Apartment quilting
 

I have a saying: The first step to being a quilter is buying a house. But for those of us who can't, how do you manage your space?

I live in a small 2 bedroom apartment in Brooklyn. My son graduated from college and moved away, so his room has become the storage room, cat box room, and now quilting room. I have my sewing machine covered and my fabrics in plastic storage boxes. What I really don't have is a large cutting surface. I have one very small table that has been ok so far, but I can't imagine what I'll do if I try a really big project. I'd love to hear ideas - and see pictures! - of small quilting spaces that other people have made work for them.

I spend almost every weekend in my motorhome as my husband is a professional race car driver. I have a small Brother sewing machine that stays in the motorhome. I have a quilters tote I bought from Joann fabrics. I have everything I need stuffed into that tote. Rotary cutters, folding mats, scissors, etc. I can set up in about 15 minutes and start sewing. I have a way of putting it away so we can eat at the dinner table but be ready to sew again. I have a tote that has projects to work on. Everything fits into the small spaces I have creatively created in our unit. Everything fits exactly together with no wasted space.
Depending on the race, I can get lots of piecing done. Sometimes the machine doesn't even come out of it's tote. Over the last 3 years I pieced 2 queen size, 1 king size and 25 baby/lap size quilts. End of race season, they get quilted.
In an approximate 300 sq foot "home" I can enjoy my craft.
Enjoy your space because it is yours and it is where you can create.

I am lucky now all kids have there own homes and I am getting a lovley stash. But I do remember when we lived in a small 2 bedroom house with 2 small kids. no stash, all my cutting and sewing hardware (scisors, pins, rulers, machine feet, ect,) fit in 1 large boot box. My portable machine fit in my closet on top of a small laundry basket that held any left over fabric or on the dinning room table when in use. Any projects had to fit in my one Large old fashion sewing basket. Made quilts and tyed them, cloths for all of us and dolls anything else needed. How I did it I'm not sure, I worked full time too! LOL What does your Hubby race? formula, stock, drag, outlaws?

I take my machine and a tote of sewing supples with me in a travel trailer also. I have a iron and small ironing board that is left in the trailer all the time.

I just have a small room but the closet stores a lot of my stuff. DH put in shelves and it is almost organized. This room has a futon which is a bedroom when the grandchildren come. But when they aren't there the futon serves as a design wall. A person has to make due with what they have and I am just so glad to have a room that I can leave my projects out and not have to put them away every day. Have fun getting your room the way you want it.

I put my kitchen table on bed risers for cutting and sandwiching, and also use it instead of a design wall. My cutting mats and oversize Shape Plus rulers stay under the guest bed. I have a plywood board covered in a remnant of washed wool flannel and twill for ironing. I can move it to a folding table or on the 36" counter.

This quilter has a beautiful studio in her apartment in Chicago. http://tallgrassprairiestudio.blogsp...ets-party.html

I cut my fabric on a mat on the kitchen counter. It is a perfect height. My sewing machine and fabric is in a closet that is 4' x 10'. If there is a will, there is a way to make it all work.

sorry, duplicate post!

My sewing room is my bedroom. It is rather large, so enough room for a big table, the fold up kind from walmart, my sewing machine is in its own stand, and I have shelves in the closet for my fabric. My queen size bed is my design wall! LOL!

We drag race. We are currently running 3 different organizations. We are mostly concentrating on one series with 2 different cars. He is defending world champion with one car and runner up with the other. Lots of work, but he has decided to cut back next year so we can travel to more tourist-y stuff.
I have a wonderful sewing room at home approximately the size of a 4 car garage. But i get to do more "fun" sewing in the motorhome. At home I have prom, formal, and wedding stuff. I am cutting that down to almost nothing next
year to sight see.
With your kids gone, using their room should give you room to spread out. Enjoy them when they visit then send them home so you can sew!

At least you are in a two bedroom.. I'm in a one bedroom. I use the livingroom.. I have nine sweater containers piled up with fabric, and I can add a couple more.. I have a three foot table that I cut on, and have a Singer 99 on it.. I have the Singer 66 in between the door to the bedroom, and a closet.. I have room on my office table that if I only will get rid of the turtle tank with no turtle in it, I can make more room.. I have fabric on the cocktail table, as I am working on getting 1.5" squares out for a swap.. yes.. i am getting claustrophobic.. The dogs house is under the office desk.. Don't even think of a design wall.. I'm okay with things the way they are.. I don't have UFO's.. but I am making four of the same scrap quilts for my staff, and myself.. Oh.. I forgot.. I iron on the kitchen counter which is granite..

When I didn't have a space large enough to sandwich my quilts I could reserve a meeting room at the local public library and push a couple of tables together to do it there. I'd make a morning of it and invite a quilt friend or two to go along with me. Once I machine quilted a queen size quilt on my old Kenmore on my kitchen table in between feeding two little ones and keeping them occupied. :)

When I was attending quilt guild meetings regularly it seemd that many/most of the ladies had 'studios.' I quilted when and where I could and my supplies and stash migrated through the house according to the kid's needs for space and storage. Then one month a woman from England came and spoke to our guild. She had a picture of herself sewing at her teeny tiny kitchen table in her teeny tiny kitchen. From that point on I just pretended to be European whenever I started wanting a bigger space. LOL

oh my goodness, that is stunning!

