The Sewing Place
The Emporia => House Beautiful => Topic started by: SewRuthieSews on June 10, 2021, 08:01:54 AM
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I love having a sewing room, and in the new house we hope to be buying I will have a lovely big room.
It has sloping ceilings in part of the room, and a big built in wardrobe which we will be using for our out of season / smart clothing.
I will have some fabric storage in another room and space in the full height end of the room for some bookcases.
There's then space in the part of the room with the window and the sloping ceilings for tables, desks, ironing board, shorter cabinets and etc.
I'll start with repurposing stuff I already have and gradually improve it.
So ideas please of the most useful things to have in this space.
my current plan just has stuff round the walls in a U shape, with the ironing board put up in front of the radiator.
The available space is about 2.5m(side walls one with radiator) by 3.5m (window wall) and only full height by the window.
I like enough space for 3 sewing machines (sewing machine, overlocker, coverhem) on the table, and it'd be nice to have space to cut out as well. For sewing I'd be sitting, but for cutting out standing, which I guess pushes the cutting table (if I had one - I don't now) either into the centre of the room or up underneath the window.
I have various bookcases, cupboards, tables, risers and other stuff which might/might not make the move depending on what might be useful (second hand/argos/ikea cheapies)
I'm open to ideas!
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Here's a picture of the window area
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The best thing I’ve ever bought in all my years of sewing is the Bekant adjustable height desk from IKEA
https://www.ikea.com/gb/en/cat/bekant-system-18960/
Yes it is expensive but so worth it. Perfect height for the machines, I use two on it side by side. Great for cutting out... no more back ache. I would have got the larger desk top but didn’t have the room.
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I have my eye on this for next year:
https://www.woodseatssewingmachinesshop.co.uk/index.php?route=product/product&path=200_85&product_id=467
Not as solid as the wood ones but much lighter. There are cheaper ones about but I have seen comments of instability on reviews.
An empty room to start with, very exciting <3
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I had to convert the meters to feet so I could visualize the size better. My sewing room is 10'x10' so roughly 3x3 meters.
I have an L shaped desk in one corner but pulled out about a 1.5 feet from the longer wall in front of the window so we can store things behind the desk (like my old computers that I need to dispose of properly and our space heaters that we use in the winter for example). They can't be seen as they're shorter than the desk.
On a third wall I have two cabinet/bookshelf combos. Bottom part are cabinets and top are bookshelves where I keep all of my sewing, quilting, dyeing and other fiber art books, machine manuals, Cartamodello pattern magazines and many of my PDF/copy shop patterns that have been put into large envelopes. Against this cabinet I have two small part organizers with all of my buttons. Something like this: tiny parts storage bin (https://www.wisatakuliner.xyz/images/small-parts-storage-cabinet-2261-plastic-storage-drawers-1280-x-1280.jpg)
In a corner next to the desk is my dress form. On the fourth wall I have a built in closet with a metal bakers rack which is full of large bins of fabric. There are some overflow bins that are stored underneath parts of the desk. When I bought this house I removed the closet doors in both smaller bedrooms and put up curtain rods and curtains so I could maximize the space. They were folding doors and would have required too much space when opened. My ironing board is in front of the closet.
I also have a couple of three drawer plastic containers. I keep one on the desk and it houses thread and such. There is overflow thread in one of the cabinets.
I cut things out on the kitchen counter which is quite large and I can fit up to four of the 34'x24' olfa mats. I was on a multi year sewing hiatus when I bought this house but when I saw the counter I immediately thought it would be a fantastic cutting space. It was actually a major selling point. If I didn't have that counter I would still be able to cut out on my sewing desk although it would be a hassle because the machines would need to be removed and also the lower height would annoy my back.
I find the organizer drawers quite useful and while mine is full of my rather large button collection I can see it being useful for organizing needle packs by size/type, overflow bobbins, etc. You can get them with larger drawers for larger notions. A lot of my notions are all in plastic bins in the cabinets and it's not easy to find what I'm looking for.
All of the stuff in the room doesn't leave much space in the middle of the room left. I have an office chair and then there's a bit of space from the desk to the door. Probably what doesn't work is that I have overflow fabric on top of the desk and the room feels very cluttered.
I think the most important thing is to have plenty of small storage bins for all the small bits and organized in a way that you can easily find things. That is currently missing for me. Just writing this is making me rethink how I store those items.
I'd take photos but the room is such a disaster I would be too embarrassed to post them. :faints:
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When I di my sewing room, I initially put a long work top under the window, but found I couldn't see properly to sew with the light behind the machines, so moved the work top to one side wall.
I used a 2 metre (ish?) length of left-over kitchen worktop, one end on an Ikea Alex drawer unit, and the other end on two legs, again from Ikea.
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As far as cutting tables are concerned I bought this one last year and it is great as I can fold it up to get it out of the way when I don’t want it https://www.amazon.co.uk/Lifetime-80522-Commercial-Adjustable-Folding/dp/B01MR850FW. They do do a 6 foot version but I didn’t have room for it.
