I went in earlier tonight. took a look, very overwhelmed, cleaned for about 20-30 minutes, looked the same as when i walked in. Shook my head and left. Are we to clean it often???

To be honest, usually the only time I put everything back where it belongs is every other Thursday night. I know the cleaning service will be in early the next day to thoroughly clean my sewing room.

Not as often as I should:o

Right now 7 cats couldn't find a single mouse in my room so it is time to create order out of chaos.

Ha! Ha! Ha! No more often than I have to........ cleaning is not my "thing" so it mostly happens when my husband gets out the vacuum cleaner and starts in my sewing room........ that's the sign that it is time for me to clean up!

My sewing machines are cleaned at every bobbin change. The rest when it gets too much for me or I can't close the door.

My current sewing space is in the middle spare bedroom with a queen size bed... so when my kids come up from Connecticut about every 4-6 weeks, I give it a thorough cleaning and move objects out of reach of my 20 month old grandson.

I give my sewing room the best cleaning when I know I will have friends over to sew. I suddenly look around and realize how much dust has built up in corners and on shelves. I put tools and rulers back where they belong and not left in spots all over the room.

We would all agree that it is a never-ending challenge to keep some semblance of order in our sewing rooms. I try to clean up most every day and am more diligent at the end of a project-so I can get busy and make another project. Just like the rest of the housework and cooking-it never gets completely done.

Whenever I can't stand to look at it anymore

I straighten up almost on a daily basis....a good cleaning is after each project is completed so that I can start another and be able to locate everything that is needed.

Definitely not often enough. When I do clean it, it is like going shopping. I find things I didn't even know I had.

I am more in this camp. :)

CLEANING????????????????? The room whenever I cannot find anything. LA and sewing machine all the time!

I usually do a pretty good cleanup after each project which includes cleaning my machine as well. Once a year I really clean good as there is a lot of dust created and dust bothers my allergies.

Clean, what ?!?!?

I do take care of my machines but the clutter seems to always be there. I wish I was more organized but as my husband used to tell me "you are a pile it. you take one pile and pile it over there" lol.

LOL! I agree with Moonrise- We're supposed to clean? Mine is a disaster area. Every time I start to clean it, which is rare, I end up pulling out things for another project. I am trying to finish up the projects that are on the floor so I can clean it up some before I trip over something and hurt myself. I did get rid of some fabric that I purchased when I first started quilting that I don't like. I kept looking at it and thinking i had to use it and I didn't enjoy sewing with it at all. It was a bunch of 30's repos. My guild had an auction of things we didn't want and people went nuts over it. We use this money to support some of our charity projects. This made some room in my closet to put some things away.

I try to straighten every time I work in my room. Some days it just does not get done. But I do straighten before I start the next day. It is easier that way.

Me too, otherwise I can't find items for the next project.

Whenever the spirit moves me....which isn't very often

I tidy up each day, when I'm finished sewing for the day but give it a good clean when my project is done & definitely BEFORE I start another one. Once golf season starts, I don't sew very much compared to what I do during our LONG, SNOWY winters here in Northern Ontario. My 2 rooms are never too catastrophic but it does happen, rarely. I do vacuum every 2-3 days also. I confess though, I am a neat freak & just closing the door so I don't see messy just does not work for me. Maybe I should join "neat freaks anonymous". LOL

I also am a member of this club.

I have a theory. Good housekeeping and organization is a special gift that some people have. The rest of us have to learn how to be good at it, and we don't stick to it very long. My home is neat and very clean, but still I am in a quandary some days as to how to keep things organized in my sewing room and my office room especially. Seems as if I just go through the motions somedays, and hope it all works, never really sure though. I guess this doesn't really answer your question though -----:rolleyes:

I love all these responses! Makes me feel like I have kindred souls out there! I also just found some totes of things I had forgotten I purchased! Thank goodness I have a friend coming to stay or I never would have! Incidentally, we are going to The HMQS so I will most likely have even more stuff to misplace!

That's the discipline I use - everything back in it's place before the cleaners come.

My thoughts exactly! Actually, though, my studio space tends to be the most organized, cleanest room in the house because I don't let it get out of hand. Right now, My bin is totally full to overflowing and it is driving me crazy. I definitely need to pick up the pace on some projects I had in mind. I try to keep all my threads in clear plastic gelatto containers (double win! gelatto first, then quilting), all my fabric & tools in one bin, plus a reusable shopping bag for current handwork. I buy batting by the roll, so it's in a separate closet in the basement. I clean and oil my machine every 1-2 days and dust my sewing table about the same. So that just leaves vacuuming and dusting the blinds which get done if somebody else does them for me -- about every 2-3 weeks, so grateful for the Cleaning Fairy in my life. :)

Now, as for the entire upstairs, that's a whole 'nother story. Once a quarter if I'm lucky. I just don't see the point. A little dirt's supposed to be good for you, right?

I have no carpet in my house. So I use the Swiffer and a very slightly damp mop. I have a ceiling fans so all of them get dusted when I change sheets, every 4-5 days. It's a quick reminder. I do it before the sheets come off. That way any dust that may fall onto the sheets will go straight into the laundry. But my sewing room really needs some at least organization.

Not as often as I should. When I can't find something I go on a scavenger hunt.

You have inspired me, since sewing is not happening, to start sorting, straightening, and donating to get my quilting pile to look like a room again. (Had to move out of fabric storage room for house guests in July, and still have guests)

Not often enough! When I was straightening up recently I found several fabrics and a quilt tool I have no recollection of purchasing. That is scary. LOL

What sewing room?? It has gotten to a point I don't have much room to sew and don't see things changing anytme soon as DH has more and more"stuff" parked around. I haven't been feeling good and spent 4 days in hospital and foot/leg still not healed so I spend a lot of time with foot up to get it healed. Getting old is NOT for the weak.

That's what I say. I can't work in clutter, so it stays pretty neat.

When I redid my sewing room a while ago I had it so clean that I was not able to do any work in there. I learned that I need some amount of clutter. Finding that happy medium is the challenge.

I think I agree with GramE, I tend to clean when things get so deep I can't find anything. Part of the problem is that 5 years ago we "downsized" from a 3 bedroom home with full basement, 1/4 of which was my "sewing area" in the summer, but I also had my daughter's old bedroom upstairs in winter to save heat. I think you can imagine, plus when my sister died, I inherited all her fabric, plus people knew I quilted, so they would give me fabric. Although I purged approximately 50% (which was traumatic) my sewing area now consists of a 5 foot folding table (like ones used at churches and other similar places; then I have a 3 foot craft table that holds my sewing machine. Despite limited space, or maybe because of it, when I get involved in quilting and sewing projects, I tend to use my bed as "horizontal storage"; which means I have to clean off my bed every night so I can sleep in it; so that generates chaos; but every so often, when I can't stand the chaos any more, I clean it.

Yeah!!! This is news to me too! :D

I try to walk by my sewing room upstairs really fast, so I won't notice anything.

I usually straighten things up as I go along. I find that my creativity works better when it is not cluttered with stuff laying around. I do a through cleaning after each project. Currently I am working on the Splendid Sampler project which lasts a year. Who knows when it will get a good cleaning again. Maybe New Year's.

As needed--which translates to "probably not often enough"!!!