Setting up a Sewing Room
 

This question may have already been asked but.....I'm turning one of my spare bedrooms into my sewing room. It's a pretty small room. I have a little money to put into it. So, what is a must have in your sewing room?

Hope you'll enjoy creating your sewing room as much as I did.

Design wall (I have two)
Cutting/Pressing Table (I made a top for my cabinet that serves as both)
Lots of storage so that I can keep the work surfaces clear

Have fun!

Well, let's see. A sewing machine in a cabinet or desk, an adjustable ironing board to the right which could be slipped in behind the SM for quilting, a cutting table of some sort, and a simple design wall. Some natural sunlight and supplemental light for sewing (but maybe your eyes are better than mine....). You could put some shelves or a tall dresser in the closet for material and supplies. A source of music and a lounge chair would be nice but definitely no telephone!

That should do it. How does that sound to you?

PS Just about all of these can be bought second hand or with coupons to keep the price down.

lots of good lighting and a cutting table that is the correct height for your body. (maybe thats just because my eyes and my back aren't what they used to be! lol) have fun planning your space!

you might also want to check out our forum dedicated to organizing sewing rooms http://www.quiltingboard.com/mission-organization-f23/

I recently reorganized my studio and was able to purchase very reasonably priced cabinets for storage and sewing desk area. I think a cutting area is very important. For that I am using my late Mother in law's little desk. My husband put it up on blocks for me so it is high enough for me so that I can stand in front of it and cut easily.

I use to store all my fabrics in those rolling storage bin drawers but it wasn't fun digging in them when I wanted to find a specific fabric that I knew I had. I recently purchased two identical cabinets that I love much more. You can check in my profile for my studio pictures if you'd like to see my set up. Since I took the picture of the inside of the cabinet I have since reorganized my fabrics by wrapping them in bolts like in the stores. We had a lot of pink foam insulation sheets and my dh cut them for me and I do prefer to be able to open the cabinet and see exactly what I have.

Think Goodwill and resale shops. ESP for shelves etc. a can of paint makes it your own!

Sandy

Thanks everyone. I'm going to check out the discussionQuiltnNan mentioned as well. My back and eyes aren't as good as they used to be either so I appreciate the suggestions.

It all depends on how much you can afford.
Im poor so had to go cheap. Got cheap metal shelves at Target and put clear plastic bins in it for fabric. I have a big closet so these fit in it perfect.
Bought the F&P design wall and hung it but a flannel backed tablecloth works the same way.
Do buy a table that your machine fits flush in, this is a must have for me. Handling quilts is so much easier.
My cutting table was $59 at Joanns, they cost much more now. I like having the drop leaves so it dosnt take up to much room when not in use.
I love the plastic drawer units that are small with 3 drawers in them. They are expensive but hold all those little things you need. I put labels on each drawer. I stacked three sets of them.
Also have a couple of larger roll around drawers for storage of works in progess, stencils etc.
Have a cheap bookcase for my books and magazines.
Hung my rulers and etc on peg board. Smaller rulers that dont hang are in letter holders from the dollar store.
Have my fat quarters in baskets also from dollar store and sorted by color. Stored in a cheap bookcase.
For lighting I have an old floor lamp with four lights on it that can be moved into whatever position I need.

My sewing area is in the basement. It is small, but I love it and this is what I have: along the first wall are two second hand dressers from my neighbour that hold everything from threads to needles to patterns and UFOs and yadrage of backing fabric and muslin. Above are simple shelves with clear plastic shoeboxes holding my small, but ever growing stash and boxes of scrap. My ironing board is on the next wall perpendicular to the dresser. I have a large, Costco size ironing board. Perpendicular to my ironing board is a counter high cutting table which my husband build out of 2x4s and plywood. It is purposly not finished so the fabric does not slide. Under the table are boxes with batting and pillow stuffing. Along the last "wall" (shich is not a wall but edge of my carpet) is old dining room table from Ikea that was refinished with slick varnish to help quilts move when I am quilting. That table holds two sewing machines and a serger. The area is small but cosy. I am thinking about putting a small design board above my ironong board but I never use it anyways so I may pass on it for now. Above, on the ceiling are two long flourescent lights with daylight rods in them. The whole area is 9x10. The cost was minimal - all we had to buy were the lights and the lumber for building the cutting table. Everything else was second hand, or we already had it serving some other purpose. The wall and the furniture is white, just by chance, so it gives the whole room look of much bigger space. good luck and make the room fit your needs. It is so important to feel good in your space.

A place for everything and everything in its own place. I love to use my labeler for everything, so I don't have to guess. I reuse a lot of things from the kitchen, the glass jars from pickles, the plastic meat trays (well washed) cracked plastic containers for the extra left over bindings....I do like my thread hanging on the wall on those racks from Joanns, all bought with coupons. I use old CD and DVD boxes for rick rack and pipping, shoe boxes for ribbon......

