Saturday, December 28, 2013

My Own Personal Heaven!

I love reading the blog posts by other sewists (and craftspersons) that show their working space - I am totally inspired by these rooms, and usually end pinching a couple of ideas from them! So I thought that it was time to share my own little piece of heaven!  To explain, I am lucky enough to have my own sewing room after years of having a corner of the dining table/room, and when Mr. SDSC and I had out current house built earlier this year, I put in for the biggest room that I could have (apparently I had to allow for other rooms. Whatever!!), but I have a west facing room in the basement. The small window looks out into the garden (which is currently under about 2ft of snow right now). It is a warm room - so great for stripping off as I check the fit of garments and the light is pretty good, although I usually have a number of lamps on for specific lighting, where I need it most.

So, having had a huge tidy up yesterday and today, I took a pile of photographs that I would like to share with yourselves. The first batch are taken as I walk into my room, and then spin round, finishing off where I started:


As you can see, I am a huge Ikea fan!  The furniture is fabulous for my sewing room - pretty well priced, versatile and lots of space for storage!

I like to see my fabric when I am sewing - it gets me thinking about my next project, and these shelving units are perfect for display.  Turns out that I had more fabric than I realised, and having it color co-ordinated, it will certainly help me with future fabric selections!

As you can see, I have my sewing machine on one table, and I can then just swivel round on my chair to be able to use my serger (overlocker).


The far end has a little seating area, and the window.  And yes, indeedy.  There is a leg in the window with a sock on it.


These drawers are my latest acquisitions.  I have read a few blogs that recommended these units for holding patterns.  I can fit them in standing up, four across, and lots deep!  This is the first time in a long time that I have all my patterns in one location (rather than all over the place), so expect some different designs in the near future!  For Ikea furniture, they are a little on the flimsy side, but they do have braces on the underside of the drawers and they will work well as pattern cabinets!

The boxes on top of the drawers are empty - but I am sure that will change in pretty quick order!


Whilst I love sewing, I am also partial to a number of other crafts . . . . ., I use the bureau when I am beading, and the tall skinny unit to the right houses my cross stitch threads/canvas/patterns/kits etc.,  The 2x6 unit houses yarn for my sock knitting.  I do like to keep my hobbies housed separately . . . . !


I have a little TV on top of the plastic drawer unit (that has cardmaking stuff inside!!) and watch Netflix whilst I am down here.

So, let me show you a few close ups:


You can probably just make out stickers on the drawers and boxes - I need to come up with a better labelling system.  But until then - stickers work well!  You can also see my iron which is usually on constantly when I am sewing.  So that I don't forget to switch it off, we had a separate electrical circuit put in my room, with a switch next to the light switch.  I have the iron, my overlocker and a lamp plugged into the socket, so when I leave my room, as long as all the lamps are off, nothing is plugged in.  Perfect!!


I had hoped to have a bookcase in my room, but I kind of run out of space!  I did manage to make space for a few favourites!  The notes are a couple of GBP1.00 notes from my Mum a few years ago when she was living in Scotland.  I was to use the money to buy a couple of chews for my dogs - I'm glad I used coins and kept these, as they are now out of circulation.  And they remind me of happy times with my Mum xx


This is a 'before' pic of the pattern drawers.


And this is the after view.  I have taken the patterns out of their envelopes and put them in an ordinary brown one, numbered them all, and they are in strict numerical order.  The pattern envelopes are in clear plastic sleeves in a file folder, so I can flick through the designs and when I have selected one, I can just pull it from the drawer.  Mr. SDSC thinks that this is a recipe for disaster, and that somewhere along the line I am not going to be able to match up a pattern envelope with the actual pattern, but he seems to forget how OCD I am :)


Lovely, lovely, lovely fabric!!


More labelled drawers with my button box on top.


My button box was a cheap purchase from Home Depot - I think that it is supposed to be for carpenters or electricians to keep nuts/bolts.screws etc in, but it is perfect for my buttons!


Whilst in Home Depot I also picked up this yellow sticky tape that is marked as a measuring tape.  It is great for 'on the go' measuring!

