The Sewing Place
The Emporia => Patchwork & Quilting ... Welcome to the Darkside => Topic started by: Lowena on October 10, 2019, 22:10:55 PM
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I am changing how I work.
I now have 3 projects on the go! :S
I'm doing the temperature quilt which is obviously ongoing. I've started Awesome Ocean which is very fiddly.
I have Fancy Forest to sandwich and back.
now I have begun a new project I was given a jelly roll for my birthday and am making a Lintott inspired qui!t.
My fears are two fold
1. Will I cope with chopping and changing between projects?
2. How will I keep each project separate but accessible?
I haven't much room or much storage and I must have things neat and tidy or I can't work.
Should I stick to my original policy of one project at a time and see it all the way through? Although that suits my single mindedness, I find I get a bit bored on occasion.
What to do? What do you do?
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Since seeing your way of working @Lowena I have been attempting to complete one project before moving on to the next and it has really helped me. I have been much more productive.
Last week I was making a handbag, I only had the strap to finish, I cocked it up and tried to redo it it. The second time was worse so I put it aside and started something new. Today I finished a coat for my GD then went back to the bag and sorted it.
I find having a bag for each project helps. Put everything pertaining to the project in a bag and keep it together.
If a project is going wrong or getting boring put it aside completely, try something else. The problems start when you have two projects out at the same time and they get mixed up
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Those extra strong bags from supermarkets are a good size and have a flat bottom, so they can sit neatly under your worktable without falling over. They also fold flat when you are done.
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Thanks, but I haven't got room for bags,,I cut and measure on a kneehole desk and my machine is on a small desk opposite.
The shelves I have are full of boxes and it's a bit of a problem.That's one reason I do one project at a time usually -<
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I have multiple projects on the go, but thats just the way I operate. When I am cooking, especially baking, I will have two or three things on the go at once .... eg: Make up a waffle batter - let stand, make a batch of ginger biscuits, while the first tray is cooking start up a muffin batch, put second tray of biscuits in oven, get out waffle iron- start preheating, biscuits finished, put muffins in oven, start cooking waffles, take muffins out of oven, finish cooking waffles. Hubby bemoans the amount of washing up I create, but I often comment that I don't just cook, I CATER!
I will do the same with my sewing. Its nothing to have up to 6-8 projects cut and stacked on my sewing table, and I will switch between clothing, quilting, xmas gift sewing, bags .... not to mention that I will have the embroidery machine trundling along at the same time (I sometimes wonder what I am doing to my hearing).
But, this sort of excess requires space, and if you are short of space, then restraint may be called for.
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Pizza boxes :), they stack, they're flat, they're neat and they take up little room. Each box holds all the needed fabric, the pattern and any notes I have made.
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Pizza boxes ??!!
After your glorious rendition of getting Pizza boxes for your projects Rubes (was it last year?) I decided this could be the way to go so trundled into the new Dominoes in town and asked for two of the largest which the Macworker behind the counter gladly gave me, after I hired an Albanian interpreter of course!
Trouble is, the biggest boxes arent that big and they have the edges 'rounded off' too making them a totally impractical shape for any but small blocks ... Are pizza boxes in Aus still square ... as ours used to be???
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If so, I'd get a stock in before these new ones reach you!
@Lowena ... What do you mean you havent any room ???? You've just moved into a mini mansion with 55 bedrooms!!!
Seriously tho', Really useful boxes are the way to go ... they look nice, are sturdy (cos of the clever honeycombing) come in all sizes and stack!!!
The 4 litre ones are ideal for a project on the go !
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Acorn, you are my sister from another mother ;)
I have exactly that saying as the screen wallpaper on my other laptop :D
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@Lowena - do you have room for a couple of large hooks on the wall? Each one would take a couple of bags.
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I have loads of projects on the go. Like @datcat23 , it's just the way I work.
I found some brilliant boxes at HomeBargains some time ago, and although they are plastic, these shoe boxes are perfect for most of my projects. They also have an attached lid which can be folded down, making them portable, with bits and pieces unlikely to escape.
Jessie
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I was in a show shop buying a couple of pairs of shoes, and the assistant walked off to pack them. When I got to the counter to pay, she handed me two carrier bags with my shoes in, and I said I wanted the boxes as I keep my shoes in boxes. She was not best pleased with me and I do not know why - she hadn't even asked if I wanted the boxes. Anyway behind her was a huge pile of assorted boxes (not broken down) so she retrieved my boxes and I spied some boot boxes, one was a 'Padders' with a hinged lid, and the other is a huge flat 'Ecco' box 36x59x11.5cm and I put my work in progress in there, it sits alongside where I am working. so once a garment is cut out this goes in the box along with any left over fabric, and everything else needed for making this up, interfacing, pieces of the pattern until I have finished with it and it does help keep things in one place, and being so big it can even hold a garment folded up whilst it is being made without it being squashed. These boxes are free, so well worth frequenting your show shop and ask what they have. Otherwise these boxes just get broken up and disposed of.
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I'm confused too. I thought you'd just moved into a wonderful big house, Lowena. :D And you have a lovely sewing room. :D Not the tiny spaces most of the rest of us mere mortals have to put up with.!!??!! :)
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When I am sewing I mostly work on one project at a time,I haven't much storage space in my bungalow but I do have 3 Addis "under the bed" boxes for fabrics and habby stuff. One has left over fabric and UFOs just in case something comes in handy, the second one has newly purchased fabrics, I don't have an enormous stash and tend to buy for the upcomong project and the third is "work in progress" with the current project in a swing bin liner also bags of zips, bias binding and trims and one with various widths of elastic. All my patterns are filed in shoe boxes. I also have shallow plastic boxes with dividers for bobbins, threads, feet for the machine, buttons and safety pins. I also have a sewing basket from years ago with all sorts of stuff in it including my best scissors. I am a tidy person :angel:
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Thanks everyone for your brilliant suggestions.