Shop your local thrift shops for used furniture. A dresser can be used as a cutting table with extra storage (avoid ones that have a musty smell), tables for sewing tables, bookcase, clear glass canisters for buttons and ribbon...just wander around and see what catches your eye. I also like lots of crazy colors in my sewing room and addding decorations that make me happy, like my grandtwins art over the years. HAVE FUN!

So many wonderful ideas. Thanks again. Think I'm going to hit the second hand stores around here this week-end.

If your room is small like mine I don't have room for all the stuff. My cutting table is in my bedroom it is on wheels so when I use it I roll it to another room. My ironing board is in the kitchen it makes me get up and move around that way. I get so involved in sewing time flies.

I use those bed risers you can get from Walmart to raise my tables, they work great and are not expensive. Lots easier on the back.

My advice is to customize the closet for storage.

What everyone else said sounds great. Plus, I need fans since I am so hot all of the time and the iron going makes it worse. And, this girl can never have enough task lighting.

I too have a small sewing room. For storage I got the bookcases from Walmarts that holds the cube totes. I put a picture on the outside of the tote to show what's in it; like a project, etc. I also have a tall book case that only had a few shelves but has adjustable shelves. I took one of the shelves to Home Depot and got a few more cut and bought more of the little pieces that you put in the holes in the bookcase to hold up the shelves so I could have more shelving and didn't have such a large stack of fabric on each shelf. Plus it allows me to separate them more by color. I bought a sewing table and a cutting table at Joanns and that has really helped. I have a tall cart on wheels for my thread and a short one that fits under my cutting table to put additional things in plus a tote for stabilizer. I also machine embroidery so I have extra supplies. I got an ironning board that fits over the closet door to save on space and my cutting table has ends that fold down. I keep one side down and the other up most of the time but can put the other side up if I need it. A design board would be nice. I have a small one made of thin plywood with batting and muslin on it. I got a ruler holder last yr at the quilt show and mounted it on the wall above cutting table and hopefully the guy will be back at Oct show and I'll get another one. I have my sewing desk sitting in the middle of the room but against the wall on one end. This way I can have my regular sewing machine on one side and the emb unit on the other side. This works great because I can still sew while embroidering. Along the wall behind my desk is an old desk that has a leaf that can lift up so I can quilt on it too. I have a Viking Mega quilter on that one. I really have a lot in my room., even though its only 12 x12 or a little smaller, but I don't feel cramped.

My sewing room is good sized but not huge. I have 4 book cases, 3 of the smallest plastic shelf units, 4 dressers, 2 desks, an Art Bin storage cube tower, and a small table for the tv, 3 rolling chairs and a huge motel dresser/credenza thing.

One dresser is exactly the right height for a cutting table and just needed a bigger top so it has a piece of press wood on top. The top drawer of that dresser has small tools and the other two drawers have half yard and yard cuts of fabric. The second dresser was exactly the right size for an ironing board but it was too short so Son 1 built a riser for the top out of MDF and a 4x4 cut into chunks. The back of that dresser has a type of fiber board on it so I used those Hercules hooks and have my rulers hanging on the back. The drawers of that dresser hold ironing supplies, basting supplies, thread and ribbon and some UFOs. The third small dresser is in the closet and holds UFOs and some finished projects that are listed on Etsy. The fourth dresser is over by the door and is full of fat quarters and third of a yard cuts.

And then there's the credenza. It's from a 40s era motel so it's solid wood and extremely heavy. Empty it weighs about as much as a fridge. We cut the desk off of the end so it's just the drawers. The drawers hold plastic bags and freezer paper in one shallow drawer, in the other shallow drawer are rubber stamps and odds and ends, two of the deep drawers hold my antique linen collection and the other deep drawer has the jelly roll/charm collections.

One of the plastic shelf units holds the printer and all of the "office" type stuff. The other two have my stereo, patterns, small scrap bins, the gallon jug of Best Press, my other iron and misc. stuff.

Three of the bookcases sit on the floor and have fabric on foam core on most of the shelves and patterns in binders and magazines in holders on a couple of the shelves. One of the small bookcases sits on top of the credenza and holds all of my books.

One of the desks is my computer desk and it's always piled full of junk. The other one is a student desk that I keep my Pfaff on. A student desk is a little shorter so it's a good height for a sewing machine.

There are also several organizer type things in here. One is a set of wood boxes with rattan baskets that I got from Lillian Vernon. There are two sets of wood drawer units my mom got from Alco.