Now, you may have been looking at the floor space in my room and thinking 'why would she have carpet and not tile/laminate in a sewing room?', or 'oh my, look at all that lovely floor space, just think what you could do with that', well, here we go.  The reason for carpet and lots of space - my 'boys' Hobbes and Rocky, the greyhounds.  They do like to be close by when I am sewing!  Jess the collie is usually in my room, but I didn't get a good picture of her.

Wow.  Lots of photos there!  Whilst I really dislike tidying up, I have found LOADS of patterns and fabric that were hidden under piles of 'stuff' or hidden in boxes that had not been unpacked since we moved in in March.  Now I am very excited to start sewing again, and I can 'shop' for patterns and fabric in my own room!

As I say, this is my piece of heaven - what is yours like?  Any 'top tips' that make your space a great sewing place?

23 comments :

  1. Deja Vu ~ mine is the DownUnder version of your one ~ I have the same IKEA desks (2 together lengthwise) supported by the IKEA drawers (4 version) and a set of the same IKEA fabric shelves. I also have a couple of their floating shelves scattered around the room. All I am missing is the dogs ~ but I do have the carpet down ... thanks for sharing your great room, no wonder you sew so well ... J

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    1. Thank-you! Isn't it funny how so many people are gravitating towards the Ikea furniture. I love the plainness of the white - and pretty much all the furniture matches. Perfect! I like the idea of floating shelves - but I am running out of space! I have some (Ikea) wall mirrors to put up, and a couple of pictures, then I will have no more wall space left and will looking at how to utilize the ceiling!!

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    1. Thank-you! It has been a bit of a mess recently, but the new chests of drawers meant that I had to move a lot of things around and tidy up. I am raring to go now!

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  3. I love your room. I'm pea green with envy, lol

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    1. Aww, thanks! I have found so many goodies since tidying up - I can't wait to get sewing again!

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  4. The room is beautiful...you have everything wonderfully organized. I just wondered where do you cut out? Do you move your sewing machines around or do you have your cutting table set up elsewhere?

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    1. Thank-you! I find yours very inspirational! I forgot to mention cutting out - at the moment it is upstairs on the dining table. The plan is to tidy up the storage area in the basement - part of that area is another bedroom that has been framed, but not finished. We have had electrical put in, and I will use that for cutting out. Not ideal, but I tend to cut out quite a few items at one time, so it is not happening every day!

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  5. How wonderful to have such an area dedicated for your hobbies and very neat and tidy, too.

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    1. It is not usually that tidy . . . . . I ran round quickly with the camera before it all changed!!!

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  6. What a wonderful sewing room.. So happy for you.. I really like the button box idea [screws/bolts container].. I saw these at Lowes, and never thought of it..--- I see one coming home with me real soon.ha]. Love your fabric shelves, that you can see while you work.. How fun.. Enjoy..

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    1. I love the hardware stores for all the fabulous boxes/containers that they have - and now that they are supporting women in construction, there are lots of cool bits and pieces, that can be commandeered for the sewing room, in colours that are more feminine!

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  7. Love your room and your pattern cabinet. Best part is the dogs on the floor. My girls love to be in my room with me too. :)

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    1. Absolutely! The boys are so good, although they do make rather large rugs on the floor and are usually lying just where I need to stand!

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  8. That is a fabulous sewing space - lucky, lucky you! And your fabrics.. you'll never need to go fabric shopping again - LOL. I'll be keeping a close eye on what comes out of this room in 2014

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  9. What a wonderful room! I just recently moved my stuff all around and I'm still not totally happy, but not sure what to do. Love that the boys hang out with you while you sew. Of course they would sleep right where you need to stand. Enjoy!! g

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  10. What a nice sewing rom, I bet you hate to leave it.

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  11. Great sewing space. I too have a dedicated room, but I'm not 100 per cent happy with my layout yet. I can see some furniture moving going on soon, but the space is limited so it will need some thought.

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  12. I really enjoyed looking at your wonderful sewing space. I especially like the lovely fabric. The button & pattern storage is great too.

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  13. I also love peeking at other people's sewing rooms and yours is fantastic. What a fabulous stash and so well organised! Maybe I will post pictures of mine one day if it ever gets tidy enough!

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  14. That's a to-die-for sewing room!!! Wonderful storage, especially the shelves for fabric. I love your Ikea sewing tables! Thanks for sharing!!!

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  15. Very nice sewing room and sewing room buddies are a must :)

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