my husband looks in mine and complains all the time, what a mess... but its my organized mess.. if someone was to walk in and say where is this, I would know where it is... it might look like its going to bust at the seams... but its my messy heaven

I just wish our back door and garage door wasn't located in that room because then I could close the door and put up a "Enter at your own peril" sign. Unfortunately, I have kids and a husband going into that room all the time and in the summer, we are out on our patio all the time. I straighten it up when we have company and plan on using our patio, but otherwise, it gets straightened up (or messed up worse) when I am looking for something I need.

I would say your problem is the same as mine, not enough storage space. I bet some extra shelving and a file cabinet or two would make all the difference in the world.

I have a bee over at my house once a month and it forces me to keep my sewing room in something resembling order, otherwise it would be a complete wreck! I'm glad no one drops by between meetings though. Right now I've got a quilt laid out on the display wall, a quilt laid out on the floor with unattached borders I'm working on, a HUGE pile of fabric covering the rest of the floor, several stacks of magazines in binders that hubby had me unpack but that I have no place to put, and a few bags of scraps I desperately need to go through and organize that I keep hiding whenever anyone comes over. :oops: Shh, don't tell on me.

Misty, I wish I lived close enough to come and help you piece together all those amazing piles of fabric to help get them out of the way for you. ;) Your photos made me itch to go shopping at your place! :lol:

Umm... thanks. This is about 1/25th of the fabric I own. :oops: I have a guest room downstairs that houses most of my fabric. That room is VERY organized. I have more fabric out in my garage right now than I have in this room!

I am thinking I will be moving all my colored scrap baskets up to the sewing room and all the bigger chunks of fabric downstairs. That way, when I am working on little projects, I don't have to run up and down the stairs for scraps and as I use up bigger chunks, I don't have to take the scraps downstairs to organize.

This looks like my yarn/sewing room and I had it so pretty back in the winter now its time to do it all over again. Libby

Isn't it amazing how quickly an organized room can become so disorganized? I truly believe there are gremlins in mine.

I think that's a futon in the left forefront of your photo? I have one that looks like that, with a quilt serving as a slipcover (they look nice with the quilt covering, both yours and mine), but the neatness ends there as it's a good spot for projects-in-waiting etc.

You are not alone with the messy sewing room. I thought I was looking at mine.

DITTO!
Wini - House of BCC in Houston

Mine is definately worse... But then I do have to say I do not have a husband or kids living in the house.... I do what I want when I want!!!
Wini - House of BCC in Houston

I'm in trouble too! I never got it right the first time! Its time to cealn out and give lots away! My Daughter is moving in with 2 little boys in a few weeks! I'm gald she will not taek over my sewing room, but once we get the other rooms cleared out for them I will do my sewing room! It will be beautiful when done!

I saw a quote once that said "Creative Minds are Rarely Tidy" That definately applies to me.

Amen to that!!!

Work on one spot at a time. take all the fabric to the washing machine. then go back and clear off the ironing board so you can iron it later. Then clear off the sewing table, and last do the bed/sofa , but most of it will be gone anyway as it is in the wash, right. I see you like older sewing machines like I do. Clear off the table for just one sewing machine at a time. If you are like me if my studio gets too bad I can't be creative. So get going girl!!!

Okay, here's your big nudge! How lucky are you to have a whole room to devote to your sewing!!! Get your rear in gear and straighten it up!!! I want to see the "after" pictures posted ASAP!!!

When my brother first joined the police department,
he came into my sewing room and asked in horror
"Did the burglars get anything of value?"

I'll have to admit that any burglar who came in would
find it difficult to find anything, and if so, would he please
leave out in plain sight those quilt blocks I made for my
6 year old son...he's 42 now and now wants his quilt.

I'm sorry, I don't see a problem. All us creative genius are messy.

I love your spunk! You can do it.

I saw your post and thought, mmm, perhaps a little challenge might be a good "nudge". So, I went upstairs and snapped two pictures :oops: Slammed the door and ran for my life :shock: And now, I'm thinking better of the challenge .... you win!

My poor cutting table is lying on the floor! My wheels fell of AGAIN :!: This time its gorilla glue. That should work. Maybe tomorrow I can get organized :roll:

Good luck Puffin! I hope you are having better luck than me.

