I am in the planning process of turning my home office into a real sewing room and I was wondering what are some of your favorite ideas that you've used to organize yourself. My room is 10 by 10 with 2 windows. So I can't go with very big with tables, but other than that, I'm looking for "anything" so don't feel limited in giving advice. I love simple things, ordinary stuff turned into new ideas. I do not have a ton of stash (like some youtubes I've seen!), but I will probably begin to accumulate more once the sewing room is complete.
I will post Before pictures, as soon as I clean up my office clutter, and also After pictures when I'm all done and settled in. I can hardly wait.
Thanks, in advance! :mrgreen:

Tables with drop sides are great for smaller spaces. DB and I are planning a couple that the sides will drop down almost to the floor, and on two sides of the table :wink: I wanted floor space when that much table space isn't needed.

Cutting/iron tables can double in use. Padded mat on one side of the top for ironing, board on the other for laying cutting mats on :D:D:D

I have a desk with a finished 4x4 sheet of plywood attached with a piano hinge. Great for when you are machine quilting, drop the leaf down for piecing.

Both are great ideas and doubling up on the use of space is important to me. I swear we have a barn full of antiques that ought to get some use.... I'm sure I can find a table to suit these ideas.

I turned my guest bedroom into my sewing room. Last summer my hubby built be shelves in the closet. (He's wonderful). This was the best thing for my sewing room. I could organize my "stash" on the shelves within easy reach and color coded. The one thing I would like for a sewing room is it just needs to be twice as big. Storage in the main thing.

1. A design wall is a great idea and it takes up no floor space.

2. I bought some stacking rectangular baskets at Lowes (closet organizer dept) that I use for keeping the components of WIP projects organized. I think that's been very useful.

3. You mentioned that you have two windows. You might consider locating your machine work station in front of one of them, particularly if you have a good view. The extra light will certainly be helpful.

4. Since your room is fairly small, I agree you should consider double duty equipment (e.g. cutting and pressing).

5. If it's in the budget, use a small flat screen TV that you can put on a shelf up out of the way.

I definitely want a design wall, even if it's small. I hate laying things on the floor, but that is what I do now.

Cathie R.... is your hubby available for building my shelves? Mine is a farmer to the bone and DIY is not part of what he likes to do. ;-)

A design wall.

Yup, can no longer call it my hobby room. It is officially a storage room and I sew in the dining room. My DH is sooo good about letting this happen :-)

I label all my containers with some cute fonts and backgrounds. Helps make things easier to find.

For me, out of sight is out of mind, so does anybody have any solutions for keeping tools handy? My office desk will stay in the room so I have 3 long drawers that will soon be empty. The desk is large... 3 ft by 5 ft. This is where my machine will be.

I have a peg board on the wall above my cutting table. I have my rulers and scissors right at reach. I need to finish cleaning and get some pics posted.

I would love to see some pics.

Alot of shelves to keep all your fabric!

I have a room with 2 windows that is 10x12. I have a pine table that I have place perpendicular to the wall and I have 3 machines on it...a serger and embroidery machine on one side and my regular machine on the other side. I have a small cutting mat to the right of my machine for cutting small things. I have shelves from ceiling to floor on one side of the room that is to the left of my sewing machine table, and I have access to all my supplies and fabrics there. In other areas of the room I have my cutting table and ironing surface next to it.

This sounds like something I can really do!

I bought a nice trestle style desk on-line at Walmart - easy to assemble and can blend with any decor. @ tall book shelves to match. Baskets can organize your notions but keep a neat, tidy appearance.

Okay, I should have gone ahead and posted pics right at first... but here is my office/homeschool classroom/soon to be sewing room. I didn't tidy it up, so be kind :D

As you can see I have a lot of light in the evening across the desk that will be my sewing machine desk.

I have a drop leaf maple table that I bought at a garage sale which works great. It was a little bit low, so I had DH drill holes in the legs and put in large ball rollers (not sure what they're actually called) so it is raised a little higher and moves easily when I want to pull it out and raise both leaves.

Shop office supply stores for storage ideas. Mail sorter for rulers, stacked paper trays for patterns or block pieces, pencil holders for scissors, marking pens, seam rippers etc. Baskets on a rack can hold different projects or WIPs or scraps. My favorite are flat plastic storage boxes (from Walmart or Joann's) to hold UFOs. They stack and you can see through them and they are the perfect size for blocks up to 14 inches, pattern, thread, etc. and they have a handle to just grab and go!

Judy, they're called casters, and what a GREAT idea! I'm going to ask William to do that with my drop leaf that my Janome lives on!! Thanks!

I like a good office style chair with wheels and adjustable height. It really helps with my back and shoulders when I am sitting in a supportive chair and the height is important too. I am short and it bothers my neck if I have to look up to see what I am doing. I can raise the chair up so i look down on my project and that really helps.

This is a great idea and one that I will use in my new sewing room.

I have a 7X10 foot "closet" now (packed up and ready to move) and my new sewing room is a SE exposure 12X14 bedroom with an extra deep closet. My hubby is going to put floor to ceiling shelves in the closet and I am going with the idea of the pegboard above my cutting table. I have seen those hooks that actually hold little bins on the pegboard, Oh my mind is working!! Of course one whole wall is taken up with my quilting machine. It will still be crowded but at least I will have everything in one place!!LOL!

Melody, you will have to post pics when you get yours set up and I will also post. But keep in mind my room won't be finished until September! In the meanwhile I have held out my hexagon grandmother's flower garden that I'm piecing by hand and a counted cross stitch for those "quiet" moments when I'll need to recharge.

