Show me your sewing area!

[Gigi Louis]

Here's a link that I have enjoyed immensely.  Carol has put together a wonderful list of sewing rooms that are so much fun to look at and very inspiring.  I especially love the sewing space set up underneath the stairs!

http://www.younge.com/sewing%20rooms.htm

You'll see many of our members' rooms featured!

[zora]

Am I a bad mom for hoping my daughter decides not to come "home" from college so my machine, stash and I can have our own space?

No. My son decided to stay at home another year but I already have it all worked out how to make a sewing room out of his room. My plans include a guest bed so he can stay over and I don't have to feel bad 

[Karla]

I dream of looking out over my own woods as I sew, sigh.

  [audible snort]  I dream of looking away from my machine and being able to see the floor....

[marciae]

I dream of looking out over my own woods as I sew, sigh.

  [audible snort]  I dream of looking away up from my machine and being able to see the floor....

[Doris W. in TN]

Am I a bad mom for hoping my daughter decides not to come "home" from college so my machine, stash and I can have our own space?

No, you're not.   A few years ago, I bought a tee-shirt  from CafePress.com that says,  "I sent my son to college so I could store fabric in his room."   Women who sew totally get it.    

Now that he's married & living 200+ miles away, I am seriously considering (what else is new...?) moving my sewing room into his old room, which is a little bit bigger.    A lot of my stuff is in there anyway. 

[Diana / Artemisia]

Great sewing room eye candy!

Okay, here's my current sewing room, which was my daughter's bedroom - hurray for the empty nest.
It's not much to look at but it's all mine.



Sad thing is we are building a new house and my future sewing room will be several feet smaller. Guess the armoire will have to go and be replaced with some of your great storage ideas.

[fzxdoc]

Your space looks great, Diana.  Enjoy it while it lasts.  Perhaps with the new, but smaller sewing room, you will be able to arrange things more efficiently.  I hope so.  Your space looks nicely laid out and uncluttered, so you can get to your projects without moving things around too much.  It must be fun to sew in there.

BTW, a new sewing room was a great perk when getting used to the empty nest, wasn't it?

I loved seeing your photos.

Kathryn

[runnerchicki]

http://myfavoritephotos15.shutterfly.com/pictures/789

Lots of pictures of my sewing room.  You can view it as a slideshow, but I have captions and descriptions on most of the photos and I don't know if they show up on the slideshow.

[LindaNan]

when I click on the link, I see the code not the pix.
LindaNan

[mardel]

What a nice, bright, cheerful sewing room, Runnerchicki.  It looks like such a great place to work and a great place to relax and dream as well.

[BetsyV]

Great and well-organized room!

One day all my sewing stuff will be in one room, even my tote trays of Craigs List fabic buys

[Carole]

Very nice, what a great space.  I love your fabric closet!

[Zoubida]

What a lovely, comfortable and well organized sewing room ! I love it.

[Karendee]

Beautiful sewing studio! So neat, organized and bright. I would love to have a closet that large so all my gadgets would be in enclosed. Enjoy your wonderful space.

Karen

[sewwolf]

You have my laugh often box. Mine sits on my coffee table to hide all the little junk everyone throws there. I love your walk in closet.

[lessalt]

Wow, looks very organized and neat as a pin. Wish mine looked the same.

[fzxdoc]

http://myfavoritephotos15.shutterfly.com/pictures/789

Lots of pictures of my sewing room.  You can view it as a slideshow, but I have captions and descriptions on most of the photos and I don't know if they show up on the slideshow.

Runnerchicki, I merged your topic with one we already have about our sewing room photos. I sent you a PM to give you the link to this topic.

Your sewing area looks great!  Lots of room for your creativity to stretch its wings!  I like the way you have used all of the available space, yet it doesn't look cluttered.  Your storage closet is so nice, too.

Kathryn

[ejvc]

I daren't show you my space!  I am so envious of those of you with ROOMS.  I have a desk, which mostly houses my computer but which I clear off for my sewing machine.  And sometimes for cutting, when I put everything from the desk on the floor.  And an ironing board in front of our bookshelves, which often has to be folded out o the way.  And four boxes: patterns, interfacings, current projects, and mending (guess which one is never opened); and a sort of chest that holds everything else, about 8 x 8 x 12.  The chest and two boxes go on a little nightstand I fitted with wheels so they can roll under the desk, but i never roll them because my bag of scraps is under there.  Maude, my fitting dummy, leans against the wall because she has no proper legs (I never put them on).  Fabric is in the storage area in the basement of the building, mostly, unless I've just bought it and haven't taken it down yet.  Ottobres, Burdas, and Mrs Stylebooks, as well as sewing books, are also crowding the bookshelves behind the ironing board.  I have a little bulletin board too.  I like that.  I pin swatches and pattern pieces to it when I'm doing alterations.

