Need help with space. Desperate!
 

I am finally at the end of the rope! I had moved in to the living room to set up my Sewing Studio. It started out ok but as I accumulated more stuff, including a long arm on an 8’ frame, it is overwhelming! Now i just have piles and stuffed shelves! Its not a joy and i don’t know where to begin! I have many precuts and also yardage. Thread. Patterns. Rulers. Notions!!! Its all the usual that we all have
I do have a book shelf and some really heavy odd shelf units i bought from a knit shop! I know i need to spend some real monies and get it fixed up. But how do you know what will work? What is the best use of space? Most usable. I am the queen of buying cheap plastic units that dont hold up. I am in Need of a grown up area.
Do you have any suggestions? I checked out Closet Concepts but will they understand a Quilters needs? I have read about shelving units from IKEA. Does anyone have any suggestions?
Very appreciative of any help
thanks
Fizzle.

Do you have a spare bedroom and closet to use for your sewing room? Is it possible to make a room into your sewing room?

I have a small room and have to be super-organized to function. I use these basket systems in my sewing room. Two small ones slide under the table. They hold 4 drawers each. I like these systems as it easy to change the baskets according to storage needs. There are two more taller ones. One is under the cutting table and holds serger cones plus embroidery threads. This one holds 7 single drawers.

Another set has 3 single drawers of sewing supplies plus 2 of the double height drawers. Batting and fat quarters are stored there. Jelly rolls and layer cakes are stored in plastic file boxes. The layer cakes are stacked upright so I can sort through them.

I had dry erase board cut to fit the drawers and then glued golf tees in a grid. Embroidery and serger thread fit on the tees. They stay in place in the drawers. Take out a thread and replace when done.

https://www.containerstore.com/s/elf...ccessories/123

One of the best systems for easy storage are the wire shelving systems that you connect shelf by shelf. Easy to find at big hard ware stores. I recently bought 2 of them for garage store. They are sturdy and on wheels.

My suggestion is that when you purchase bins, think about the size and how heavy they will be. Purchase enough bins to get the job done. Generally,you won't find them a second time if you need more. Yes, purchase a few extra too.

Good luck on your task of organizing. I wish I could come and help you.

I am in the same shape. Too much fabric, stuffed everywhere and too many machines. It's not fun going into my sewing area. Way too many UFO's hiding and needing to be found and finished before I can start any new projects. My husband condensed me down to 1 room when I had 2 because he was upset that I was spread out too much. I have claustrophobia. There's too much, too close and no room. One day I will get even. Nuff said!

Do you have any friends or know someone that is organized? I'm one of those people but I'm in Ohio. I've gone to friends houses and helped them get organized. It helps to have someone that isn't "invested" in your stuff to keep you moving instead of getting caught up in "oh....I remember when I bought this....oh....isn't this fabric pretty....and on and on and on". Don't buy any organizing bins or shelves until you see what you need. Until it's organized to a degree you won't know what you need or how much space you'll have to put them in. In one case there were so many leftover storage containers we had empty ones laying around. Folding your fabric neatly (and dare I say ironing it) takes up so much space than just wadding it into shapes and putting it away.
You can do this....start in one corner and work your way around the room. There are youtube videos and online groups that you can look into.
Good luck....it's a fun journey!!

I like the Ivar shelf system from Ikea. It's solid wood and you can adjust the space between shelves as needed. It's also affordable. If you do get the Ivar system then it might pay to also buy containers/tubs (SAMLA) from Ikea as well since they are designed to go together. Otherwise you may end up buying storage containers that do not fit as well. Good luck. It's been over a year and I am still not completely satisfied with my studio but it is slowly getting better.

Is the living room going to be the permeant place of your sewing room? (been there done that). Start slowly one section or item at a time. For me I started by organizing all my thread, then the fabric, which now needs a re-sort of some kind. I then went to patterns. I recently organized all the Accuquilt items. I have 6 sewing machines in my sewing studio right now. All of them call out to me from time to time. (there are 9 other DSM in the far bedroom).
I had cabinets installed on one wall that handle the majority of my fabrics and notions. There are lots of things that can be done. It just goes to not getting overwhelmed. Small steps my dear, small steps.

When I reorganize and have my hands on each thing, my go to question is: would I pay to move it. If the answer is no it goes in a re-home bag. In that process now myself. Some quilter is going to have a field day at Goodwill.

If you belong to Facebook they have group on there called Clean and Organized Sewing Rooms . There seem to be a lot of great ideas and a lot of help from other sewers.

So i have responded twice and can not see my reply

So, i responded yesterday to some comments and again now. But neither are posted. So i am rewriting now but just so you know. My first posting today was beautifully written and really a great read!

so. First off. Thank you everyone! I appreciate the support:)

i started yesterday, with the help of my sis, to pull out some fabrics and start wrapping on to magazine boards. It looks super nice and so much easier to find and see what you have!!

i am going to pull everything out, see what i have so that i can HOPEFULLY get enough and the correct size storage.
Checking out the Depot and Lowes (have both right up the street). No IKEA here but nothing wrong with a road trip!

Sewgood, my best quilting friend and organizing guru is in Seattle area. She is helping via text!!! If YOU ever come to my area!!

oh, there is a She Shed event today at a Sew and Vac here in town so i will swing by and see what they offer for ideas also.

And i will check out the FB group!

So i dont want to be a QB hog, but it is so helpful to post a problem here and find support and advice. You all may not know, but it is so helpful. Sometimes we need the extra encouragement and friendship! THANK YOU

Once I started quilting seriously, I acquired fabric that no longer "works". I donated those "blunders" to local quilt groups. Just tossed them into plastic bags and never looked back. This process helped me to control my fabric and spending. When NM opens up again, I may do this again. Maybe this will help you to get a handle on what you have.

