This was a long, long overdue make over! The before photos are truly shameful and took major courage to post on here, so please don't judge me! I have righted my sewing wrongs and the after photos make me proud to see. I am pleased to add that it has remained mostly as neat and tidy as it looks here, which is probably a sign of a good room makeover, when it is sustainable! I should add that this room is certainly not purely for my sewing pleasures, but also home to bf's weights and computer, as well as my clothes rail and book shelf. Overall, his tiny bedroom most appropriate for a very small person/hobbit is currently home to all our stuff that finds no place elsewhere in our lovely little flat. When we moved in it was the forgotten room with damp and cheap grey polyester curtains, but I have attempted to give it a little lease of live with (admittedly still cheap) cheerful floral curtains and pictures on the walls. I hope this post gives someone, somewhere some ideas for organising their stash, as I found reading blog posts of other people's ideas massively helpful when planning my own overhaul.
Without further ado, the shameful before photographs:
First job was to move and clear the sewing table and I think it looks pretty good empty! You will see where all the scissors, pins, trimmings and other bits and bobs ended up later...
And that's pretty much it! I hope you enjoyed this little sewing room make over, how do you keep your stash in line?
Without further ado, the shameful before photographs:
Messy sewing table...
Messy patterns basket...
Awful fabric pile...
Bad, right? Cest la vie!First job was to move and clear the sewing table and I think it looks pretty good empty! You will see where all the scissors, pins, trimmings and other bits and bobs ended up later...
Step one in my makeover was the purchase of a chest of draw. I found these tatty pine draws in the Princess Alice Hospice for a mer £30. Sadly this was the top end of my budget but I think I did well to get such roomy, albeit scratched, draws for such a bargain price.
Lets start at the top!
Top draw is a bit of a mixed bag, containing everything that is not fabric. As you can see on the right are tins and jars and these contain needles, pins, interfacing, buttons, zips, trimmings and alllll the other paraphernalia I have acquired since becoming a woman obsessed with dressmaking.
Here is a close up of my pretty tins, a mixture of Cath Kidston, Tiger, 99p stores and old washed out tea tins.
On the left, seen here, is where I am currently keeping my 'ongoing' projects, at the top you can see a handmade nautical dress in need of altering and some pretty American quilt squares all cut out and ready to be sewn.
The first organisational job was the biggest: fabrics. I decided to sort my stash by size not fabric type, due to the huge variety in what I had. My thinking was a draw for large pieces of fabric (1meter and up) and one for smaller pieces, but not scraps as I have had enough of those. I must admit I was pretty ruthless and many a tatty scrap of fabric found its way to the recycling, while I wondered what I thought I could ever do with a teeny, tatty scrap of poly cotton. The second draw contains large pieces of fabric (1metre up) organised neatly and folded again like the small pieces so I can find stuff easily. Love this draw, I see projects ready to be sewn!
The bottom draw is filled with my small pieces, and is probably the fullest to be fair, from faux fur to chiffon to cotton, I have plenty of choice for small projects, and discovered many pieces I had forgotten I had in the mountain of fabric scraps which once was. I have tried very hard to keep them folded too, for ease of searching and browsing.
The final draw up is great because it contains... Nothing! What a treat to behold! Always good to have room to expand ones stash. I may use this for pairing patterns on my to sew list with appropriate fabrics and trimmings.
Atop of my draws is my tidy(ish) patterns basket, which I love for whimsy and simply serves a purpose. Patterns, yay!
On another organisational note, I gathered together all my sewing books, magazines and scrap books into one easy to find leaning tower which now sits atop another chest of draws in the little room. I quite like the look of them this was round and it makes good use of space as the draws are a 'tall boy' and very narrow
And that's pretty much it! I hope you enjoyed this little sewing room make over, how do you keep your stash in line?
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