Elizabeth

[BetsyV]

Elizabeth - we've all been there and done that! It's not as important as your results. You'll have your room someday.

I live in a big house and my sewing area is in the path from the bottom of the basement stairs around to the laundry room. I can leave everything out, but I am constantly wheeling my worktable out of or into the way; my dress form Mabel moves around; my regular ironing board can't seem to find a semi-permanent home because while I am sewing I press on my padded gridded board opened on my work table; and everything is in front of the access doors for the mechanicals for the house. And fabric is all over the house. Some is downstairs in the sewing area, some is in a dresser in the TV room (a child's bedroom, but we have no children It keeps the TV out of the living room), a bunch is in tote trays stacked in a corner of our bedroom.

[Zoubida]

Same situation here. I sew in the kitchen. My sewing machine is under the window and the rolling cart with drawers besides the buffet. We removed the round breakfast table and set up our oversized dining table in its place so I have a proper surface to cut. There are stairs in the kitchen going down to the basement and DH installed metal hooks on bars so I can hang my ironing board there. The iron is stored on the top of the spice shelf, near the office nook where is our computer. A computer there is cool though, I can follow tutorials or recipes when cooking whithout having to print. I just look at the screen as I go. My fabric stash is in my bedroom but is about to move to the basement next week. My sewing books and magazine are in the book shelves in the corridor next to the kitchen. My pattern collection is in a tall, vintage, metal filing cabinet in the basement.

So when I sew, it's like being all over the place. It makes for some good waste of time the way it's organized. And it's not encouraging since it eats energy. I can't do nothing about it until the renovations are over. The encouraging thing is to see the sewing room on the 3d plans of the house. But it seems so far away from now when it will be actually finished.

[vtmartha]

I have sewn in every nook and cranny throughout the house, with the possible exception of the bathroom.  One of the perqs of having raised and launched three kids is that I now have the use of their bedrooms as a sewing studio.  I refuse to maintain a dedicated guest room or historical child's room for those rare visits home so the mess that surrounds me is entirely mine. 

[marciae]

There are some perks to 'maturing' - you get your very own space to sew!! I've had a dedicated sewing room since 1980!   When I moved this fall I took the two extra bedrooms upstairs - one has my machines in it - the other has my cutting table and the ironing board!  I have my fabric and patterns in yet another bedroom and closet in the basement.  I do have one bedroom in the basement for 'guest', children, etc.  Like Martha said for those few times someone is here I'm not going to be inconvenienced!!

[sdBev]

...  I refuse to maintain a dedicated guest room or historical child's room for those rare visits home so the mess that surrounds me is entirely mine. 

There are some perks to 'maturing' - you get your very own space to sew!! I've had a dedicated sewing room since 1980!   When I moved this fall I took the two extra bedrooms upstairs - one has my machines in it - the other has my cutting table and the ironing board!  I have my fabric and patterns in yet another bedroom and closet in the basement.  I do have one bedroom in the basement for 'guest', children, etc.  Like Martha said for those few times someone is here I'm not going to be inconvenienced!!

I have to say, Me Too!  Only I have the 2 bedrooms in the basement (fully finished, doesn't even feel like the basement when I'm down there working).  We do have an inflatable bed that we can set up when we have overnight company.  But that's maybe 5 nights out of 365.  Why keep a permanent bedroom for guests when there are no guests. 

[Gigi Louis]

Heck, aside from my sister I don't even have any relatives that I like well enough to have them stay overnight. 

[Claudine]

I must admit a morbid fascination with seeing everyone's sewing rooms, so I feel like I must contribute.  I'm one of the lucky ones with a whole sewing room to myself.  As you can see, it is decorated mostly with cardboard boxes.  It's rather small, so it's hard to get an adequate distance away to photograph it, but I managed with the help of a wide angle lens.  Here it is:

[Robin]

Claudine, your room is charming.  That looks like a very promising project on your dressform.

Gigi, LOL, I know the feeling!!

[cmarie12]

Elizabeth - I sew in my bedroom.  My fabric closet is in my living room as well as my sewing books.  I manage.  I am waiting for a child to leave to have a dedicated sewing room...I haven't had one since my children were very young...but l manage to keep sewing! 

Claudine - thanks for sharing pics of where you make all of those amazing creations!

Runnerchicki - it was fun to go through your pictures and see your sewing room.  It must be wonderful to spend time there!

[Urban Cowgirl]

WARNING: My sewing space is a horrid wreck, but I figured it would make some of you feel better about your sewing spaces.