Wow, sounds like good use of space! I am very lucky to have the second bedroom, though I share it with the cats, the lizard, my second bike and a ton of stuff that my son left here! I'm slowly clearing it out. My biggest wish is for a bigger surface for cutting. My only table is about 2 x 4 feet. But I'm doing ok so far!

Ha, love that!

I quilt in a small portion of my bedroom so you are doing good. the dining room is my cutting table, my walk in closet is my storage. At least you have a separate room. I feel I had more room in my other apt than this apt. for one the dining room table was alll mine, now it is shared with the computer

Oddly, although I could use the large dining room table for cutting, I prefer one that just fits my 24" x 36" cutting mat plus a small ironing pad next to it. I figure that my arms will only go so far, and a larger surface wouldn't help me much. It would be nice to have it in the middle of a room so I could walk around it, but for that to happen, I'd have to get rid of a bed. We won't be doing that because we need the guest room regularly. Generally, I don't need any more room for cutting than the size of one block of a quilt.

You could get you a couple of saw horses and put a sturdy board across it that you could but some two pieces of batting and some Cotton fabric over the batting and staple it all down underneath.then when not using it you could
store the ironing board under something are up against the wall and fold up the sew horses to store.

I bought one of the tables at JAs for basting my quilts. Side drop down so it's against the wall when not in use http://www.joann.com/sullivans-home-...?green=3031324 Bought it when it was on deep sale price. DH said it was a pain to put together but then refused to let me help. I refuse to pin baste on the floor...knees can't take it I use binder clamps to anchor the quilt and shift as I need to get it basted. Just another idea for you.

I have one wall in a guest bedroom that I put shelving on floor to ceiling and all stash, supplies are stored there, plus other storage not sewing related. In my living room against one wall I found room for an old kitchen table,covered it to the floor with a cloth and have my sewing/embroidery machine and serger on opposite ends. I have some things hidden under it. My ironing board comes out when I need it and goes back into a closet when I am finished. I put my cutting mat on the kitchen counter top when I want to cut. My design wall is behind a door in my bedroom.

I bought the short white plastic table at Sam's, Wal-Mart probably has them, put in on bed raiser. Can use to cut, iron, etc. I store thing under and when not in use, put in up next to wall. Of course, you could fold in down. Hope this helps.

Wow!!! that is amazing. Need to get more organized myself. Thanks for sharing.

I use the guest bedroom to set up my floor frames for quilting. They straddle the bed, and since we don't often have overnight guests, it can stay there for months while I quilt. I set up a card table against the wall for my sewing machine and an antique dresser I use to store my small stash and supplies. I have to admit, I do have fabric piled up on a night stand for the next quilt top I am getting ready to start, and my rulers and stencils are laying on another small table. Don't have a design wall yet, but have purchased those Command hangers and a Fons & Porter Design wall to put up, I'm still not sure where because I don't have any blank wall space. I did just purchase a set of four wooden trouser hangers and intend to hang those from the Command hangers to hold finished quilts for photographing. In my utility room I have a table I use for folding laundry and on it sits a small ironing board. My 24"x36" mat fits on it just fine for cutting and still leaves room for the little ironing board to stay in place. It seems to be the right height for me. Our hall is an odd shape, my friend calls it the rotunda, but it is of a good size, so now and then I will bring the card table from the guest room to sew on my machine there. As my quilting tools and supplies are increasing (imagine that!) and I am beginning to build a stash I can see that before long I will need to plan for better organization and storage. The flow is good between the utility room, the rotunda and the guest room so I'm not complaining.

I have a small room for sewing, I share with 4 cats. I cut large pieces of fabrics on the dining table, I quilt there and once in a while I press on it too. I sandwich quilts on it and sometimes use a folding table at the end for longer quilts, or I use plastic type saw horses with a board on it. I move the quilt until it is all pinned. I have a 48" x 72" cabinet loaded down with big yardage pieces of fabrics down to a yard or so. I have upper and base cabinets with a 80" countertop I iron on with a small ironing board and store rulers. The cat's food and water bowl is on it too. I get tired cleaning up the litter,cat food and spilled water to sew, I do if I need to use the counter. I have lived in this small place for 44 years and use to working here.

Several years ago, I had a small closet that wasn't in use. I bought two 3 drawer metal cabinets from K Mart and put a board across the top. That made my sewing desk for my sewing machine. Then I put peg board up in front of the desk ( which was the back of the closet) ,and on the sides for hanging "stuff". I really can't remember what stuff I had, but it was handy to have the peg board. I didn't have a lot of fabric, but what I had I put on the shelf above the pegboard. For cutting I would use my kitchen table. I used the filing cabinets for storing thread, patterns ribbons, etc. Presently I still don't have a "sewing" room, just use my bedroom. And for my cutting table I have a hollow door that we had used for a room divider which is sitting on two saw horses. Guess I'm just cheap. Oh, I do now have a design wall. I like saying that, sounds so artsy. It's an old flannel backed table cloth that had it's day. Anyway, everything serves me well.

