Oh that sounds like fun :)

I love this tip! It is so true. If you have ever moved, you can certainly relate.

I'm in the same boat. It's so hard for me to keep organized in such a small space. I bought a lot of fabric recently, along with a new sewing machine, so now I'm extremely cramped for space. (Like I wasn't before.) I'm going to take your tip a step further and pretend that I have to move in one month. Hopefully, that will motivate me to get rid of some stuff. My plan of attack: get going, make 4 piles, (one to keep, one to donate, one to sell, one to throw away.) I'm going to set a date to go to the Goodwill and the dump and I won't renege on it. I plan to put charity things in the car every day, so it's not one, big chore.

I really like the timer idea too. When my kids were little, we would set the timer for 15 minutes, put on some rock and roll and do a "blitz" on the house. You'd be surprised how much you can get done in only 15 minutes with some good music to motivate you.

I know, I've mentioned the Container Store a couple of times in the past, but it is worth mentioning again. They have lots of storage solutions and they are online. My only problem with them is that sometimes they no longer have the item that I've ordered, so I'm set back on getting things organized.

My sewing room is only 9.5' x 9.5' with a window facing North. I like the window light coming over my left shoulder so I put my sewing table on the East wall.
I then measured all the furniture that I had to have in the room. I put the ironing board, a small dresser for UFOs and trims, and several bins of finished quilts under the window.
I took the sliding doors off of the closet on the West wall and built shelves for battings, other finished projects, bolts of fabric and a bin of large pieces of good linen, and some crochet stuff.
I then ironed and folded all my fabric and sorted it by color separating any holiday fabrics. I measured the stacks to determine how much shelf space I needed. Then I bought 5 shelves that are 29"W x78"H and put 2 of them next to my machine and 3 on the South wall right up to the door.. They are white laminate book shelves about 10" deep that I found at Scandinavian Design on sale. I did have to add more shelves, but those were cheap at Home Depot.
next to the machine the shelf holds button tins, rip-stop nylon for making flags/ kites, big clear plastic jars of thread separated by color, containers with extra pins, needles, bobbins, assorted presser feet, assorted tools, and a small first aid kit for poked fingers.
The second shelf on that East wall holds Backing fabrics, patterns both purchased and hand drawn, quilt books and magazines. the bottom shelf has 4 small bins w/fabric, pattern and tread for quilts to be.
The 3 shelves on the South wall are all fabrics except the top shelf that has my penny bank to buy more fabric and some do-dads that I love. it's tight but works. what I do miss is a felt design wall and a big cutting table so I don't make too many huge quilts.
measure your walls, your furniture, your fabrics and then decide what storage pieces you will need.
GOOD LUCK
You will be very happy with you new organized space.

I have a tiny 8 ft x 9 ft sewing room with a bay window (it used to be my dining room but we never used it for eating - it used to be my reading nook).

I have my grandfather's office credenza on one wall - my 2 computerized machines live there. My Singer treadle machine is against the left side of the bay window - when the cabinet is closed Elna lives on it. My professional ironing board ($10 from a garage sale) is in here too along with 2 side tables, a 3-drawer plastic 'dresser' for my cabbage, a metal 2-shelf unit on wheels for my threads and patterns, and two 5-shelf metal shelving units (got on sale) on wheels.

I had to go up to get more room. The tallest shelving units have sewing items on the shelves as well as items hung on the backs and sides - batting on the back of one, extra cutting mat on the back of the other. Rulers and templates on one side, wool pressing mats on the other. The other unit has my irons in a portable ironing mat bag, project ideas, and my old ironing board covered in batting, then cloth, and hooks stuck in the holes for more hanging spots. Hanging baskets hold all sorts of things. I had to be creative to get it to work and couldn't waste an inch.

Found a chair on the curb last summer and this winter I reupholstered it for the treadle table - I have a bag hanging off of it holding sewing things there too.

I believe I've spent less than $250 for all my storage and it's working well.

Wow mcadwell. It sure sounds like you have got it all together! It appears to be a lot of stuff you have organized in to a small space! Very impressive.
I am not a good visualizer. I cant just see the space and know where things go and how they will look good.
I am going through more things. Passing things on to fellow quilters and working on organization.
I did order a new table for my Bernina and embroidery module. Along with a 4 drawer cabinet. It It should be here tomorrow. It has been a long long road to get it here! But it will be nice. Place to store the module and divided drawers for thread and lots of space for miscellaneous notions.
Waiting on this furniture has felt like one step forward and 2 steps backwards! I have moved my things so many times. Out of the way because i thought my cabinet would be here and i wanted to be ready. Then back because i was not going to be with out sewing for 8 weeks. Then back out. Argggg. And unfortunately i am putting a lot of pressure on this new stuff to help me out!! One good thing that is coming out of this is that i have enjoyed the empty space. The ability to walk through the room with out the obstacle course feeling! And i know i dont want to go back to the stuff everywhere set-up i have had!
Fingers crossed that the delivery happens tomorrow. It really should but i have been disappointed before!

Show us your sewing area when everything gets put in place. I love seeing people's sewing spots. https://cdn.quiltingboard.com/images/smilies/smile.png

I realized just how much yardage I had when the rod came down in the closet in my sewing room. I had to box up all the stuff to keep until my husband could fix the rod. Now I'm on a mission to use up a lot of that fabric. My solution to having too much is to get sewing!

I don't use anything fancy to store stuff. i have shelves on the walls with the strips and shelving and have smaller cuts of fabric stored in plastic boxes. Ditto with trims and notions. I've only bought a few fabrics for the last few years and I'm working at using up what I have. Some of the "what was I thinking fabrics got used for pajama pants. Same with some of my rayons (they make the nicest pj pants). I do get rid of some pieces of fabric that I'm sure I won't use and don't keep that many small scraps. I don't get in a hurry where i "have" to have things gone now. I've learned my lesson with that. When I start tossing stuff just to pretend I'm organizing, I end up spending more money to buy it later because I need it. What a waste!

I like storing so I can see the yardage I have. Everything bigger than a fat quarter is wrapped on a comic board and stored on a long closet shelf. I limit buying so it fits in my small storage area. I don’t get joy from clutter.