Evolution of a Sewing Room - Part 7

As per Vicki's request in a comment to my last sewing room post (which was approximately 1000 years ago - I'm obedient, but really slow), let's check out the fabric closet.

So, c'mon in, the door's open...

FABRIC
I have two large shelving units that hold most of my fabrics.  The metal unit contains all the wovens, while the wooden unit holds the knits, flannels, fleeces and home dec textiles.

Metal Unit
I organize the fabric on this unit a few different ways.  By season, by fabric type/fiber content and in wardrobe groupings. 

Sometimes if a group of fabrics looks right together, I will kept them near one another on the shelf in a wardrobe collection.  Then, when I am sewing a SWAP-style group of garments, I already have pre-made collections of fabric.

Wooden Unit
I organize this unit completely by fabric type.  You can see stacks of knits, ordered by fiber content (cotton, bamboo, polyester, etc).  I also keep flannels, fleeces, home dec and corduroy here.  Beside this unit, I line up some of my linings on bolts.

But, wait...there's more...

Guest Bedroom Closet
I have too much fabric to fit in the sewing room fabric closet, so the guest bedroom closet houses the overflow.  Arranged on hangers, I have the slippery silks, laces and all the fabrics that don't take well to folding (faux suede and laminated fabrics for instance).

MAGAZINES & PATTERN ENVELOPES
I have a large collection of Threads magazines (top shelf).  I have almost every copy of the magazine ever sold, but I am missing a few of the earlier ones.  I can't decide if it's worth stalking eBay for the few issues I need to complete my collection or if I should just buy the Threads Archive DVDs.  Decisions, decisions.

I have quite a few issues of Vogue pattern magazine and to a lesser extent, the now defunct Butterick pattern magazines, mainly from the last few years (bottom shelf).  I could kick my self for tossing out all the copies I had from the 1980s and 1990s.

I have a number of issues of Australian Stitches (also, bottom shelf).  I used to love the wardrobing (SWAP) articles.  Alas, the steep price and finding that I wasn't as interested in the other articles combined to force me to let my subscription lapse two years ago.

I store all envelope patterns in a similar fashion.  The guts (tissue and instructions) are placed in large manilla envelopes, which are kept in my cutting table (the patterns can be seen in their drawers in this post) .  The pattern covers are placed inside page protectors and organized in three-ring binders (middle shelf) by category (active wear, dresses, skirts, tops, jackets, wardrobe patterns, etc) and then by pattern company.  This makes it easy to browse through my patterns without having to root through the pattern drawers.  If I grab a cup of tea and a binder and I can spend many a happy hour dreaming and plotting my next big sewing adventure.


THREAD
I love this cabinet and it's serendipitous acquisition.  I was lucky enough to be in the right place, at the right time.  A few years ago, the librarian at my school was disposing of this metal film cabinet (moving forward with the times, I guess) and I happened to walk by.  I asked if I could have it and he said yes.  The poor man even single-handedly loaded it into the bed of my truck for me.  Chivalry is most certainly not dead! (I just realized something - he has been off for the last month recovering from a major hernia operation - oh man, I think my sewing obsession may have finally injured someone.  Yikes!)

The cabinet has several shallow drawers that have dividers in them.  The dividers have round holes that were meant to hold projector film canisters.  Now, however, they are perfectly designed for spools of thread.  All my Guterman thread is organized by number in the same order as can be found on the thread sample chart.  This way, it's easy to reorder any thread that I am low on, not to mention that it looks really pretty when I open the drawer!

The other drawers hold more thread (like embroidery thread and the serger thread shown below), as well as dyes.

At the bottom, is a cabinet with a swinging door.  Inside, there are vertical dividers that are just perfect for organizing my interfacings. 

So, there you have it.  The HZC Fabric Closet of Joy & Wonder.  Feel free to stand back and bask in its warm glow.

Evolution of a Sewing Room - Part 6

Since moving in to the new house, I have been working diligently at putting my sewing room together.  I love to organize, so this has been super fun for me.  I even have things to the point that sewing has commenced - I have already turned out a dress, two pairs of work pants and several pairs of exercise pants.  I'm a mad woman!
 
