Sewing room makeover/tour

Last month, I got fed up with the clutter on the shelves in my sewing room and decided to do something about it. Here is the embarrassing before photo:

Too messy!

On the free standing shelf, I had stuff packed away in various sizes of shirt/gift boxes. Not only were they unattractive, they were coming apart.

I decided to ride the decorative storage bin wave and went online to see what was out there, turning to my favorite storage solutions place, The Container Store. The walls, shelves, furniture and window shades in my sewing room are all white to take advantage of as much reflected light as possible in order to optimize my ability to see my work. But when I found these brightly colored basket-y type bins, I knew they would add the perfect pop of color to the room without interfering with the light.

Here is the after picture with all that miscellaneous stuff organized in the new storage bins:

I did sort through all the stuff, threw away some of it and moved craft/non-quilt related items to the basement.

And the free standing shelf:

Here’s the rest of my sewing space:

For easy access to rulers, cutters, mats, stencils, templates and other notions, John mounted sheets of white peg board to the wall behind the sewing machine.

Next to the peg board is a 6′ x 8′ design wall. For specifics on how John made the design wall, click here. Next to the design wall is a white board I used when we were home schooling our boys. It’s great for making notes when I’m developing a new pattern, plus, it’s magnetic, so I can post things on it if needed.

The windows in the sewing room are twice covered. The honeycomb shades diffuse the sunlight and block UV rays coming in from the west facing windows. The Roman shade, done in a blue-gray pillow ticking stripe, helps darken the room when I need to use the computer in there. The shade also helps insulate the room, which is located at the north end of the house.

The cutting table in the foreground is elevated with bed risers John found at a home store to a height that is comfortable for me. When it’s time to layer and baste a quilt, I add a second set of bed risers to raise the table to a height that is appropriate for that task.

It’s cool how they lock together.

Across from the sewing machine, beneath the shelves sits a bank of wire mesh storage drawers where I keep most of my fabric and cross stitch supplies. After the Roman shade was installed, I ordered some additional fabric to make a drape that covers the drawers on three sides. While I love looking at my fabric, we have serious fading issues here in Colorado. I sewed the drape and John installed the snaps. I don’t know what I would do without his help sometimes.

In front of the sewing machine cabinet is a wooden table that John made for the boys when they were little. I use it to support my quilts when machine quilting. It is elevated with bed risers (plus some old books) and it works great.

Thread is stored underneath the sewing machine cabinet; it’s protected from light there, plus there was no other space left in the room for it.

One of my favorite sewing table supplies is this pin cushion, made by my friend Rhonda. I love it because it’s big, it’s stable, it’s blue and because she made it—even though she scolds me about all the bent pins that are stuck into it.

My other favorite sewing table supply is this plastic box which holds all my presser feet. I found it years ago when business card files were popular. John sized a spare piece of wood from his shop and inserted it into the middle to keep the feet from sliding around.

Being married to an audiophile has its advantages; John made sure I would be able to listen to tunes while sewing and quilting. Three or four years ago, he gave me an iPod for Christmas, following up a year or so later with the docking bay (top right), the DAC, which stands for digital to analog converter (top left) and the receiver, a combination of a radio, pre-amp and amplifier (bottom). As the wife of an audiophile, I am required to know this.

All this is wired to a pair of Klipsch Heresy speakers which John found more than two decades ago at a pawn shop in Houston. Someone had attempted to stain one of them which had turned it a hideous orange color and rendering the pair mismatched. John pointed this out and, together with the fact that the shop owner had no clue what they were truly worth, he bought them for a song—pun intended.

Speakers are off the floor because there is no room but also to give the tweeters a straight shot to the listener. As the wife of an audiophile, I am required to know this.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this tour of my sewing room. Thanks for dropping by!

One last thing: here are last week’s and this week’s Aunt Grace snowball blocks: