What do you have to the right of your sewing machine?
 

Funny question, I know, but I'm working on having my husband build me a large sewing table. I want most of the table to the left, to hold the quilt when I FMQ. I was just thinking about how much space I want to the right, and that made me wonder what everyone keeps there.

Currently I have, bamboo cutlery box with many seam rippers, sizes of scissors, screwdrivers and cleaning tools to clean my machine, tweezers to pull the bobbin thread up through the quilt, those needles that thread at the top so you don't have to find the hole (love those!), a magnet to hold the needle that I use all the time when tying off, filled bobbins for the project I'm working on, and sewing machine needles. I also have a mug rug to put my drink on.

So, what do you have?

Pretty much the same on my table space.

Magnetic pin cushion for pins, scissors, cloth pincushion for needles, box of attachments for my sewing machine, small scrap bag for threads/snippets. I have a small drawer in my cabinet for bobbins, seam ripper, seam gauge, more needles, walking foot.

all you can get.LOL. you never have enough room for tools and extra's I even have a table with wire baskets to hold scraps at the end of my table .. righ not I have 4 tables and my cutting table and wish i had room for more. you need to have extra room for you serger also as you will use it a lot. I make an entire quilt top using the serger.. and have 4 sewing machines set up all the time plus my embroidery machine and a 72" long narrow table set up to hold my studio die cutter.. and shelves out the wazoo, and cabinets and cabinets of fabric. I have outgrown the 2 car garage.. If i ever get the space and can design my own quilting room it will be HUGE..

My machine is butted just up to the edge of the table. I have nothing on that side of my machine. I do have a smaller nightstand-sized table on the right side of my chair that has pin cushions, flower pot for marking pens, scissors, seam rippers, etc. My sewing table (and sewing space) is VERY limited right now, so I have to use the whole table surface for quilting, piecing, and cutting.

I have a tray for sewing notions on the right of my machine.

An empty coffee cup, and a glass of water, along with the sewing tools.

Pins all over the place, thread, scissors, seam ripper, free motion foot, and pins all over the place.

My sewng machine is on an L-shaped table with my serger on the right of me. Now in the elbow of the L is lots and lots of stuff.

I have about 3" to the right. I have my magnetic pin holder, my wooden skewer to guide fabric & pull the bobbin thread up, my snips to cut thread. I do have a plastic storage tower that fits underneath my sewing table & the top 2 drawers of that hold a lot. Those are about 3" deep & that is where I keep my machine feet, piecing thread, screwdriver, bobbins, etc.

Nice hubby you have!

I had to go look - but I have a book case next to my sewing machine table, on my machine table, I have a pair of scissors, the seam ripper and the TV remote. I have a pin cushion but it moves from place to place when I sew, Sometimes it's next to the machine, sometimes on the book case and sometimes on the plastic drawers to my right and a bit behind me - it just depends on what I am doing. What ever I drink goes on the book case or across the room on a little table - my machine sits into the machine table and I worry that my drink may spill.

I have a U-shaped Perfexxion cabinet....and it's loaded! My Janome 6600 is in the middle of the bottom of the U, and to the right is my 18X36" cutting mat, my GO resides there when she's in the mood to work; I also have my embroidery machine on the right and two other Vintage machines. There are drawers under the cabinets as well, and they have everything form soup to nuts in them. AND I NEED MORE ROOM!!!!!!!

I have only 3" on the right of my machine too and I have only room for my bobbins. TRY to get at least 5 or 6 inches so you could put some sort of holder of items to keep handy !!

I'd love to have more space to the right of where I sit, on the same level as my machine cabinet. I would use it for my stacks of blocks that I am sewing together. If I could have my druthers, I'd have a U-shaped sewing area with tables to both my left and righ!

I have a serger and another sewing machine. I use a 6' banquet folding table as a sewing table. I move the extra machines when I'm quilting to give me more space on the left hand side of the machine.

