Sewing Room Mini Makeover

I have a bunch of posts written as I thought I would be able to take some pics while I was home. But after getting past the pain medicine induced haze, I just looked CRAZY! LOL!!!! So I have no finished garment photos still...but...BUT!!!!  :-p

My husband was planning to move my sewing stuff into the larger bedroom while I was recuperating from surgery. I was thinking about the layout in the new room and realized that 'my' room gets more light than the other bedroom. Also, I was never too jazzed about removing the stuff that I'd hung - I know it isn't a huge deal but it was just 'one of those things'.

When we first moved here I knew the existing table was too big. It's 3' x 6' (technically ~70") and while I LOVE it for many reasons - it's heavy as heck and all 3 machines can easily fit - it is far too large for a room that's just under 10' x 12'.

you can see the end of my cutting table here and how close it is to the sewing table.

I was always squeezing through there.

In the old house, I was using this table while sewing in the basement. When I moved up to the bedroom, I had my serger and coverstitch on a pine desk and was using an IKEA Linnmon/Adils combo for the sewing machine. (*I* didn't find this sturdy enough for my machine. ) So I was resigned to my tight space until we decide to buy a house (plan in 2020/2021!) and I can plan around *MY* room!

I was totally hung up on a long table for the all 3 machines and suddenly remembered that they weren't on one table in the last place...and then I was hung up on finding a sturdy enough table for the serger and coverstitch, but the existing pine desk in the basement is also too long based on this room size/layout i.e., the cutting table really can't go anywhere else without creating a lot of unusable space in the middle of the floor. And then...THEN! I looked over at the (amazing) drafting table that I've been using for the Cricut and realized it would be GREAT for those two machines!

The drafting table can go from standard desk height to 46"

the old pressing area and (huge) matching bookcase to the desk with some notions stored

This was another tight area. The other end of the ironing board is right up by the desk and this end can't even go straight...it was angled out into the room.

This closet is seriously tiny. About 22" deep and ~4 feet wide

There were other notions stored on this shelf

Again, I didn't want to spend too much. I settled on the BRUSALI desk for $80 and the LAIVA bookcase for $20.

AND I freed up horizontal space because of the shelving! Woohoo!

There's a lower shelf tucked further back and I have my old Singer 7258 machine there.

My daughter painted this pic for an art class when she was 16. I love it!

This pic just makes me so happy!! It's so bright and colorful and cheery!!

I finally hung my 2nd cone thread rack and organized my serger thread.

Once I'm sewing again we'll see if I need to make any changes to the set up

I use an empty glass spice jar from Trader Joes to keep bent pins and needles that are bent/broken/dull. When it gets full I just put the top on and dispose of it. 

Easy peasy and well contained!

This bookcase is a seriously great value at $20!! It has 5 shelves and the max load per shelf is 33 lbs. My Cricut is the heaviest thing on it and I believe it's a little over 15 lbs.

I'm using the upper shelf for decoration for now...My cotton threads, a box with some trinkets in it that my daughter bought me, some of my favorite photos from when the kids were small people, my jar of decorative buttons, MY CUBS MUG!!!!, and because knitting will be a part of my life again...a ball of yarn with pretty metal needles.

The white basket holds buttons, the container underneath has my larger buttons, D-rings, hook & eye closures. The colorful bins have snaps, eyelets, grommets, and other bits and bobs.

Before I decided on the re-org, I'd picked up a bunch of these clear shoeboxes from The Container Store (they are like $1.59). Imagine my delight when I measured and realized they'd fit perfectly on the bookcase stacked 3x3! Woohoo!!!

I made labels on the Cricut (affiliate link) using their chalkboard vinyl.

I sized the labels so that I could fit 12 on the 12x12 sheet and they ended up being the *perfect* size for the boxes!

My sewing patterns, Burda mags and fabric stash is in the basement. 

Here is my tiny sewing library :)

I have my Burda tech drawing binder, sewing books, my colored pencil set, Threads mags and my machine manuals and discs. 

I also used the Cricut (affiliate link) to make these bags for the set of feet for my Brother 2340cv!

I got all 6 feet for $120! SCORE!

They came in (heavy) ziplock bags with tiny print and that just wasn't going to work. These bags came 4 to a package at Target and were on clearance or $1.75. Seriously winning here. They could easily fit in the rolling cart here but why when I have this cute basket?!

 Once I'd settled on the desk and bookcase, I was thinking, "what can I use to store my pressing tools near the ironing board?" since I was going to get rid of the large wood bookcase.

I was heading downstairs and LIGHTBULB moment. The IKEA Raskog cart that I bought last summer and never assembled would be absolutely perfect!

Because I abhor having to bend to plug the iron in each time...I had it set up this way at the old place and unsure why it just occurred to me to do so here!

Ham, seam roll, clapper, shoulder press, pressing mitt, spray bottle and bottle to refill the iron

The white clip-on baskets are $.79 and the metal clip-on basket was $5.

The second shelf has interfacing and the basket has other pressing related items.

(the pink bin has small bits of interfacing that I use to support zippers or buttonholes or any area that I decide needs some backing during the construction process)

The bottom shelf holds my Cricut Easy Press so perfectly!!

Also, a ironing mat that I use when doing larger Cricut projects

The cutting area is unchanged but those rails, trays and hooks are also from IKEA

The 3-drawer cart that was underneath the drafting table holds all of my Cricut supplies

Actual tools for the machine, cardstock, vinyl, mats, etc.

The large mats are 12"x24" and so I have them hanging

The other side of the closet is pretty random for now :)

My knitting supplies are in the blue basket (I will not be stashing yarn)

My stash of shoulder pads are in the white basket on the upper shelf.

The next shelf has some quilting cuts and the blue basket my daughter's in-progress-for-2+ years-quilt. Sighhhhhh.

There are some other random craft and sewing supplies and the last shelf has all the stuff I bought when I was going to try my hand at dyeing fabric. Another huge sigh.

Aaaaaand the upper shelf of the closet is still a hot mess of hot mess-ness with respect to my PDF patterns. Eventually :-)

On Saturday we got a rainstorm followed by a snowstorm (ughhhhh). My husband had planned to assemble everything and move things in/out since we'd be stuck inside. After searching high and low for the hammer it dawned on me that one of those kids must have it. Yep. My daughter has our hammer. KIDS!!! We went to buy a hammer (and bought an ax too?? LOL!) in the snowstorm. I told him we could go on Sunday but he decided that my mouth was deceiving and my eyes said I WANT MY ROOOOOOOOMMMMMM. :-p

So we worked on the room most of Sunday and I cannot tell you how many times I've walked in there and just SMILED! I can't wait until I can sew again!!!

My follow up with my doc went great. Everything seems fine for now. I still have about 4-6 weeks of very light lifting (<2 lbs). No gripping/pulling/pushing - I was able to cut a banana one day but tried to slice some bread another day and owwwwww.....I also can't really grab/pinch and reaching is painful. Finally, I can do about 20-30 minutes of stuff before I have to take a break. It does not matter what it is, after that time my hand fatigues. My husband does the laundry and I was putting away my ALREADY FOLDED laundry and had to stop after about 15 minutes. All things in time...

On a positive note - I CAN KNIT! Wooohooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Again, with limits...and of course, it would help if I remembered how to cast on...but a friend is going to re-teach me :-p Way back when, I could NOT, for anything, learn to cast on with videos or books. I tried at least 6 or 7 times to do it and nope. I need someone to show me. My first project will be a baby hat. My baby cousin is having a little boy next month!