I have two desks in my bedroom (still with mom & dad right now) and my bedroom is 15'x20' and I still share it with my younger sis, who is constantly annoyed but very nice about sharing space.

starting top right of my picture my mane desk on my west wall: I made the top of the desk out of an extra piece of oak ply-board and finished it with a danish oil stain and fastened it to the wall so that it's just slightly higher in back so that any small things (pins buttons and the like) stay at the front where I can reach them easier, under neath the ply-board is an old dresser someone gave us it has a couple of coupbards with shelves in it where I put my sewing books, and then there the small set of sterilite drawers that I store my patterns in.
the second desk and box/baskets are on the south wall, I want to take the desk out (turn into to much of a catchall) and I'm thinking of putting in some small shelves and maybe a few more stacking baskets(that's what's under the box with the pattern paper) and then I can set up and take down my iron/board when I need it.
our beds are on the east wall thus the funny pictures of the west wall because I couldn't backup far enough to get good shots, and last but not least a picture of my Bernina, it sits right behind my Pfaff when it's not being used.

[jodiwell]

Here's a link to mine...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/26906817@N02/

I am very lucky in a bittersweet way.  It's downstairs in our daylight basement home, cool in the summer, cold in the winter LOL.  When we bought this house, it was with the idea that my parents would spend the summers living with us as the Idaho heat was getting hard for them to cope with.  My sewing room was going to be part of their living suite.  There is also a kitchen and a bathroom as well as a large common living area in the basement.  They spent part of one summer there and then my dad was diagnosed with cancer and my mom with COPD and Alheimers.  He wanted to spend his remaining days in his own home.  They both died 2 years later.

So I was left with a broken heart and a huge house with no purpose.  Even though we decided not to use that part of the house, we found that every piece of family furniture that DH's parents had migrated from their home to ours.  After all, we had the room, donchaknow... DH uses that kitchen to brew beer in now, the kids have a TV game room in the common living area.

I find comfort in the room that I sew in now.  It's been 10 years since the last time my parents stayed with me.  I think of them, and DH's relatives that were gone before we even met.  I keep silly momentos out, kind of rotate them.  I love to sit down there in the summer while the rest of the house swelters, my son laying across the guest bed telling me stories about the lifted truck he's going to buy one day, DH brewing in the next room, DD stitching on the table by my side when she's home.  I would gladly trade most of the house away, but that room is my 'keeper'.

Thanks for looking and reading my saga!

[cmarie12]

Jodi - that was such a sweet story and you have a wonderful room to sew and reflect in!

[RuthieK]

Jodi, what a huge space... I like that the whole family gets to hang out there, though I suppose if guests come to stay you can't sew much?

[fzxdoc]

Jodi, what a wonderful sewing space and an even more wonderful "saga".

I have always thought that a sewist receives inspiration not only by looking at fashion photos or seeing patterns or other's creations, but also by being surrounded by a loving and loved environment.  Todd Oldham has family and friends' photos throughout his studio, and he says that looking at them feeds his creativity.  The same must hold true for you.  The memories that you have of your son talking to you of his dreams and your DH brewing his brews as you are surrounded by family momentos must impregnate each garment you make. 

Continue to enjoy your perfect sewing space!

Kathryn

[Petal]

Thanks for sharing everyone! WOW! some fantastic spaces by everyone there.

ATM I am sewing on a very small desk maybe 2ft x 2ft in the kitchen but I am inspired to get my craft area sorted (yeah, I'm a lady of many interests) so I can be in our family area with my sewing and papercraft work.

I especially love repurposed items though truthfully fell in love with the Ikea office furniture/wardrobe in one of the rooms.

Thanks for all the inspiration ladies I hope I will be able to contribute meaningfully to this thread in the near future.

[sdBev]

.. Todd Oldham has family and friends' photos throughout his studio, and he says that looking at them feeds his creativity.  ..

What a wonderful idea!  We have designated the hallway between bedrooms as the  "family wall"  (on one side, the other side is our DVD/CD collection).  DH and I loved framing and hanging the pictures there.  DS was excited about it when he first saw the wall and when he brought his SO, that was the first thing he showed her.  Also people visiting go to the bathroom and when they come out, they are impressed.  I have more photos and wall space in the SR. Ya know I think I just might have some more family hanging around soon.....

[bern]

I hope this link works, I have tried it out in sandbox.  This topic prompted me to clean up my sewing room so that I could post.  I know it probably still looks pretty cluttered to some, but its a comfortable clutter for me.     I have enjoyed looking at everyone's spaces. My husband and son built this room inside the garage (we had an oversized garage) and put in heaters and very excellent lighting as there is no natural light.  My cutting table is at the opposite end of the room (not pictured), it is folded up and I can roll it out when I need it. 
http://cid-47fa125d4e25b2fc.skydrive.live.com/self.aspx/Sewing%20Space/DSC04607.JPG