Today we will take a gander at my cutting table that doubles as a pattern and notion storage cabinet.  Originally, I was going to cobble together a few old bookcases and a piece of plywood to act as a cutting table in my sewing room.  However, hubby said (and I quote),

"Why don't you design something and the cabinet maker can build it?"  

Hmm, let me think about that for a min---...wahoo, new sewing cabinet, here I come...

So, I sat down with my trusty graph paper and a pencil and got to work on a viable design.  I wanted an ample cutting surface - enough room for a long length of 60" fabric to rest nicely on top.  I ended up with a 3'3" x 8'4" (39" x 100") laminate counter top that has rocked my world so far.  Ah, the joy of having enough room to cut out a complete pattern in one go.  I used to use the pennisula in the kitchen of our old house and it was too tiny to be really useful.  I had to cut out pattern pieces in sections, while trying to keep the fabric from falling off the edge.  Can you say PITA?

I also wanted storage for all my patterns.  I have a ton of mainstream patterns: BMV, Simplicity and New Look.  As well, I have a large assortment of independent designers, including Loes Hinse, Textile Studios, Jalie and Kwik Sew, among others.  In addition to my envelope pattern collection, I have several years of Burda magazine, a few Ottobre Woman and several Japanese pattern books.  Finally, I have a large collection of vintage patterns (mainly spanning the 50s, 60s and 70s).  So, obviously I needed a few good sized, deep drawers.  I ended up with 6 drawers on one side of the unit and 3 drawers on the other side, for a total of 9 deep drawers, each with inside dimensions (length, width, depth) of 29" x 14 3/8" x 12".  These 12" deep drawers accommodate any size pattern, including my Burda mags standing up in holders.

My last desire was for easy to access notion storage - elastic, zippers, buttons, trims, etc.  I have 6 drawers on one side of the unit - each drawer measures 29" x 4 5/8" x 14 3/8".

I even have a drawer for UFOs (although I purged most of my UFOs for the move, I did hang on to a few of them - now, I just need to complete the little rotters) and patterns that are next up on the docket.

The cabinet maker did an amazing job turning my design into reality.  I could not be more pleased with the resulting cutting table unit. It is highly functional and it is also a gorgeous piece of furniture.  Le sigh...

Evolution of a Sewing Room - Part 5

Yesterday, the cabinet makers were at the house installing the cabinetry and putting on the toe kicks.  We now have the base and upper boxes in the kitchen, butler's pantry, laundry room, all the baths and my sewing room.  The doors and drawers will be added as soon as the counter tops are in place.

Boy, oh boy, does this make me feel like this house is striding into the finish line (as it should, we only have one week until we move in).  I am positively giddy with excitement at this point!

In the picture, you can see my sewing room cabinet in place.  I designed this piece to do double duty as a cutting table and as a pattern/notion cabinet.  On one side there are six deep drawers.  On the other side there are three deep drawers and six shallow drawers.  I should be able to house my entire envelope pattern collection in the deep drawers and most of my notions (zippers, elastic, buttons, etc.) in the shallow drawers.  I am dying to fill up this bad boy with delicious sewing goodness.  My next moment of joy will arrive when my shelves are in place and I can go nuts loading the textiles into the fabric closet.

Evolution of a Sewing Room - Part 4

The baseboards and the trim around the windows and doors were installed today.  I love how it finishes everything off so nicely. 

In the comments to a previous post, I was asked about the colour of paint used in the this room.  The walls are Pale Wheat from Behr's Premium Plus Ultra line. The trim will be Polar Bear from Behr's Premium Plus line (however, what you are seeing right now in these pics is just primed MDF).  Below are the cropped screen shots of the two colours I snagged off of Behr's website (which is fun to play with BTW).

 

Pale Wheat was an obvious choice for me.  It is so pretty - it reminds me of cashmere.  I wanted something neutral on the walls so that it wouldn't compete with my fabric.  I like a quiet colour in an area where I create - I find a soothing, pale colour allows me to work with my fabrics without colour overload from the room.  I have richer shades in other rooms in the house (I'll have to take you all on a virtual tour once we are settled in), so those rooms satisfy my need for saturated colour and I am content to keep it subtle in the sewing studio.

