Come Take a Tour of My Sewing Room!

When you see sewing rooms on Pinterest, you often see everything out on display - fabric, threads, sewing tools. It's usually very beautiful, all in colour order, but I've discovered over the years that this style of sewing room set up doesn't really work for me. And, so, slowly, as I've saved up, I've cleared out book shelves and replaced them with cupboards with doors, or drawer units. I like that when it's tidy, it feels like a clean slate, and when I'm in the middle of starting a new quilt or trying new things, and I have fabric everywhere, it doesn't feel so overwhelming. Also, if you have doors and drawers, you don't need them to be perfectly tidy for the space to feel nice. I try to keep them tidy to be useful, but the insides don't have to be beautiful, also.

My desk is now right near the open hallway that joins the front door and the living area. It's noisy and interrupted, but my plan is to keep my concentrating work to mornings while the kids are at school, and then bring any afternoon stitching I want to get done to the family room where I can be available when they get home. My goal this year is to keep my desk reasonably clear and inviting. Last year, I stored my sewing machine at my desk, which took up a lot of room even though I didn't use it often. I also kept my backdrop blanket that I use for photography out and my clamp-on phone stand set up. I would push it all aside to work on my laptop, and it always felt cluttered and awkward. I've put my machine above my WIP cupboard now, and my photography gear in the top draw beside it so that it's always easy to work at my desk. I hope it works!

The white drawers hold most of my stash, separated by colour. The top drawer is too high for me to access easily so it's used for random storage. The next 3 drawers are split into low volume, warm, and cool fabrics ranging in size from about fat eighths to half yards. Anything much bigger goes in the bottom drawers for backings and bindings. Anything smaller goes in my scrap baskets. 

I keep solids and flannels in separate baskets above, which means they never get used! For now, I'm ok with that, but it's kind of an uncomfortable acceptance. I don't like having things I don't use. I discovered years ago that if I merge all my fabrics, regardless of designer or substrate, I was much more likely to use my stash. But, after merging everything, I still didn't use solids in my quilts. So, they sit up there, waiting.

My cutting bench is a kitchen island from Ikea. It's the perfect height for standing and cutting, and the perfect size for a large cutting mat (24"x36"). It has a large gap on one side for stools, but it fits these Raskog trolleys perfectly. I use them for storing my basting pins, glue sticks, stationary, and cutting tools. The two shelves on the other side are great for my scrap baskets. I got these from Mustard Made also.

My quilt storage is my favourite part of my sewing room. I've tried so many different ways to store my quilts over the years, always wanting something like this, but not really having the space for it. As soon as we walked into the house, I knew these Ikea cabinets would go perfectly here. It's the first thing you see as you walk into my house (apart from my quilt ladder!), and it's beautiful. 

I didn't have room for my ironing board to be set up in our previous iteration, so having space for it here feels like a treat!

My husband, Tim, who works full time from home, also, now has this desk by the corner, which used to be mine. I will miss looking out the window at the greenery, and not being the first port of call for interruptions at the door or from the kids, but Tim has several zoom meetings a day, and has to keep working once the kids get home from school, so it made the most sense for him to have a bit more distance from the main living area. 

My most exciting new addition is this Ikea trolley on wheels. It lives to the left of this window most of the time with hats and dog walking things stored beneath it, but when I need a light space for photos and videos, I wheel it under the window! I'm so grateful for this set up because when I worked under the other window, sun would come in most of the morning and afternoon, and I would only have a short hour or two over lunch for photography. This window faces south (which, in the southern hemisphere, means I don't get any sun through it, ever), and gives me perfect, even light all day.

So that's my sewing room! I've linked everything I can throughout the blog if you'd like to find your own sewing room furniture. I feel very, very lucky to have such a beautiful space, enough room, and, after years of trying various rescued cupboards and benches, furniture that works for me! 

Have I inspired you to try some new storage solutions for your sewing room? Let me know in the comments below!