Everyone have a happy quilting summer, I will be lurking while on those long drives between houses.

I have found the greatest little bins to hold FQs and smaller cuts of fabric - and I only paid a dollar for each. WalMart had some that were 2/$1.00 and Target had a bunch for a dollar each, and the Dollar Tree has them too. GREAT!
I put them on my book case and I can see all my pretty fabric!

I use those 3M hooks to hang on my wall and I hung a large piece of flannel using binder clips for my design wall.

I like little bins. I'll have to check into that. And a peg board beside a cutting table sounds great too. Hooks to hang a design wall.... good idea for this small room.

And I do want to raise the height of a table for cutting. I get backaches too easily.

You know, I have searched through the sewing rooms on this board but getting your input is an even bigger help.

I use a woven basket that's originally a flatware caddy and put my most essential notions in, rotary cutter, scissors, seam ripper, pens, straight rulers, etc., next to my machine.

I, too will be getting a new sewing room so I've been thinking of how I would change what I have now. I feel the new room will be about the size of yours now (my current one isn't much bigger). I'd like to put up lots of open shelving with baskets, if I can find what I want at the price I need. But it all depends on the layout/lighting too.

Take advantage of the wall space. Go up not out, as the saying goes. As was suggested too, maximize your closet space too. There are reasonably priced venting shelving closet organizers that may work and aren't terribly complicated to install. I used them in my closets when I owned my house and swear by them. One tweak I did with them is I needed to cover some of the shelves so things wouldn't fall thru, so I got some pretty peel and stick tiles and cut them to fit. I didn't stick them on the shelf directly that way I could always alter it for my needs.

can you post a picture of what you used, please

You have been given lots of great ideas!!!
page three of this thread is where I have more currents shots of my studio...I still have more to do, but it is coming along....
http://www.quiltingboard.com/t-44879-3.htm

Don't be afraid to try and reject some things; it takes time to find what works for YOU!
good luck!

The wooden box on the wall by your machine... does that hold thread? I like that!

no, it is actually holding 2 oz craft paints...had hubby take two of those wire cube grids, and build a frame around them....

Hi there. Sounds like you are going to be a busy little beaver. Your room is nice. Seems like it will make a good sewing room. The casters are helpful to me. I have a couple shelves on the desktop (sewing table) against the wall. I keep my sewing brick a brack on them. I also have booties on my cutting table (pvc pipe from Lowes). If you want a photo let me know.
Good luck, I am happy for you.
Regards, Dorothy

Hi Melody,

Here are some links to my sewing room. I hope they help.

http://www.quiltingboard.com/t-45001-1.htm

http://www.quiltingboard.com/t-43359-1.htm

http://www.quiltingboard.com/t-34860-1.htm

Booties? yes, Dorothy, please send the pics.

That's a nice room! On the farm, we have lots of old wooden crates. I like yours painted like that. I don't have a closet in this room, wish I did. Many old farmhouses are known to lack closet space, and this room just isn't big enough to add one. But I can still work out a nice storage area, I'm sure.

I like these ideas too, the idea of using old. I was hoping to find a table to cut into for my sewing machine but it is a under bobbin so the cut would have to be close to the edge and nothing obstructing the opening so I could get to the bobbin.

House is clean and waiting for weekend company to arrive. Surfing the net!! :D :D

Busy weekend here too. Lots of cooking to do in the morning, kids arriving in their campers, 9 grandkids (teenagers and older). So I will say goodnight and thank you all so much. I will check back on Monday. And when I have the sewing room finished, I will post the AFTER pictures, but that is going to take me a while! So much sorting and pitching to do.

Melody- Don't get rid of the big old school desk next to the window.

Worse thing I did when we moved here was to get rid of a big old oak school desk we had. What a mistake.

Maybe, once you take everything out of the room and then re-organize, you will see your room in different 'light'. Gather al of your sewing/quilting stuff and organize it into piles-tools, fabrics, trims, threads, etc. Then you can get a better picture of what needs to go where.

Enjoy your family weekend.

I think I caught him at a weak moment. However, he might do it for chocolate pie.

Hubby also added a peg board to one wall. That is great. I hang rulers, marking pens, rotary cutters, sissors, stencils, etc. on it. Very handy.

Okay, now how many of you have a kitty that loves to lay on your sewing table or on your stash for a comfy bed? I don't mind my cat coming into my sewing room while I am in there working but i don't want her making a habit of laying up on my table or fabrics. So I had to keep the door shut to my sewing room to keep my pets out. Well during the day it gets rather hot in my sewing room with the door shut but i need to keep it shut because of the animals...what to do...lol Hubby bought me a little window unit a/c but I only run it when i am in the sewing room. But still had the problem of it getting hot with the door shut. My stabilizer I use for machine embroidery got gummy with my thread breaking from gummed up needles. Well one day I said to my hubby...I need a screen door for my sewing room! A month later hubby brought me a screen door and took the other door off and put my new door on. It is soooo cool!! He painted the door and the screen PINK! It matches my room with the pink curtains and pink dresser! Well it works out great. The room is nice and cool with the a/c circulating thruout the house like it should and the pets can't get into my sewing room. I will take a pic of my screen door tomorrow and send it in. It is homemade of wood but looks really nice I think. My kitty is not so happy about it but that's life..lol My design wall, shop light hung from the ceiling and my screen door are my favorite ideas for my sewing room.

My dh made me a "half-door" on a hinge that blocks the bottom half of the doorway. It locks in place with a magnetic catch. My doggies don't go in my room, and the door is open for a/c and conversation. I just love it.