I wish I had somewhere to put things. I would like to keep a drink, different "feet," a seam ripper, brush to clean bobbin case, container for bobbins, and maybe a few other things. I also got a cheap plastic cookbook holder that I place my quilt patterns/books in as I am assembling a quilt. It would be nice to have space for that.

Small box wiith pin cushion, scissors, seam ripper, and other sewing tools. There's not much space on the table. Then I have a tall chest of drawers with room for patterns, some scrap fabrics, interfacing, to the right of the table. To the left under the table, I have a nightstand sized chest with the sewing machine accessories, button box, bias tape, large spools of thread. I keep a smaller moveable chest on the table with zippers, safety pins, more bottoms and other fasteners, needles, ... If you're just building, I would leave a little more space on the right, maybe about the size of a file tray (a sheet of letter size paper), so stuff wouldn't fall off the table.

I have spindles for spools of thread and a bulletin board on the wall behind the machine.

To the right, not much space but enough to hold pins, extra bobbins, a bowl to hold seam ripper,etc. it is next to a wall which has a peg board with many clips for holding things, mostly my jewelry stuff. But I think we all pretty much need space only for necessities, any more than it would just collect stuff.

That's what i have too! My DH finally updraded my computer so I can use the embroidery software for my Janome. Then he said the cord wasn't long enough so I should have one of his laptops with the program on it to direct link it. He said- you'll have to , um, clear some space for it. What was he talking about? LOL below the serger is a pullout shelf for a keyboard and that's where the laptop will go.
My space to the right is always packed with whatever i am using plus my remotes and dust. I clean it off every once in a while. Hehe
I have a rolling office cart with drawers for my other sewing stuff. It fits under the table so it's handy. My only complaint with it is the drawers don't pull all the way out so it's easier to get to the back of it.

I have too much stuff...box of tissues, mug in which I keep scissors, seam rippers, etc, magnetic pin cushion, and my beverage of choice.

Power strip, metal thread cone holder, coaster (for my drink) and cordless phone. I have an L-shaped table, too. Sewing machine sits on the shorter side and cutting mat is one the longer side (to my left as I sit at the machine). I have a wooden TV table set up to my right with my small ironing board on it. My sewing space is now a "u" and I sit in the center of it. Ask your DH to give you as much space as possible...the more the better.

Anita


Anita

I, too, only have about 4" to the right of the machine, and then it is the wall. On the floor I have a stand-up plastic bag for small trash. Right behind me is a table holding lots of stuff. I wish I had more space, but the room arrangement can only go one way, since there are Plantation shutters with a large window that opens if the Plantation shutters are open.

I have sewing tools and pin cushion.

I only have about 3 inches of table to the right of my machine. However, I have my ironing board butted up to that side - part of it is used to store bobbins, the other part of pressing as I sew.

I don't have a lot of space to the right of my machine, but to the right rear I have a Staples® Mesh Rotary Organizer, 8-Compartments. It hold lots of pens, markers, scissors, rotary cutters, measuring tape ( I use a contractor's small metal tape) tweezers hang on the lip, long handled ripper, small screw driver, labels, old rx bottle for DOA needles, etc. Best investment I ever made. Directly to the right (only about 4 inches) I keep scraps to use as leaders and enders like Marianne Fons.

Here is the link to the Staples® Mesh Rotary Organizer, 8-Compartments:

http://www.staples.com/Staples-Mesh-...product_805675

Not a lot of room to the right of my sewing machine so I have a seam ripper, my small thread snips, a pin cushion, a pointer thingy, my tv remote, a couple of small fabric scraps to check my stitches. My sewing machine feet, screwdrivers, needles and extra bobbins are in one of those small tabletop 3 draw units that sit on top of a small table next to my machine on the right.

Abbey bag for my pins, needles and thread

I keep my pins and drink to the right of my machine. Next to my table I have end tables to keep other supplies I may need sitting there.