P

PuffinGin, this is manageable, one step at a time. I'd suggest take laundry items to laundry room (or where it's out of your sewing room), work on your immediate items, then go to organizing & work in the laundry in between. Also, please make a list & work on sections, before long it's all done. Buy more bins if you need to, or a shelf, then you won't feel closed in. Good luck & show us your finished projects. You can do it.

I had both knees replaced last July, then more medical problems, so just got to shredding old papers I'd stuffed in my big closet, started doing a few exercises, & now I'm ready to start sewing/quilting soon as my Viking gets back from the dealer (cleanup).

I'm a lookin but I'm not a seeing the mess! Is it me or are you just kidding with us?

Want to know where I've been today? Just follow the threads! LOL

It looks lived in. That's all.

lol :) I like this...'LIVED IN'.... So if our mini vans look the same way, what does that say about WHERE we are living?????? :)

At least you can see the floor.

at least you gots a room i get the kitchen table lol which is piled with sewing stuff just finished a purse it does help me sometimes i always start fresh and clean with each new project by the time i am done i am llucky i can find my sewing machine

Ok, compared to me you are a minimalist...but I am working on it (procrastination is the thief of time!).

Between harvesting in the garden, cleaning the rest of the house and going to a 3-hr election judge training session, I tidied enough that got it to a point where I feel okay starting back on sewing. Sew_Deer and Misty Marie, I agree with "Creative minds are rarely tidy," but don't like to get into the "chaos" phase of creativity. :D And no, seasaw3mch I wasn't kidding about it being a mess to me. I especially dislike stacks of fabric lying about in disorder and the cutting area being cluttered up; I'm always afraid I'll cut the wrong fabrics. Although I don't need, nor do I keep, things spic and span when I'm actually sewing (quite the opposite), I agree with angieh1964 that it helps to start fresh and clean with new projects. I hope you'll be able to see that I tried in the photos below. I tried but didn't go overboard. :lol: Posting pic here worked similarly to when I've got company coming and make cleaning the house a priority. Kooklabell, thanks for your bravery is posting your photos too. Baglady65, good luck when your daughter and her 2 sons move in--and enjoy your grandsons!

Again, thank you all for your comments/nudges. They did help.

Yay! Looks good.

I can sympathize. Yesterday, I spent two hrs cleaning off my cutting table to be able to cut the backing for a quilt. You go girl....you'll get it done. Now, where did I put that box of pins?

If posting the before photo works, let me know. Just now saw the after pictures, guess it worked, I still don't have the nerve to post mine.

Are you sure you didn't sneak into my house and take a picture of my sewing area? I don't have a sewing room, just a very small space in my living room. Anytime I'm working on something it looks just like that and when I'm finished with that project, I clean it up and here we go again, it's right back to the beginning, so on and so on.

Worked for me. I was tired of my procrastinating but still needed your help. Growing up, my mother had very specific and strict order to housekeeping--vacuuming and dusting, scrubbing floors, washing clothes twice a week. We had to keep our rooms fairly tidy too. When I was 16, I lived with an aunt for most of a school year when my parent moved for my dad's job. Now there was someone with high standards. A sweater left on a chair was considered unacceptable. I have much lower standards but sometimes I don't even come close to reaching my own standards. Junk mail, magazines, stuff (washed clothes, recently used camping gear, etc.) left out for later sorting and putting away. That's what happens when you have several spare rooms--beds get filled up. So Patched, be brave and post that photo. We'll encourage you (and I promise not to say mean things about delays -- everyone needs both short-term and long-term goals :lol: )

Mine looks exactly the same! And I think I made it worse when I started organizing and straightening! It's definitely going to take a lot longer than I thought.

Let's all remember that Einstein had a messy desk too!!!

Good thing we all don't publish the pictures of our sewing quarters. You would find yours in good shape (lol).

IT JUST LOOKS NORMAL TO ME!!! :lol: :lol: :lol: :thumbup: YOU HAVE A LOT OF ROOM IN THERE!! :mrgreen: :thumbup: :XD:

And all of these jobs had to be done before fun time(or in our case,quilting time). I like you am not as strict, don't know if that is a good or bad thing.

I am what I am. :lol: :roll:

I got my whole floor swept yesterday. I have found if you keep WIP in a box or tray you can keep track better of stuff. Can't wait till next week so I can get all this wedding stuff out of mine & delivered.