Sewing room organization tips!

Like so many quilters and crafters out there, my workspace is infinite in my mind, but very finite in reality. I am a beginner in all senses.  My stash is small and my thread collection grows only as necessitated by a project. However, I also enjoy some mixed media work and card crafting. I recently had a large influx of materials, and as my husband’s eyebrows rose higher and higher as bin after bin of supplies marched into our home. I knew it was time for a major workspace re-org and sewing room organization project.

I am lucky that I am able to use our guest room as my studio. It has large windows and gets wonderful natural light. My before photos are too messy to share, but when I say it was all smushed and dumped on the bed, I’m not kidding. I took two days and sorted through my materials, got rid of some dried up paint,  and made my studio a room in which I love to work.  It’s also finally easy to clean up quickly in between projects and when we actually have guests. Plus, I can find everything now!

To begin, I purchased two wire shelves. One is full height and the other about half that size, so I would still have some wall space.

Into the generously-sized closet these went, and after some serious sorting and labeling, the tall shelves were filled with plastic bins. This shelf mostly houses my paper crafting supplies.

The smaller shelf perfectly holds my digital cutter, paints and brushes bins, and the dies for my die cutter. It leaves the exact amount of gap next to the wall for the die cutter itself to slide into.

My favorite feature of this closet is now my hanging acrylic rulers. I had always struggled with their size (I have two 24″ rulers and several smaller ones) and they slide around on shelving and fall over when I lean them against the wall. The easiest fix of the whole project was one small nail in the closet wall and now they are tucked away, hanging neatly together.

Feeling fairly satisfied with the closet space, I shifted my attention to my workspace. I have a small table in front of the windows and I primarily use a lightweight sewing machine, which I easily lift on and off the table as the task requires.

I just finished a small blanket and cleared all my scraps to start some curtains. I love how inviting and neat this looks. I am always more motivated to work in this space when everything is tucked away in its place.

I also added a fabric storage shelf. This is imperative for my success, as I have a tendency to dump larger drawers or bins of fabric onto the guest bed and dig through them. I can see and access my fabric more easily now and I have a really basic fabric system which I like: scraps, fat quarters, felt and flannels, fat quarter bundles, fusible and interfacings, and decor/specialty fabrics. (I have more tucked away in a box, but these are the fabrics I use the most often.)

The top of the shelf houses my thread box and iron. As a last addition, I intend to create an ironing pad to fit on top of this shelf for when I only need a small pressing space. I’m not sure what color to make it yet, but I am currently feeling the white taking over too much in here!

Lastly, I have started an inspiration board. Studio spaces, whether small, larger, organized or not are all about inspiration and creativity. I love the fun chicken wire on this board, and have added some scraps and photos for now. I know it will fill up soon, and I will be back in here tonight, able to find all my supplies and simply play! – Katie