New and Improved Sewing Room

Welcome once again to my sewing room. You probably remember that I do my sewing in the garage ... in Wyoming ... all winter ... and the garage is not heated :) (I use a propane heater). Anyway, I've made some significant improvements to my sewing room. It's now more of a room than just an open space. Here, I'll show you ...

This is the entrance to my new sewing room. It has a narrow walkway - about the size of a regular door, but not quite. The dresser/book shelves combo is on the left, and just out of the picture on the right is a chest freezer, which I like to refer to as my cutting table ;)

Here you can just see the edge of the freezer on the right, followed by my treadmill. Beyond that are two tall white cabinets for patterns, elastic, buttons, thread, pins, fabric set aside for specific projects, etc. One of these days I'm going to sort and organize that too, but for the most part, it's in decent order ... apart from the fabric sections. I have a very large folding table stored over there, along with my ironing board, which I hate - rickety new thing. I had a wonderful, heavy, solid old ironing board, but the thing finally fell apart and I had to buy a new one. They definitely don't make 'em like they used to.

Directly in front of you as you enter the room is my Singer industrial machine. Above that is a set of shelves and if you look closely, you will see two more sewing machines on the second shelf of that. Those are my grandmothers' machines. I am lucky enough to have both grandmother's machines.

The industrial machine has it's own table, and there is a small cabinet under the edge of that for things I need to reach easily ... bobbins, threads I use all the time, denim scraps for patching jeans, scissors, seam ripper, etc. To the left of that is a little nook where I keep my dress form, which I don't use very often. I'm going to rework that to be my actual measurements someday. Then I'll probably use it more. Right now, it's more decorative than anything.

This is my treadmill. Not everyone has one of these in their sewing room :) but there was no other place for it to go, and I really wanted one so that I can get exercise daily when it's winter. It's facing a wall, so I mounted a shelf where I can put my laptop and watch tv episodes on fancast.com. We don't subscribe to television service, so the computer is our only source of shows. I usually only watch things while I walk though, which greatly helps me use my time more wisely.

Okay, so this picture takes up where the other left off. The dress form in the corner, then an antique dresser also from my grandmother's house. This goes with a bed and vanity that I currently have stored. We used to use it for our bed, but it's only a double, and we've now been spoiled with a king, so someday (there's that word again), when we have a guest bedroom, it will get that honor. I have one drawer of the dresser I need to put back together, but it will be like new (almost) when I get around to fixing it :)

Next to the dresser is my Necchi machine. I use this for anything the industrial machine can't do ... zigzag stitches, button holes, sewing stretch materials, etc. But mostly I prefer the industrial machine. It sews so much faster that the other one feels like slow motion. To the left of the Necchi is a tall shelf full of different fabrics. That is my stash (but not all of it - ha. I also have fabric in the white cabinets and in the dresser.)

Next to the fabric shelves is my newest invention. A dresser with two bookshelves on top. It definitely makes it more of a sewing "room" which you have to deliberately walk into, rather than a space where you can just drop off stuff you don't know what to do with.

Like everything else in my garage (and parts of my house for that matter), this is piled to the ceiling. The base is a solid (extremely heavy) dresser. I'm keeping my current projects in this, along with my daughter's sewing projects. It's nice to have a drawer for each separate project. On top of that are two bookshelves, which face my new library area, naturally. I hung one of my finished wall quilts on the back of one bookshelf for decoration, and I'm thinking a fabric covered corkboard like I made for my entry way will be a good thing for the back of the other shelf. The boxes on top hold more fabric :), my art supplies - mostly oil paints and things I don't want kids to have full access to, and a sewing machine cover.

It definitely makes those "sewing moments" (the extra 5 minutes you have here and there) easier, when the projects are organized and easy to get to. I feel more productive already!

Here's a closer look at my stash shelves. Disregard the bags on the floor. Those are headed to the thrift store.

Here's a close-up of my favorite machine. I use it whenever I can.

This is my Necchi - which used to be my go-to machine until I got spoiled with the industrial machine. It has a variety of stitches which I mostly never use. I have to say I am very content with the machines I have. I don't have any desire to have a computerized one or one that does embroidery. Embroidery was meant to be done by hand! ;)

I picked up this cabinet at a yard sale almost 15 years ago. The brackets to hold the machine were gone and I don't think this machine had a place to hook into anyway. So I built a shelf inside and the machine just sits on the shelf. The sewing surface is flush with the cabinet, and I have sewn this way for so long I don't think I could sew without the flat surface. I don't know how people sew - and enjoy it - with their machine on the kitchen table.

So that's the tour. I hope you like it. I certainly do, and that's really all that matters, right? Now I've got some sewing to get to ...