You can put a tremendous amount of stuff in a fairly small space if everything has storage. A regular ironing board takes up a whole lot of space but doesn't have any storage. By getting a big board and putting it on a dresser I got a big board and a ton of storage.

Most of the time this room could really stand to be picked up. And I really should go thru all of the stuff stored in here and reevaluate whether I really need it or not. But I'd rather just sew so that never gets done!

I have some pics if you want to see them.

Lots of good suggestions here. Check out IKEA if you’ve got one. If you don’t, you can still get some great ideas from their catalog.

My “must have” is a good comfortable adjustable chair.

a good chair, good light, a high cutting board, ironing board (of some kind and shape).....and your good and faithful machine.....after that everything is icing on the cake. bookshelves, plastic bins, planning board, TV, microwave, coffeepot, wine cooler........and the list goes on and on and on................

I was surprised to find I much prefer my sewing machine in the middle of the room and everything else placed around it. I made a pressing board that I keep at a 90 degree angle to my sewing machine so I don't have to stand up. Then a cutting table behind me, a design wall to the side behind the pressing board and next to the cutting table, and shelves to the other 2 sides. I have repurposed furniture from arou d other parts of the house. My favorite is my expedit bookshelf from Ikea, standing tall. I keep my books, thread, big notions, featherweight, iron, and snap press in them.

What a small world! We lived in Midland for almost 6 years and moved to DFW 5 years ago.

I have *many* pictures pinned on my Pinterest craft room board if you want to look for inspiration. Please post pics of your room when you get it finished!

I also posted pics of my "art nest" on the board awhile back. It has evolved quite a bit since I posted the pictures.

Most of all, have fun and make your room into your little nest.

http://pinterest.com/txstitcher/insp...g-craft-rooms/

http://www.quiltingboard.com/picture...m-t162118.html

I was in the basement (where my sewing area is) and remembering this thread. I am also very thankful that it is in the basement away from eyes. I can clean up when I feel like it!!

[ATTACH=CONFIG]358175[/ATTACH]I converted a 10x 10' bedroom into a studio and DH put shelves in the closet for me. This is befor I totally filled it up! he also installed a work table along the length of the farthest wall. I love it.
This is from before I loaded it up with all my stuff!

Good lighting; as many electrical grounded outlets as possible --hire a great licensed and bonded electrician; cutting table; bookcase/shelf for your patterns and books; Large kitchen trash can for your snips etc that go in garbage or recyling; Peg board to hang rulers etc on; lock box or small safe to keep your rotary cutters, scissors, anything you need that might wander to someone else's tool chest ; I like a locking mechanics tool chest ---holds just about everything; an office chair and a sewing cabinet or table that works for you with your machine/s;a nice closet with both shelving and hanging rods for storage of fabric and projects; tv and dvd player for learning new techniques etc;A drafting table and stool; light box;paper and paper storage for drafting designs and patterns...just the tip of my iceberg.

ube ....I’ve got all ten of the BH&G Quilt-Lovers Favorites, too! Yours have more bookmarks, and Babe is a great movie. Yep, it’s a small world. Sorry for the threadjack....:o

Check craigslist for 8 or 16 cubby "Expedit" storage - I dont know how I kept my 'stash' organized before I found mine!! Also, your cutting table can be placed on 'bed risers'. They brought mine to the proper height. Be sure your light source is good. You don't have to buy expensive Ott lights, but treat yourself to the Ott Light bulbs!! I hope your chair is comfortable. Once you get the room as you want it, you're going to be spending lots of time in there!! Post photos as you go along!!

For me, the most critical (and most difficult to find for a reasonable price) thing was a sewing machine table of the PROPER height. All the tables I tried were too tall and I got terrible neck & shoulder pains after just an hour or so. I didn't want to shell out hundreds of dollars for a real sewing table so I went down to the local hardware store and bought a couple extra-heavy-duty shelf brackets and a piece of plywood made specifically to be used as a desktop (It's glued together in such a way that it is supposed to be resistant to warping, plus it was the perfect size so no cutting needed). Covered the wood with a thin layer of batting and some leftover vinyl I had on hand and now I have the perfect sewing table! Total cost = $80. And included in that; I found a closet hook set that fit the bracket system - it holds all my scissors in easy reach. Plus everything is adjustable so if I'd gotten the height wrong I can move everything up or down.

If space is at a premium, make use of foldaway features. A large ironing surface that can also be a basting surface, and with a cutting board layed on it can be a cutting surface. I've used an old interior door that was flat with no trim. I covered it with 2 layers of batting and then a layer of pillow ticking. Then I mounted it on hinges on the wall so that when it folds down, it becomes a table. I use a feet made from stair railing balusters that support it. By mounting it at a good height for you, it becomes a custom surface. When you don't need it, fold it up against the wall and hold it there with a hook and eye or other latch.