Sunday, February 28, 2010

Sewing Room

I have been using an extra bedroom off and on as a sewing room since we moved into this house in 1992. It is ~12' x 14' (but that includes the closet space and door swing next to it). It is a good sized room and I am lucky to have it. Soon, however, it needs to be turned back into a bedroom. And we are converting our old garage into my new studio. So far, it is all just a paper dream, but we do have a contractor and I hope to be totally in it by June. The new room will be 19' x 21.5', except we need to remove part of that for the room where the furnace and water heater are located (~8.5' x 7'). So a lot bigger, but it will be an empty room, no closet. I currently have quite a bit stuffed into the closet. So I will be prioritizing what I will keep before it goes into the new room. What I still need to figure out is what to use for storage along the longest wall. I'd like something about 15" deep, with doors. I plan on having a sliding design wall in front of the storage cabinets, but want doors anyway. Anyone have some wonderful cabinets that can go floor to ceiling and handle the weight of fabric they can recommend?
For comparison, here is my current space: I sew on a Bernina housed in a Koala Outback Plus, unfortunately no room to have the extension raised on the back.

We installed kitchen wall cabinets so I have storage over the machine. Right over my head is some of my thread (machine embroidery and hand applique)

My design wall is attached to the closet doors, works pretty well unless I have a very large quilt! Right now my finished Farmer's Wife Sampler blocks are on the wall. Hanging on the wall next to it are my embroidery hoops (in the white hanging thing).

In the center of the room is my cutting table. It is also holding my printer right now, and some of the rulers. I can walk around it on three sides. Off to the right you can see my computer and a small bookcase, which does not hold all of my quilting books. It will be nice to have them all together in the new room.

I have an embaressment of riches when it comes to fabric.

In back of the door is a pegboard which holds my hand quilting templates, lots of my rotary cutting rulers, and the occasional bit of mending (or pants that need hemming).

The armoire has several large pieces in it, along with some specific things (a few PIGs, bilaterally symmetrical fabric for kaleidoscopes, and background fabric).

The closet used to be sorted by color, along with some plastic totes with PIGs and UFOs. Now it is less organized.



Not exactly a showplace of a sewing room, but I do manage to get things done in it.

2 comments:

Lyon's Den said...

Hi .. I saw your "High Country Quilts" quilt from May 2008. I have a question about the quilt patterns to ask you, but can't find an e-mail address to contact you directly. Could you please e-mail me? Thanks in advance.

Jennifer

ConnieB/CA said...

I can't find an e-mail address for you either. The High Country Garden quilt was made using patterns of the month put out by High Country Quilts in Colorado Springs, CO. These were from the late 1980s or early 1990s (I moved in 1991). HCQ is under new ownership since then, so I don't know if they are still available.