[Sewnsew]

I am curious as to where everybody sews. I have my setup in my laundryroom. My sewing machine and serger are sitting on my sewing table. I have a pegboard on the wall where my sewing table is. Another wall has a dresser with my fabric stash. And my dh put up shelves above for bins, etc., for my sewing stuff. I also have a cutting table that stays folded. I take it out to the kitchen when I need to cut patterns. I also iron in the kitchen.

So, I have a very small sewing nook, as I like to call it, but it’s mine.

Where do you sew?

[Robin]

I sew in the “guest bedroom” which consists of a futon, treadmill and other assorted detritus from the rest of the house. It’s actually not a bad set up. I’ve made a cutting table out of book shelves and have a desk to sew at. Ironing board is one floor down which isn’t always a bad things. The best part is that I look out over the Fraser River and the North Shore mountains. Just need to ignore the rooftops in the way. We’re on the west coast of Canada.

[pippi]

Ha- I have been thinking about this lately because my space is so ridiculously laughable! I really need to take some pictures for posterity because hopefully within a few years I will have a slightly better situation. I have an old computer desk with my sewing machine on top, and all my thread, scissors, bobbins etc sit in the little keyboard drawer beneath it. The desk is in my teeny tiny bedroom essentially at the foot of my bed so that if I were to sew at night i would practically be sewing in husband’s ear (so he usually shuts down production when he goes to bed). It’s such a tight fit that if I am sitting in my desk chair no one can walk between the chair and the bed. CRAZY. I have one of those flat ironing pad type blanket thing on the dresser that sits directly next to my computer/sewing desk because there is no room for an ironing board to even be set up anywhere near my machine. I have an over-the-door shoe hanger on the closet door to store (some) fabric and a travel jewelry case thingy hanging on the wall behind the desk to store needles, extra feet, measuring tape etc. it’s crazy, but somehow I still manage to get something sewn up at least once a week! I’ve been dreaming about the day when I might have even 1/3 of a regular room dedicated to sewing stuff!

[Jane]

I am super lucky to have a craft room. Our home has a finished basement. One of the areas in the basement was a long room the hubby and I split in half for our respective hobbies. I have a nice big table that is a desk top or something that hubby got at Ikea in the “As Is” section for $5. He put legs on it and it’s a great work table. One side has my sewing machine and serger, the other has my cutting mat. He hung shelves and a magnetic strip for my scissors and I have some nice book cases for fabric, craft, pattern storage. I am able to leave my mess all in one place and close the door. It recently got a little out of control, but I have been trying to get it put back together which is hard to do because I easily get sidetracked down there. It’s a great space because often times we all end up in the basement together working on things.

Jane

[Tamara]

I share a space in the office – well I take up the majority! It is outside the main house, in a portable cabin type room. It is quite large but if I had the space to myself it would be filled in no time! I have a wardrobe I bought last year to house my fabric, the wovens are mostly hanging and the knits and heavier fabrics are folded. I have all my books and magazines in the book shelf that used to house the fabric. I have the cutting table (which is extended at the moment) next to the wardrobe (which incidentally still doesn’t have its doors on) and that is my oldest pieces of sewing furniture. I have a long Ikea table (Vika) along the wall under one window and this accommodates my sewing machines – unfortunately not big enough to have the third sitting in a row (sewing, overlock, cover stitch) and I have an office chair to slide between the lot of them so I don’t have a solo game of musical chairs every time I sew.

I realise I am lucky in the space and things that are provided but it has only come into fruition with the wardrobe and table (plus the cover stitch) since last year when I was working for a little while. It was a long wait.

Next summer we will be moving up to the farmhouse and I will enjoy a room of my very own. I will take the wardrobe and furniture with me (I hope we can get it out the door!) and this time the doors will be put on the wardrobe! I will eventually buy a smaller wardrobe to accommodate the things that don’t fit. I am looking forward to being able to spread out and have a sewing room to myself (within reason) and I am planning already.

[Maggie]

We finished our attic last year, and my husband and I split the space. It is very bright and sunny, but there isn’t headroom at the sides. Luckily, I’m not too tall.

I have a table for sewing and cutting and a variety of drawers and shelves for fabric, patterns, notions, tools and such. Unfortunately, I seem to buy fabric faster than I use it so the fabric drawers (sorted by color) are overflowing a bit on to my ironing board and spare chair.

We also keep a spare double bed up there which I use for laying out larger projects, especially quilts.

[with love Heidi]

I am really enjoying hearing about your sewing spaces. Pippi, I can just imagine not being able to get past!