I use our small guest room. It was tight, as it has a double bed. Then last year we built a murphy bed and suddenly the room seems huge! I have an over-the-door ironing board, a big solid table I bought from Boarders when they closed for my sewing machines, and a smaller light weight table on bed risers as a cutting table. This sits in frount of the murphy bed it its "up" position; the legs come off easily and it slides under the bed when it is "down". We have had a lot of guests, and it is a quick and easy switch from sewing room to quite a nice guest room!

Sarah, I've lived in several locations in Brooklyn -- mostly parlour floors of brownstones -- and while I didn't have a quilting room at the time, my roommate had an art studio in one of the bedrooms. Now I live in a tiny cottage and turned an extra closet sized bedroom into my studio. Although I have a house, I honestly think I had more room when I lived in Brooklyn. However ... if I were you, I would get that cat box out of the room. Those aromas will cling to your fabric.

When you get to the age where you can look back on your life, it will amaze you that you were able to think beyond the box as you all are doing. When you have a passion, love, or _____ (fill in the blank), you find a way to make it work. I have been in small apartments and now I am in a small house. I have sewn in a corner of a bedroom, cut on a dining table, and ironed in a bathroom. We find a way of making our hearts happy.

I certainly understand how it is difficult to finish projects in a small space. Can you buy a drop leaf cutting table,
there are many companies that make them from inexpensive to very nice furniture. Take a look at the Martha Stewart
Craft furniture thru the Home Decorators.com web site. It is very nice. And there is a cutting/craft table that folds up small and has storage too. There are others, at Joanne stores, Ikea has a gate leg table that may work for you.
Horn makes a very large when opened table. The great thing about some of them is you can close them up when not in use, or only half open them or fully open them. HTH
Also I would not leave a cat box where you sew. There are some really good ones now but still it could ruin your stash.

I bought one of these several years ago...got it 1/2 price, I think. DH didn't help me put it together...did it myself, as he was out doing field work. It is great for cutting my quilt pieces (larger ones), and like you, love it for when I have to pin baste. (My knees and back can't take the crawling around on the floor, either!)

When I lived in a small apartment I had two stacks of two tucker totes (all four the same style, twoshorter ones on top of two bigger ones) within close proximity of each other and took a smooth (garage sale) door and laid it on top for a table top. I would remove the door when I needed in the totes, put a towel on the door to iron, or sit and sew. (I even set my lamps on top of them for lighting. I didn't have much but made the best of what I had.)

Check out My Sewing Space thread in this section of QB. She moved into her daughter's room after she left home. She has a link to her blog where she has pictures

I use the kitchen floor tiles to square up my quilts since they're one foot square. I make the layer sandwich on the kitchen floor and slide the cutting mat under it, kind of matching one edge of the mat to a line on the floor... very handy. I sometimes tape the backing to the floor to keep it flat while placing the batting. Also do my safety pinning and basting while it's on the floor.
I keep most of my quilting supplies in a laundry basket and schlepp it off to the church quilting ministry every week. That way I can toss in some fabric or a WIP or 2, camera, magazines, and so on.

I am blessed with a nice quilt room now, but a few years ago I spent 3 years in a 5th wheel travel trailer while I took care of my FIL and his farm until his death.
I did some blog posts on some of the ideas I came up with and will add links below.

If any of you have seen Paula Nadelstern's books or award winning quilts, remember that she has a tiny New York apartment and does all her piecing on the kitchen table using a featherweight. Or did, she may have moved by now. But that is proof all the room in the world won't make you a good quilter, but time and attention to detail will.

the beginning
http://kalamaquilts.blogspot.com/200...-quilting.html
set up for sewing
http://kalamaquilts.blogspot.com/200...my-throat.html

My little helper
http://kalamaquilts.blogspot.com/200...-quilting.html
a failed working wall idea
http://kalamaquilts.blogspot.com/200...-quilting.html
I don't see a photo of it but what worked well in the end was covering a long old fashioned roller shade with flannel and attaching it on my highest wall, which is where the little stair way is. Easy peasy out of the way when not in use.

the little sewing corner
http://kalamaquilts.blogspot.com/200...ng-part-4.html
Cutting central although I do sometimes use the table too, as in the first link
http://kalamaquilts.blogspot.com/200...g-cutting.html

Best wishes on what works out for you!

I sew in a small 2berth caravan. I purchased a small folding table to put the sewing machine on. Cutting and sandwiching I do on the very large 6 ft table which came with the van. This I have been known to use outside. This generates many exciting conversations. I could cut on the table inside or on a work surface if it rained.