The Sewcial Sewist

I finally have a space all of my own for my sewing equipment. My daughter moved out, yes I was full of emotions. I was happy, sad, confused, and the most of all PROUD!!! She is a smart young lady pursuing a Bachelor’s Degree, in Communications, she graduates next month. So with her room becoming empty I took over it and made it my Sewing Studio, my husband and both kids laugh at me when I saw “I’m going to the studio”, it is definitely my happy place and it has a door. I was sewing in the living room, which was the first thing you saw when you walked into my home. Now I can close the door if I have started something I don’t want to move or if I have made a mess I didn’t have time to clean up. This year we can actually have a Christmas Tree, last year I was selfish and didn’t put up one, because I would have had to move all my sewing machines around or put them away. I know shame on me.

This was the original floor plan, I am no artist, but it was my vision and of course it didn’t work out this way. I am still pleased with the end result. I have space for everything except for my massive fabric stash. The stash is living in the upstairs hallway for now, until I can come up a plan for it, who knows maybe it will stay there forever. I also did not have a place to leave my ironing board up all the time either. That I can live without as the ironing station for  family use is right outside the door to this room. So that I am okay with.

My plan for a cutting table was to use the 2 wall unit cubbies that I had already. They were to be the bookends and I was going to place a piece of wood or a table top on top of those. That didn’t go as planned either. The wood was too expensive and I had no way to get it home without renting a truck for about $80.00 for a few days. I am making do with what I have already and in the future if that doesn’t work I can always revisit the idea of getting something else for a cutting table. For now, I will be using the 2 trusty and very sturdy card tables that I purchased from Costco. I put a cutting mat on one side and will use the other side for workspace. I purchased a new cutting mat today at Joann’s using their 40% off coupon and a gift card from my girlfriend that she gave to me for my birthday. The items you see in the workspace are for decorations for the purpose of taking photos. 🙂 Now lets talk about the TV in the background, that TV was gifted to me for free, by a co-worker who didn’t need it. It was like brand new, so I gave her a small donation for her mom to buy some fabric as she loves to make pillowcases.

The 2 wall unit cubbies here is where I store all of my patterns, extra interfacing, notions, Unfinished Objects (UFO’s), anything I may need, but mostly patterns, the top 8 are full of patterns. By stacking the 2 on top of each other took away my bookshelf for my library. I need to have my books at arm’s reach, placing them on top wasn’t an option as I am really short and I would need to use a step ladder or stool to reach them. So I divided the shelf with the books and placed the cubbies on top.  There are 4 more cubbies at the bottom, which you can’t see in this photo.

My 2 sergers and main sewing machine ( 2 other machines are in there cases until needed)  placed on a 6 foot card table purchased from Costco as well. Yes I love Costco. LOL!  I have my thread on this table at the back until I know exactly how I want to store it. I may leave it or I may look around and find another home for it. I purchased a floor lamp, but haven’t put it together yet. It will go in the corner on the right. This room has lots of natural light, but I do sew a lot in the nighttime hours. The 2 stools at the sewing table are from, yep you guessed it, Costco. LOL!!! They are labeled as workshop stools, well this is my workshop. LOL!!! They lower and raise, so perfect for sewing at the machine and when raised, perfect for working at the cutting table. The crate full of rulers and drafting paper will be gone once I hang some hooks for the rulers.

Here you have Brianna Modeling for you a McCall’s 7405 made last summer, using a Guided Sew Along from Leslie C. Bentley’s, The Sewcial Place Facebook group. If you haven’t joined her group, I highly recommend that you do. She’s awesome! Now let’s talk shoes!!! I know shoes don’t go with sewing, but answer me this question, when you sew a garment, what’s the first thing you need, to see how it’s going to fit? SHOES!!!! I placed all my pumps and wedges here so when I am done sewing up something fabulous, I can grab a pair of shoes, try it on, and snap a quick picture. I won’t let Brianna be my model for pictures anymore. I have no excuses, all I need is in one room and it has a door!!!

Below are the photos of my sewing space from the living room. I loved what I had and was thankful for the space. I am so happy with my new space and no more cutting on Grandma’s dining room table. Thanks for visiting.