I have commandeered the kitchen table,most of the kitchen bench and a quarter of the living room (not very big but we had lots in there!). The kitchen table generally has one to 3 sewing machines on it, the sewing machine, the over locker and the other over locker (belongs to work) that is set up for rolled hem. I have the sewing machine set up on a 4″ box to bring it up to a better height for me to work at. I cut, pin, trace etc at the bench as it is a much better height for me to work at than the table (although it could easily be another 15 maybe 20cm, 6-8″ tall), it also means I get up and move about. The ironing board is right in front of the bench in the area with all my fabric, patterns notions etc. My fabric is mostly wrapped around comic book boards and stored on 3 shelves, two other shelves in the book case hold traced patterns, other patterns magazines and books. I also have some fabric in plastic draws in another bookshelf, this one also holds all my machines when not in use. I also have a couple of large flat plastic containers, one holding half finished projects, although not many as I finished most of them as per the new years resolutions, and the other with scraps that are probably big enough to use or to nice to throw! On the floor is a few green bags with wool, specialty fabric and not sure what else in them. However at the moment it is all away in boxes awaiting the move, so I’ll have to update my sewing space when it’s set up.

[brenda1652]

When I was younger, raising kids, I did my sewing in our bedroom. I had a large piece of kitchen counter scrap from a home goods store, it was long and cheap. It was held up, table style, by 2 file cabinets where I kept all our family records (pre-computer days). I cut out the patterns either on the kitchen table or the living room floor. I had only one box of stash, one sewing machine, and one sewing box. When I became a single mom, I would sew in the dining area of our small apartment and my stash and patterns were contained in one box(!), kept under my bed. I made lots of clothes, household items, as well as costumes for various community and professional acting groups, as well as for the kids. Now the kids are grown, I have remarried and I have grandkids to sew for, plus making our clothes and household items, and horse tack and blanket repairs for our stable as well as other stables (I have a small repair business that just fell into my lap, thanks to a husband offering my sewing services. lol.) We have a log home furnished in real farm home tradition with antiques that are all in use. I have my own sewing room now. I have various sewing machines: my Janome 9500 and my industrial, complete with oil pan, for repairing horse tack; a White serger; and a Janome Coverpro. My machines sit on antique sewing machine tables from treadle machines. I also have a couple antique bureaus in there for various fabrics and notions as well as one wall with basic rustic shelves built in, useful for various sewing related items. Oh yes, I do have a treadle machine as well as an antique singer, neither are in use. My cutting table is a large oak table sitting in the middle of the room and it is covered with a large piece of glass from an old sliding glass door. I have drawn lines on the underside of this glass to help with lining up fabrics. I placed sticky back measuring tape around all 4 sides of the glass and find it quite helpful. My sewing machines sit in front of windows so I can keep on eye on the livestock and enjoy the serene views. We never paid much for any of the furnishings, here in the country they abound in yard sales. My stash has grown considerably now that I have space(!). I won’t admit to how many storage bins I have filled along with 3 antique steamer trunks, but oh I have plans of all of it, providing I live to at least 120 or so.

[dubhels2003]

Oh, the detail in these descriptions is fueling my imagination, I love it! Me, my husband and our baby daughter live in a dinky two up, two down Victorian terrace house. I have the original built in cupboard in my daughter’s room for storing fabric and most of my sewing bits. My daughter can’t pull herself up or walk yet, but I keep looking at the cupboard latch worrying about the day she can get to my precious liberty stash. No doubt she won’t be interested! My machine, and my as yet unused overlocker live on the edge of our large dining room table, which is where cutting takes place, providing the cats aren’t around! Magazines and books live on the bookshelf in the dining room, and essentials love in a vintage sewing box in our living room.

[Masha Richart]

I have recently gotten very fortunate with this. When we moved, we lucked into a much larger house than we’ve ever had. It has a separate dining room. As the dining table actually fits well into the living room, we have turned the dining room (which is also a nice big space) into a combination playroom/sewing room. We’ve divided the room in half with furniture. On the sewing half, I have two desks that hold my sewing machine and my serger. I have one tall bookshelf full of fabric, plus a couple bin stacked up on the side. I have a lower shelf that houses my patterns and notions, and a thread rack hanging on the wall. The windowsill directly in front of my machines holds jars with buttons and a cylindrical container with my scissors, rotary cutter, etc., inside. There is actually enough space to leave the ironing board unfolded all the time – it is right next to my sewing machine so that I can actually iron without having to stand up if it is just a quick straight seam. The best part of all is that the room has windows or sliding glass doors on all four sides (thanks to two porches on opposite sides) and it gets light all day long. On the rare occasion when my husband takes the kids outside to ride their bikes AND I have time to sew, I can actually watch them in the street when I look up from my work. It’s lovely and I will miss it when we move again!

