to walk around it. Without moving any furniture or so =)
Hope you enjoyed the look! How do you sew, do you have a separate sewing room (oh, in my dreams...)? Or a designated area? Do you store lot's of fabric "that can be useful in the future" or do you only buy for one project at a time?

Love, Erika

6 comments:

Kitten von Kat said...

Åh, så intressant att se din sy-hörna! De där hängarna ovanför bordet var ju en bra ide. Mina tyg bor också i en gammal skänk, men de ryms inte in riktigt allihop, ehem. Så man kan lugnt säga att jag tenderar samla på mig tyg jag inte vet vad jag skall sy av också. Härligt med loppis! Tack för titten!

M'lady said...

Looks great. You are good to be so organized.
I don't have a permanent sewing space (more like a sewing corner) so everything gets stored in my mini wardrobe 95% of the time except my scraps for patchwork (off cuts from my garment sewing) which are in a box under my bed.

Mrs J said...

Looks very neat and tidy!

Erika said...

Kitten; Tackar! Kökshängarna och boxarna har visat sig vara en ypperlig idé, är fantastiskt hur lätt det är att hålla ordning nu! Härligt att höra att jag är i gott sällskap vad gäller tygsamlandet! Problemet är ju att hittar man ett riktigt bra tyg, då finns ju oftast inte alternativet att köpa det senare...

Thanks, Lady D! It took some time to get to this point. Mostly, I realised I'd gathered so much fabric, notions, tools etc that it would soon get out of hand. Strangde, but it actually takes less space now that it's organized!

Thanks, Mrs J! It's great to always have a de-cluttered workroom to start the sewing session in =)

Sheryll said...

Your sewing space looks great Erika, and I love your fabric cupboard! I find sewing is so much easier when my space is uncluttered and organised, it's like uncluttering and organising my mind too!

Erika said...

Thank you, Sherry! The cupboard comes in very handy, esp now that's it's not over-full =) I totally agree about the uncluttered area, I can't even begin to sew if it's messy! It's as if all the unnecessary things steals my inspiration and energy, while a clean sewing area brings it out =)