Sew On!

                My sewing area/sweatshop is consistent with my quilt creation style---an ongoing work in progress.  

          When I first set foot in this house and walked into what was then a stained glass studio, I was beside myself. The wheels in my head spun into overdrive! I had just started quilting. If we bought this house, I wouldn’t have to sew on the dining room table, I could leave my sewing machine set up permanently! 

          There would be room for fabric! The counters were built-in in a U shape, with drawers.  There was even a built in light table! And, the area was far away from the bedrooms. I could sew late into the night without waking up the whole house.

        We bought the house and I started filling my sewing area with quilting books, tools, and mountains of fabric. It wasn’t long before it was obvious that I had to get a handle on organization or risk getting buried under an avalanche of fabric.

I took measurements and fit three-drawer bins under the counters to hold fabric. I followed advice from the book Organizing Solutions for Every Quilter and wrapped my fabric around my 6 x 24” ruler so that it would all be uniformly folded.   

Then I loaded the drawers mostly by color and a few other separate categories (like Christmas fabric, fall prints, 30s/40s reproductions, novelty fabrics and batiks). It’s good that the plastic drawers are semi- transparent because then I can see the colors in each one. 

You’re not supposed to  store fabric in plastic because it can’t breathe, but stashed in the drawers, the fabric is protected from my cats who love fabric almost as much as I do.  I try to rifle through my stash often enough that there’s some” fabric breathing” going on.

       When Pacific Fabrics still had a store in Puyallup, I got hooked on their baby bolts. They cut the cardboard forms that fabric is wrapped around in half. Then they folded fabric (usually less than a yard) in half lengthwise, wrapped it around the half size cardboard, and called them baby bolts. They are so cute, they’re irresistible. My collection grew over the years. I tucked my baby bolt collection into the cradle that my daughter slept in as an infant.

Cradle full of baby bolts.

        If a piece of fabric is two yards or longer, I wrap it onto a cardboard bolt that I ask fabric stores for when they’re done with them.  These are the fabrics that I’ll use for quilt backings or borders. I plan to eventually clear a bookshelf to store them upright, like fabric stores do.

       Many quilters store their threads on wall racks, but my wall space is limited, and my cats are curious, so I keep my spools of thread stored in a small three-drawer cabinet.  One drawer is for multi-purpose thread. One is for 100% cotton quilting thread, and the third drawer is for specialty threads like metallics.

One of the walls of my open sewing area is a design wall. Initially I hung a very long wooden curtain rod on the wall and hung a queen-sized flannel sheet from it. Quilt pieces are supposed to cling to the flannel as you play with them and rearrange them. However, my design wall is along the pathway to the garage, and anytime someone walked by it, pieces fluttered to the floor. I started pinning them to the flannel. It slowed creativity down.

My design wall with Kaffe Fassett quilt in-progress.

 Then I read somewhere about wrapping a 4’ x 8’ piece of polystyrene foam board with flannel.  This called for a trip to the hardware store.  Johnny duct taped two of the boards together, and slid them behind the flannel sheet and under the curtain rod. Other people wrap the foam board in flannel and attach it to the wall, but since I already had the curtain rod up, my method was easier. The curtain rod keeps the foam board from falling down. Now I just smooth quilt pieces onto the flannel and stick pins through them into the foam board like a bulletin board.

My books are organized by specialized types of quilting (applique, paper piecing, traditional blocks, etc.), and alphabetically by author. I have a master list of them that I try to keep current. I started the list when my library grew big enough that I couldn’t remember what I had and bought the same book twice. I’d like to say that they’re all neatly stored on shelves, and most of them are, but there are also a lot of stacks of books wherever I can wedge one in.

Inspired by the Winter 2012 issue of Studios magazine and looking at people’s studio ideas on Pinterest, I got busy reorganizing and tidying up my studio—again. I decided to clear away the calendar and artwork that I had on the wall behind my ironing center and dedicate it to storing tools instead. John put up a pegboard that now holds my rulers, and templates. That freed up room around my light table making it easier to find what I need quickly.

John putting the pegboard up!

Standing back, I took in my spruced up sewing area and thought it needed a little something extra, so I made a sign to hang at the top of the pegboard.  I painted wooden letters “SEW” turquoise and glued them onto a scrap of white bead board. It’s the perfect touch!

Pegboard fully loaded and the finished "SEW" sign.

There’s still a lot of work to be done, sorting and reducing, and re-vamping the TV/stereo system, but the cutting table is cleared off and the structure of the room is in place. I’m probably three fourths of the way through, and my sewing area is turning into a real studio!

Laura Keolanui Stark is still working on organizing her studio, and trying very hard not to start working on any of the projects she unearthed until the “remodeling” is complete. She can be reached at stark.laura.k@gmail.com. Good sources of organization ideas are in the books: Creating Your Perfect Quilting Space Sewing-Room Makeovers for any space and any budget, by Lois L. Hallock, and Organizing Your Craft Space, by Jo Packham.