Yes @Iminei I have a 55 bedroom mansion :P but I actually have one small sewing room and an 80% share of a box room in which I have storage boxes for fabric ( mainly bed linen for backing and upholstery ) and all my craft materials for felting, rugmaking, embroidery etc.
I simply cannot encroach on anywhere else in the house!
I'd have nowhere to stack boxes of any size of dimensions. My desks are small and The cupboard and shelves I have are full of notions,books,iron and sissix.
The walls are sacrosanct and there's no floor space left.
Looks likely I'll revert to my former practice of one project from start to finish.
I would, however love to hear how you organise your space and projects so you can work effectively, know where things are and not be in a mess, ( I do like a tidy room ) :D
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I don't have a tidy sewing room so probably not that helpful to hear from me. I periodically tidy up and then it gradually goes again.
How about one of those multi hook things on the door with bags hanging off it.
Or move less used stuff to loft, and use that space.
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@Iminei What sort of craziness do you call that! :S You can keep that weirdness on your side of the pond my dear friend!!!
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I'm going down to my local pizza shop tomorrow and buy me a truckload of lovely little square boxes. And next time I drive past a Dominoes pizzaa shop I'm going to hang out of my car window and give them the biggest greasy ever! :devil:
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Oh, @Silver Rose , it never occurred to me to store fabrics in underbed storage boxes :|
I gave up my 'den' to Mr Bear 8 years ago when he moved in and it meant I lost my entire storage wardrobe. I have been shuttling up and down to the loft ever since though more and more 'stuff' is hanging around in plastic boxes in various rooms.
Off to check the height of the space.
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@Lowena As you can't put hooks into the walls, could you get one of the sets of hooks that go over the top of doors so you could store projects in bags?
If you made drawstring bags with "strings" of different lengths, the bags would be at different heights against the door which would reduce the bulkiness.
(Oops, just seen that @SewRuthieSews has had the same idea.)
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There's no way we could use our loft for anything @SewRuthieSews as access is extremely difficult and we are extremely old :D
Can you actually get anything in a pizza box @rubywishes ??? :S Pizzas are very thin -<
Good idea @StitchinTime can you shut the door when using those hooks? I can actually make drawstring bags :angel: but don't things need to be kept flat??
Oh dear, I'm in more of a tizzy than ever now :|
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The door will close with those over-the-door hooks as long as your doors don't fit too closely. I used them a lot in my old house, but here the doors fit the frame too well.
What about an ottoman on the landing? Or elsewhere of course - my daughter uses an old pine seachest as a coffee table. I believe it's full of something.
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Thanks for the tip about the door @Greybird I really can't encroach in any other parts of the house.
I'd still love to know how you all cope <3
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I cope by encroaching on other parts of the (very small) house. I have fabric in an ottoman that sits next to the sofa in the living room. It gets used as a sofa side table. I have small boxes of fabric in the bottom of a wardrobe in the bedroom and boxes on top of the wardrobes too. I don't actually have a lot of fabric but if I had to confine it to the room I use for sewing I wouldn't get in the door - our rooms are very small.
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I have one of those pop up boxes fron The Works. That looks nice on my book case and it holds my current project and small odds and ends.
There is a chest of drawers in spare room - top 2 drawers for guests- well that is the aim but they are overflowing with future projects and my stash, also under the bed, in a wardrobe etc.
It looks tidy but only because my current work is in the box _ I have 2 plastic boxes with 'sticks' for thread and one for spools A much used and very useful pressie last Cmas
Sewing machine is permanently out in the garden/sitting room. No where to store that!
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I only like to work on one thing at a time, maybe cos I don't have that much room either, but then when I start something, it's usually finished within a day or two, can't be doing with things taking days to finish.
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I really can't encroach in any other parts of the house.
@Lowena Says who? Don't you own half of it??? ><
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@Lowena I also have limited space. My home is a little 3-bedroom condominium. One bedroom is for us to sleep, one is my husband’s study and one is mine. Since this 10” x 10” room holds my desk, computer, all my other craft stuff and my sewing stuff, I am realistic about what I can do.
I do stick to one project at a time, as a result of limited space. Also, when I want to work on a larger object, I do it at my sewing class, where I have big tables to use.
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@Lowena how much do you actually need/want all the bed linen etc you have stored? If you can make yourself de clutter 2 small boxes worth you will have the space to store 2 boxes of projects on the go. I only have 50% of a box room to work in and one single built in wardrobe for storage - but I manage to have a couple of clear boxes for longer term projects on the go.
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I have my boxes!
(https://i.postimg.cc/T1c44Tm4/underbed-boxes769.jpg)
Next job is to sort out my fabrics :)
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On a much smaller scale I have a plastic box that is divided into half, a click and shut one, I keep the walking foot on one side and all the quilting feet on the other, leaving the sewing machine store for basic stuff like reel holders.
I also have a largeish pencil case - tacky gold (can't lose it). that I keep bits and bobbs in - rotary cutter and spare blades, 1/4" ruler. tape measure, stitch ripper and marking pencils and pens. They are all kept in my quilting box as opposed to my sewing box!