I've watched hoarder shows and they all started with three containers...keep, donate, toss. I also noticed that she/he had to make a quick decisions and can't change their mind. Start in a corner of the room, work your way around. Set a timer to work. Maybe only 30 min to start. Soon you will have a beautiful sewing room you can enjoy.

Keep your eye on the prize! You can do this and we are all here to help you to stay motivated.

Fizzle...its very hard when you have so much staring back at you when you look at it as a whole. Break it down to small groups. All sewing tools together, all rulers together, all books together , all thread etc. Your fabric & UFO & currents project are the hardest to organize. You have to be a little tough on yourself & face reality. As in are you really going to make the satin wedding dress? lol just a example but that's what I am talking about. Our tastes change so we end up with STUFF. Once you clean out it will be a little easier. Now decide how you are going to store your fabric, this is where a second room might come in handy-so you could use the closet but if that isn't a option look around and see what other piece of furniture you might have or can p/u fairly cheap. The fabric is the biggest chore , Once that's done it's time to figure how you flow when working on a project. I like to think of stations..I have desk w/ machine and everything in my desk I would need notion wise so I am not hunting down items I need & getting off track rom my project I am working on. I have a tower plastic container for all my thread & its labeled according to what kind of thread& that' close by my desk. It might take a few months of working on actual projects to figure out what works best but at least you will be organized & hopefully just have to tweet a few things. Hope this helps. I hope I didn't totally confuse you.

I have used wire closet shelves in the past especially for my fabric. My new house didn’t allow for those to be hung up so I resorted to milk crates under my long arm. Color organized creates a wonderful display. I can move them as needed to dig for the right fabric, add to them or just rearrange them. And they hold several yards of fabric. And are sturdy. The majority of what is in my creates are a minimum of one yard. As for ruler and gadget storage I doubled up by using closet drawer systems with metal frames topped it with a top to create a desk. built a 2x4 frame with a peg board ironing top that I can remove to use the smooth table for other projects such as a cutting table (excuse the mess- it’s how I keep the cat hair off my ironing space). It’s your space. Just remember to have fun with it.

Fatsewcat ~ I love the look of the fabric under your longarm. Milk crates? Maybe Hobby Lobby. Or BedBath and Beyond?
I have been folding small cuts of fabrics onto boards and putting on shelves. I love the look of those on the shelf. Actually seeing what you have!!! The crates might work for my larger pieces.
Craftiladi ~ yes, fabric is a big problem. My husband seems to think that I really only need to take over ONE room in the house so no bedroom closet for me!
going to try some of the tall shelving with doors. Maybe organized but also out of sight? And concentrating on work stations is good. Will be nice to not have to search for supplies. Keep them by where you need them.
Lots more great ideas!
Thanks ladies! Much appreciated!!!
Have an amazing SATURDAY. I am spending the bulk of my day in my studio!!!

inhave always wanted to try the magazine boards. Love the crisp clean look they create but haven’t been able to venture there yet. As for the crates, we got ours at Menards. They sell them, sometimes in fancier colors at the chain stores too, Walmart etc. I am going to in my studio today finishing a quilt. Fun! Fun!

I finally bought the comic book boards on Amazon and folded my yardage. Just thrilled I took the time to do it. Was able to empty out a few containers and containers only have scraps. Next step will be to start cutting scraps into usable sizes but need to figure out how to manage them. They have a tendency to get rowdy when left unattended.

Fatsewcat, what a nice display of fabric...your beautiful stash confirms that I have a modest stash but I’m okay with that.
I'll try to post a photo later of a shelf storage I purchased from the Container Store and DH and I installed.

I guess this will be a bigger project than I originally planned. Went to the She Shed event and came home with furniture! New cabinet for machine and drawers!!! Wont be delivered for another week but that’s not much time when you need to clear everything out!! Will still need some bookshelves but could not find any at the Depot!!!
Really loving the fabric on the boards. Ran out of the magazine ones and cut those empty fabric bolts from store in half. More of the magazine ones arriving today! Gotta love Amazon!

Congratulations on your organizing progress. It's great to find furniture that fits our sewing lives.

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.

I tend to work with what I have rather than buy new expensive storage. It can be very overwhelming. My best idea is to allot an hour to work on it. I often set a timer. I have to go in and do one thing for an hour. I doesn't matter if it's refolding fabric and placing with like colors, taking patterns and putting them in a box on a shelf (even if it doesn't end up being their permanent home). I just have to start getting things together. You don't have to do it all in one day. Just an hour here and there. You'll be surprised how much you can get done that way.

I"ve also found that sometimes when I do a bit here and there, I end up getting enthused and working past the hour.

I have decided to get rid of some of my fabric because i have to much with all the precuts from Missouri star quilts.
I’m donating to a sewing guild. There are a group of ladys who quilt at local church who make cancer quilts.They could use fabric.
you could get rid of older fabric. Check around your area for people who make quilts for good cause. Just a suggestion.

Please dont give fabric to goodwill. They will throw out a lot of it. Seen it in dumpsters. Give to local quilting chapters in area.Churches that do quilting on side. It used to be that employees get first pick on donated stuff. Don’t know if that changed.
my father-in-law worked and retired from Goodwill. You should have seen his garage. Needed a dumpster to clean it out.
i have the same problem,need a local high school girl to come help me. In return ill teach her to quilt and share my extras.