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I love these @Celia I've got one 5ft one and a couple of smaller ones. It's the flexibility of being able to drop them and store out of the way when not needed. Not seen that one with the adjustable height though.
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My niece's bedroom is shaped like this. The door to enter is in a bit of an alcove (opposite the window wall) and can easily accommodate a 36" W shelf just above the door, reaching wall to wall for extra storage that with a small step stool is a breeze to access. The back of the shelf rests on the door frame and two small pieces of 1"x2" wood supports the sides. All painted the same color as the walls.
Is this a possibility?
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Yes @Gernella the adjustable height one goes right up to kitchen work surface height so it is good for cutting out on. I also have a smaller one which is in constant use for all sorts of things, the smaller one doesn’t go quite so high.
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My space is a similar size, a bit narrower, but without the sloping roof complication, and this is what I have:
(https://i.imgur.com/DpOvUw9l.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/9fKozNpl.jpg)
This room also has to fit my entire stash.
My cutting table is an Ikea Norden gateleg table with added leg extensions and castors, and I would definitely recommend a folding cutting table. The pictures show one side up, but with both sides up it is a good cutting size. I use this as my main work table for drafting, pinning, tacking etc. It works well for me, as I often like to stand. With one side up, there is room for the ironing board, but I usually put that away if I have the table fully up for cutting as it can get a bit tight.
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I've not got it on this pc but another one has a video of a sewing room, that is large, very well equipped, tidy (a near professional video as well). Despite the fact that everything was labelled clearly on the multitude of Artbin boxes, I wasn't one bit envious. I suspect if I had a room like that I would find it intimidating and not one bit comfortable.
I did manage to find fault with her machine needles, stuffed in a box on on top of the other whereas mine are in boxed compartments so I can pick out easily what size I want and what needs replacing :angel:
I mean, it's not how much you've got but how you use it.
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This is it
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6jMJtHxr_E&t=5s
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The seller withdrew from the accepted offer, so we are not buying that house.
So who knows what shape/size the new sewing room will actually be.
Still collecting ideas though :-)
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Might not be a bad thing @SewRuthieSews slopped ceilings can be a bit difficult if the room is used for sewing etc, my grandmothers house was like that and as rooms got used differently over the years sometimes it was a problem.
Hope you find a new house soon.
@charlotte your room looks a lovely place to work in. I love seeing real sewing rooms.
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I keep seeing 'Sewing Room layabouts' :P
Following the fred as I'm trying to plan my 2m x 2m sewing room for when I have time to get started on it. My biggest concern is a cutting out table that will be big enough to lay out a decent chunk of Light side pattern but not so big that it will get in the way.
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@Flobear you might need to settle on using a table in another room for cutting out. I have a Horn cutting table that is on castors and folds down quite small but I've hardly ever used it because of the space needed to open it out and still have room to walk all round. I have wheeled it into the kitchen a couple of times for curtains and when I made Mr P's jacket. Mostly i cut out on the dining table.
I picked up one useful tip from that video @Gernella - having a cork board on the wall in front of the machine. Currently I end up with post it notes stuck to my machine, table top or the side of the wardrobe behind me.
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My sewing room, being the converted loft has the majority of walls sloped and it's a bit of a problem at times but it's so big I'm not complaining!!
The stairhead and banisters around the stairs have been covered by my DH so I have a very large surface which I use for cutting out, assembling - well everything really.
I would post a pic but the state of it is not something I willingly admit to :| Hey, I'm creative and I don't have to put anything away!! :laughing: It may look a mess but I know where everything is - well, roughly :rolleyes:
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@realale Sounds exactly like my room. I wish I had a straight wall to put my tall bookcase up. Lots of fiddly corners too. The Velux windows are good for the light though.
Mess? What mess? That's work in progress. (apart from when I pulled things out to find something for someone else) I would like a full day on my own to put everything back where it should be - I was in the middle of sorting out better places for things, then the boxes of yarn fell over and a load of paperwork to sort landed. you can have a photo in a year or so.
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Oh yes, the light up there with the roof lights is excellent and I have managed one tall skinny bookcase but otherwise 1 metre is the highest I can go.
After 6 years of not having anywhere to sew I am LOVING every inch of my room!!
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I picked up one useful tip from that video @Gernella - having a cork board on the wall in front of the machine. Currently I end up with post it notes stuck to my machine, table top or the side of the wardrobe behind me.
Snap, @Ploshkin although I can't put one on, I don't like 'things' on walls unless they are pictures so the post it note rules.
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The seller withdrew from the accepted offer, so we are not buying that house.
So who knows what shape/size the new sewing room will actually be.
Still collecting ideas though :-)
Waah! House buying is so stressful. Hoping you find that perfect sewing room, and the house that goes along with it! :D