[meleliza]

I was just thinking of posting such a question! I’m still sewing in my bedroom, which we’re all getting a little sick of. I have graduated from a folding table that bounced when I sewed too quickly to a sturdy wooden Ikea dining table. DH built me some height extenders for the huge folding table Sony can use it for tracing and cutting. Between the two tables and the ironing board, our bedroom gets pretty well taken over! On the upside, I can easily keep an eye on the kids playing in the family room at the other end of the second floor or in their bedrooms right above us.

The (eventual) for al living and dining rooms downstairs are too dark and also too open to be a good space. The mess would look awful if anyone came to visit, plus when we’re not in need of formal spaces, the kids have lots of room to run around there. Our guest room would be a perfect place, but we are renting it currently. It’s crazy, huh? A house this large but no good space for sewing!

This year, hubby and I are making a huge push to clean out our basement. I don’t mean one of those smoothly cemented, freshly studded out, high ceilinged spaces in McMansions, either. Our house is over 150 years old and I don’t tink this basement has ever been cleaned out even once. There’s barely enough headroom for me to stand up in a few places. However, there are two fairly large (currently boarded up!) windows in the front and I’m hoping that once we replace them I’ll get a decent amount of light. I’ll have to figure out how to secure the windows, though without blocking the light. Also, since they demolished the house next to us a feww years ago, we’ve been getting a little moisture in the foundation too, so we will have to water proof and get a de humidifier.

[cybele727]

I have a huge old house so you would think I would have a nice space, but NO. Everyone of our 6 bedrooms has a person in it. I will sound horribly spoiled, but real estate is real cheap here. So I can have a huge old house for a tenth or twentieth of the cost of NYC.

I had commandeered the dining room, b/c who uses that anyways? Well, apparently that was really bugging my husband who didn’t understand the need to have fabric and thread and tools strewn about a haphazard mess. Or the need for me to be in the room next to our 3 year old during the day so I could do something while watching her.

So he said, let’s set you up a nice space in the dank dark dreary poorly lit damp basement, where dirt from 100 years of life has accumulated and every time someone walks across the floor it rains dust and dirt and grit onto your sewing area. I narrowed my eyes, grit my teeth and smiled (but it was more like baring my teeth) and said, “why honey what a lovely idea. You know how much I love the basement.”

Husband, whether intentional or not, failed to notice that dripping sarcasm, and set up my sewing area in the dank, dark basement. (Men! SMH!)

Sewing production which was a garment a week has slowed to a garment a month.

I have begun to mention my dissatisfaction with this set up. In 6 months I will NOT be in that basement. Something will change!

I want you to know how ridiculous this is. I have 6 bedrooms, a living room, dining room, eat in kitchen AND a breakfast room, plus a sun room. Yet each and everyone of those room is either used for another purpose or occupied by an individual. All I need is one less human in my home. One less human to take a bedroom.

See how ridiculous this is?

As for set up. I have an old piece of counter with two Ikea bookshelves for “legs” and storage. An old bakers rack, an old 42″ round butcherblock table, and a old kitchen cart. This is next to the laundry, so I have the iron too. It isn’t as organized as I would like b/c nothing seems to “fit” right. Although I do use plastic shoe boxes to store patterns it. That is one of my successes.

Basically, I have a sewing U. Of course, I wouldn’t be using this much furniture if I were allowed out of the dungeon, oh I meant basement.

[Robin]

Jenny, could you have a satellite sewing location? I occasionally wander down to the dining room with just my machine and a couple of tools. And bless my daughter Sophie because as soon as my husband says something she says, “Mommy needs more room for this project.” Not always true, but I can go with it.

[Masha Richart]

cybele, I am sorry you have been banished to the dungeons but I laughed and laughed at the description of your plight. I think you ought to kick out whomever is occupying your sun room. That sounds like the perfect place to sew!

[KarenK]

Until this past year I had no dedicated sewing space. I used the dining room table and housed my fabric and supplies in several nooks and crannies around the house. 🙂 Not convenient or easy but you know what they say- where there’s a will there’s a way. 🙂

We were finally able to move into a larger home and I have my own space now. I have yet to decorate it and organize the way I want to, but it’s so nice to be able to close the door and walk away instead of clearing up to make space for dinner or other household needs. It contains a table for my machines, a table for cutting and working on. The ironing board, a stand-alone cupboard for fabric, and a pattern filing cabinet I bought at an estate sale several years ago. It was a fabric store cast-off from years past. It isn’t fancy but very functional and I love it.