The New And Improved Sewing Room!

Has it really been over a year since my last post? That's kind of horrifying. I've already failed one of my new year's goals (a blog post a month) but I'll try to make up for not posting this in January by posting two in one month somewhere down the line....

Anyway. To business!

My sewing room, holder of great potential as a haven of crafting glory and fabricated enchantment, has been, for the first year of me living here, well.....chaos.

Actually, calling it chaos is polite and diplomatic. It was a hell. A hell of twisted ribbons, fabric scraps, and dusty cardboard boxes of odds and ends piled haphazardly everywhere.

Something had to change. So I spent some time on Google and Pinterest, finding solutions and planning organizational solutions. I shared some of my ideas with my mother, and for Christmas received shelves and boxes to turn the catastrophe into candyland!

The Before....

You see my point. Something drastic had to change.

First problem was the boxes. They were clunky, a lot of space was wasted, and to get to any fabric in the lower boxes I had to pull all the top boxes down. It was incredibly frustrating. Solution? Shelving!

It doesn't look like all the fabric in those boxes could fit into this, but it DOES. And I was able to sort it by colour too! More or less, anyway.

That was step one. Step two was arranging the boxes. Ikea also sells soft sided boxes (that fit perfectly in this kind of shelf, which was the intention, but I used them instead for organizing all my ribbons, trims, yarn, interfacing, etc.

Now I should point out - a lot of the paper bags, cardboard boxes, and these full rolls of trim in here were not things I bought. A lot of the stuff I have is not stuff I bought. As older family members have died or downsized and moved to smaller places, I've inherited their sewing supplies. And it has been INCREDIBLE.. Going through the treasure trove has been a walk through history. A time when velcro was new and revolutionary to the point that it came with an instruction booklet, when zippers were 10 cents, and people made their own clothes, curtains, bedspreads, napkins, and everything else. It's kind of wonderful and nostalgic.

It was a hell of a lot of work getting the whole room in order. It took a couple of days. And it isn't completely done, I do need another shelf, and I have a box of paperwork (mostly old scripts and things) that I still have to go through. But my gods is it ever easier to work in!! It's been insanely fun to sew in such an organized place. It's more efficient now that I can find everything and it all has a place, and it absolutely thrills me being in there. Especially now that I've decorated with posters and framed prints it has become my happy place. I also have my Wii in there so I can have Netflix on while I work.

Even the closet got organized! Boxes on the top shelf, paints and craft books on the lower shelf, and the fiesta of costumes underneath.

Not bad huh? I do love my sewing table, it's brilliant how the sewing machine hides inside and it can fold closed to be a desk and then get unfolded to sew.

Photo credit for the poster over my corkboard goes to my wonderful sister Karin. She got the photo in Denmark when she was sailing and printed it poster size for me for Christmas..

The other side of the closet! Buttons! Zippers! Elastic! Notions upon notions upon notions! Everything you'll ever need to make anything you want!

The fabric shelf, the hilarious Disney TV that I got for $10 at Value Village during an emergency one year when my TV died right before the Senators playoff game....but that's another story. On top of the shelf I have more thread as well as my collection of hats and wigs. And more art! The gorgeous Harry Potter illustration poster was a birthday gift from my friend James, and the framed quote print was a Christmas present from my aunt and uncle in DC. So many things to make me happy!

So yes, there's more to do, more details to put in place, but I'm so happy with how it's coming together. It's getting this new year off to a fantastic start!