Evolution of a Sewing Room - Part 3

Let there be light!

The electrician installed the lighting in my sewing room yesterday.  When choosing the fixtures, I wanted a good balance between aesthetics and practicality.  There is nothing more frustrating than trying to unpick thread in a dimly lit room.  Likewise, tracing a pattern without enough ambient light is annoying too.  But, I wanted something pretty, not just utilitarian.

In the centre of the main portion of the room (where my machines will be located), there is a three light semi-flushmount fixture from Progress Lighting's Madison collection, in the antique bronze finish.

The other fixture, a three light chandelier which will hang over my cutting table, is from the same collection.

Both lights were ordered from Home Depot.  I have to say I was wary of ordering lighting online from Home Depot (since I couldn't see the product before hand), but these fixtures are quite nice at a decent price.

Now all I need is trim and doors.  Yowza!

Evolution of a Sewing Room - Part 2

In my last post, I showed you the progress on my sewing room.  Since then, the flooring has been installed.

I chose to go with cork flooring that coordinates with the red oak hardwood found throughout the rest of the second floor.  I have a few knee and back issues that crop up if I stand on a hard floor for too long.  The cork is a remedy to this potential pain.

Cork is a so much nicer to stand on for long periods rather than tile or hardwood - it cushions achy bones and muscles like a dream.  And since I didn't want carpeting in my sewing room (trying to vacuum stray threads out of carpeting is a royal PITA), cork was the obvious choice.  The bonus is that it is very aesthetically pleasing as well.

The cork comes in strips that click together very easily (similar to many laminate floorings on the market).  It was such a quick installation that the builder was able to complete my entire sewing room, including the fabric closet, in less than a day.  Talk about instant gratification.

Below are pictures of the installed floor.  Unfortunately, not only is the floor dirty from the installation, but the lighting was not on my side when I snapped the pics.  However, it still gives you an idea of how the cork looks on the floor.  Now all the room needs is trim, a door and the proper light fixtures.

Much has been done throughout the rest of the house (inside and out) since we last spoke.  Below is a picture of the house front as of yesterday.  The outside of the actual house body now only needs a tiny bit of siding, a few lights, the front door and eaves troughs.  The septic system and geothermal heating/cooling is supposed to be installed during this coming week.  Then the land can be filled in around the house, graded and seeded.

It is really starting to come together and look like the house I have envisioned in my head for the last several years.  I really feel like it is turning into a home for us now.  At any rate, we move in on July 29th, so it's 19 days and counting...

Evolution of a Sewing Room - Part 1

There are many things that excite me about the house we're building, but very close to the top of the list, is my new sewing room.  I have never had a dedicated sewing space.  I have sewn in the dining room, the basement and in a guest bedroom, but I have never had a place to call my own.  Hmmph!

So, when I was choosing a house plan, one of my first priorities was ensuring that I would have my own sewing studio.  And, it had to be big.  And it had to have lots of windows.  Oh, and lots of storage.  And you better damn well believe I wouldn't be sharing it with any one or anything.  Oh yeah, baby, you heard me.  No.stinkin'.sharing. 

This plan afforded me the luxury of stealing an extra bedroom for my studio.  I redesigned the layout to allow for a large fabric closet and plenty of room for my machines and a cutting table.  The real selling point was the four windows that allow in tons of natural light. Since March, my sewing studio has morphed from simply a dream into a still-forming reality.

So, let's go back to the beginning.  Here's she is all framed in but looking a bit emaciated - gotta get some meat on those bones!

The walls have gone up.  Hartley can't resist checking out the view!

Everything is better with drywall.

 

Time for taping and mudding of the drywall.

Hello gorgeous!  Getting paint on the walls certainly spruces things up. 

This is the area that will house all my machines.

 

The space by the window will have a chair for Hartley to lounge in while I'm sewing.

Our cabinet maker is creating a 3'x8' cutting table for this space.

Ahh...the fabric closet. 

Today, the builder began the installation of the flooring.  Soon, there will be trim and doors and all the finishing touches.  I can't wait.