Setting up a Sewing Room
08-24-2012, 07:12 AM
#11
Super Member
Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: Wine Country-Southern California
Posts: 1,449
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......
08-24-2012, 07:20 AM
#12
Banned
Join Date: May 2012
Location: Wisconsin
Posts: 108
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!
08-24-2012, 08:30 AM
#14
Super Member
Join Date: Aug 2010
Location: Central Iowa
Posts: 2,334
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.
08-26-2012, 04:31 AM
#18
Super Member
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: Norfolk, VA
Posts: 5,397
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.
Last edited by romanojg; 08-26-2012 at 04:34 AM.
08-26-2012, 06:17 AM
#19
Super Member
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: Southwest Kansas
Posts: 4,820
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.
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.
08-26-2012, 09:30 AM
#20
Senior Member
Join Date: Jul 2012
Posts: 319
Originally Posted by texas8823
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?
My “must have” is a good comfortable adjustable chair.
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