I have a thread cabinet in the corner. Next is a pin cushion then a little organizer with bobbins, needles, etc. In front of that is a spot for my mug. Beside my chair is a window ledge with another organizer and various miscellaneous stuff that doesn't have another spot to be.

I continue to learn from everyone here. It has been determined that I HAVE to have one of those Staples Mesh turny-things (why in the world didn't I think of that sooner?), I need enough room on the right of the sewing machine to stack blocks I'm working on (currently they reside on my lap, they fall, get out of order, frustrate me, waste time, you get the picture) AND I need to add a TV to my room! DH is so cute a few hours after "putting it out there" that he was willing to do this project, he came up into my room and said, "You know, we might not always be in this house" - I guess he was thinking, why build it if we are going to move (we have no plans for doing so, by the way). My response? Built it so it's easy to take apart. He's found some youtube videos and a place where he can buy plans for a table. I like the plans, but the table needs to be bigger, and some stuff needs to be moved around. He hasn't even built the thing and I'm telling him to change it!

I have the cutting mat to the left which pushes the machine close enough to the edge that I don't keep anything to the right of it. Plus, when I need more space in the cutting area, I like to turn my machine to the side. If I have anything on the right, I might knock that off the table.

Hahaha, my first thought was, "a big mess!" I actually have more space on the right of my sewing machine than I do on the left, so I have scissors, pins, needles, thread, bobbins, a big ol' basket of notions, and a pile of jeans waiting to be cut up into squares for a jeans quilt. But my sewing table is L-shaped so I also have my serger on the other end to the right (around the corner) of my sewing machine. I also have a lamp (that I hardly ever use), and an ink pad rack (I just couldn't find anywhere else to put it). So yeah it's basically a big mess! I think if I ever got that jeans quilt done it'd be a slightly smaller mess though.

I have a really small sewing table but the best thing about it - IMO - is the fact that I have 5 drawers on that side! I keep my snips/needle threaders/etc. in the top drawer, except when they are in use (which is most of the time) and can keep the extra bobbins/etc. that everyone else has next to their machines in the drawers for easy access as I'm right handed. Next to my machine I have some thread storage boxes, pin cushion, boxes of straight and safety pins and a few spools of thread that I haven't bothered to put away. My extra feet live in the free arm section of my machine made for that purpose. My cutting table is right behind me so sewn blocks/strips get thrown there as they are done. Beverage is on a table separate from machine as I don't want to take a chance on spilling. I do use a small folding tv tray when needed for a pressing/cutting surface when working on pp'ing or the like that I put to the right of my machine.

Let's see, I have my extra bobbins, all those little tools we use to make sewing easier, my coffee cup, my coke and a bag of cough drops.

Tall spool thread holder. I use it vs. the thread spool holder on the machine. Misc. thread spools, etc. I have about 6 inches to the right.
Sandy

I don't have anything, as my machine is in a cabinet, but everything is on the left. I am able to turn my chair, and iron, play on the computer, and tickle the dog with my toes, as his dog house is under the 6' x3' table. If I have to cut, I have to get off my behind..

about 6 inches of coffee cup or tea glass space and a window beyond that

Serging a quilt top
 

I am curious how you piece a quilt top with a serger
SVAL

I only have things that I am currently using to the right of my machine which would be a pin cushion with pins and needles, small scissor for clipping thread, a small ruler to measure seams, thread. I have a waste basket on the floor for clippings. Anything else I have stored elsewhere. My scissors I have on a long piece of ribbon so I can hook them on the extra spindle of the machine so that if they fall off the table they won't hit the floor and ruin the point on the scissors. The ribbon is long enough so I can use the scissors at the machine but shorter than the distance of the table to the floor. If I want to use the scissors when I'm doing hand work they go around my neck so I don't lose them in the couch cushions. My family also knows that if they see a pair of scissors with any ribbon on them to leave them alone. If I didn't do this they would be used to cut things other than fabric. I have ribbon on all my scissors but shorter pieces on the large scissors I use to cut out patterns etc.