Organizing the Sewing Studio: an update

Hello Friends and Welcome Back!

This week, I'm excited to be sharing a brief update on my progress organizing the sewing studio!

After spending some time planning out the process last week, I felt confident jumping right in to see how much progress I could make. And while I'm not completely done packing away all of my equipment and materials, I am quite happy with everything I've gotten done!

Something I did keep in mind was that the underlying goal of organizing the sewing studio was to prepare for renovations. Those won't be starting for another few months, so I have lots of time to work on this. Considering that, my goal for the week was not to complete the whole process, but to focus on clearing off the cutting table to make my space just a little more usable. Any additional organizing and packing would be a bonus!

So Friends, let's check out my progress!

The Cutting Table

As my main focus for the week, I started with the cutting table. It's a very important part of my workspace and I would love to have it available to work on my various winter projects!

A lot of the clutter on this table was just things that hadn't been put away properly, especially projects I'd been working on but never packed up when I was done. Having everything spread out like that made the table look like a much bigger mess than it actually was.

After packing up my NQM BoM project, storing unclaimed fat quarters together in a bag, and sorting the remaining scraps into my scrap box, most of the table was already cleared!

With the fabric put away, I was left with quite a bit of paper. Some were old notes and scrap paper that could be recycled, others were blank pages that were moved to my paper drawer. I also had a few binders and books that were moved to appropriate drawers as well.

I easily shorted through the remaining notions and other small items leaving the table looking like this:

Quite the improvement and a lot more space to work!

Since then, I have moved on to organizing other parts of the sewing room and did use the cutting table as temporary storage during that process. It has gone through several different stages of being cleared and covered which is all part of the process of organizing a space.

Although it hasn't stayed as clear as it's ever been, my goal of cleaning up the cutting table this week has been met! And even with a few things being moved back onto the table, I know I haven't taken any steps backwards!

The Sewing Table

After organizing the cutting table, I took a look at the sewing table.

There's only a few things on this table; my Simply Woven quilt, a lamp, and a few small cutting and crafting mats, so I decided to leave that table as is. However, I did take a look at some of the things stored behind the table.

I don't think I spoke in depth about it in last week's post, but I have been storing my ironing board and quitting frame in the corner behind the sewing table. This is a great solution since it keeps several fairly large items contained in a relatively small space.

I ended up adding another quilting support, my Grandma's quilting hoop, into that corner since it's the best storage option I have at the moment. In the picture above, you can see the wooden hoop peaking out from behind the ironing board.

Even though all I did here was add more stuff, it was always been the neatest and really doesn't need any additional organization at this time.

The Storage Table

Moving on to the storage table, I started feeling a little like I was in over my head.

This area has the most amount of stuff to sort through, so I thought the best option was to spread things out a little. And we already know where those things spread to!

I moved many of my tools and materials onto the recently cleared cutting table in smaller groupings to make sorting through them a more manageable task.

As I've already acknowledged, moving things between messy and neat areas is simply a part of the process. It was a huge advantage to be able to use the cutting table this way while sorting the storage table!

Once I'd started, I finally encountered the first few items that won't be needed for my winter projects. These include my serger and an unfinished mini quilt that had escaped the UFO bag - both were moved to my closet - several metres of solid black cotton and the patchwork plague mask I made in the fall - which were moved into a storage box - and some large offcuts of grid paper - put away in the stacked drawers.

This table is still a work in progress. Some of the things I store there, like my fabric boxes, are still needed for winter projects, while others are large enough that I will need some time to figure out where I want to keep them during renovations.

It may take a little more time to get this table properly put away, but for now, I'm quite happy with what I've gotten done!

The Stacking Drawers

I haven't yet had the time to begin organizing the contents of the stacking drawers, but as I've said already, I have been using it to store some of the objects I've come across while cleaning other areas.

When sharing my plan last week I noticed the drawers were pretty full, after this week, they're very full. There's not a lot else I'll be able to store inside them for now, and I'm hoping that after the renovations, I'll be able to sort through the drawers properly and find better homes for everything when I have some better storage available.

Although my sewing machine was away for the week, I was still able to get a lot done!

The most used surfaces and work spaces in my studio are much more organized and usable than they have been for some time! And in doing this, I've taken a few steps towards readying myself for the upcoming renovations!

In other news, I do have a few additional announcements that I'm excited to share!

The first is that maintenance on my sewing machine is now complete! I picked it up earlier today, along with some new bobbins and thread, so I should be back to working on projects soon!

We've also progressed far enough with the living room renovations that the couch and chair have now been removed from the far end of my sewing studio! This should give me some extra storage space while I sort through the remaining disorganization and work towards packing up anything I won't need for the next few months.

Last is the most exciting news of all! Somehow, without really noticing, last week was the one year anniversary of the fibre arts blog! The time has really flown while I've been learning, experimenting, and creating. It has been such a great pleasure to be able to share all of that with all of you!

I wanted to take this opportunity to thank you all for your support, comments, ideas, and inspiration! Here's to many more years of sharing and inspiring each other to come!

Until Next Time Friends, Thank You!

~VA