Over the weekend, I had the chance to sit down and leaf through a fabulous book
my mom lent me:
I've always been a cluttered person and my sewing space is no exception! The fact that I have a toddler really only compounds the problem, since I only have small windows of sewing time and I rarely "waste" that time cleaning up in between projects or organizing my space.
On top of that, we are expecting bundle of joy #2 in July ... which means that Bundle #1 is moving into his big boy bedroom next month ... and I have to find a place for all of the sewing goodies I've stashed there now ... in my office/sewing room/
fabric shop ... and still be able to function in that space!
So, it's time to make some permanent changes!
Step #1 in Carolyn's book is to identify the causes of the clutter. Easy enough - that's me. :) I tend to pile things (on the desk, the floor, my workspace, the bookshelf) rather than sort through them and put them away. I also have a nasty habit of starting new projects on top of old projects, and then rearranging stacks as I need things.
Once you've identified the root of the problem, the idea is to do a deep clean and then reorganize all your goodies into organized stations based on your needs.
While I can't do any heavy lifting right now, and bending over is a bit of a challenge, I did manage to at least straighten up my main workstation this morning!
My first station is my ironing station, which sits at table height (so that I can press while sitting down). It's perpendicular to my sewing machine so that it's quick and easy to sew, press, and then sew some more - all by just swiveling in my chair. My design wall sits directly behind the iron board, so that it's easy to lay out blocks as I finish pressing them. This isn't a new set-up for me, but I find that it really works and so it's definitely staying in place.
My sewing station is in the corner of the room, right next to the only window. Unfortunately, it's a difficult place to photograph, but again, the set up near the ironing board works for me. What doesn't work is that all my thread and sewing machine accessories are housed all the way across the room in the closet. Most of the time, this isn't a problem, as I'm piecing with my giant spool of white thread ... but I'm thinking that it would be nice to have everything within arms reach.
I'm lucky enough to have a 70" rotary mat, so I usually use the end closest to the sewing machine as a staging area for block construction and trimming. This week, I'm working on my Civil War piece,
Shiloh. These blocks just fly together, even with the paper-pieced borders, so I'm hoping to be posting a finish and the new pattern by the end of the month!
The end of the table houses my fabric for my current projects - I'm limiting myself to just two on the table at a time! - along with a second trash bin and any tools that I'd like to keep handy. There's a spare monitor living there at the moment, but it'll hopefully be finding it's more permanent home on our desk in the very near future.
Finally, some of my more frequently used my sewing gadgets (which are in desperate need of tidying) are hanging on the wall at the end of the table. The rest are housed in my sewing boxes in the closet. Again, I've had this set up in place for quite awhile, but for the most part, it seems to work for me.
All in all, I think I'm off to a good start. Hubby is planning on hanging some of those fabulous Ikea shelves along the wall, so that I'll be able to easily move projects out the way when I need to cut yardage, or assemble kits.
Next up ... the overstuffed bookshelf ... and in all honesty, the pile in front of it. :) Happy sewing!
