My new sewing space

21 Aug

I thought it was about time that I documented my new sewing space, before it looks really messy lived in.  If you’re a regular reader you will have endured a number of months this year of me not having a kitchen, dining room or a space to call my own to sew in.

We’ve had building works going on, last week the builders were back in to ‘tidy up’ and  ‘finish off’ (although in taking these photographs my husband spied a fair bit of mess left on top of one of the cupboards).

The result of all the work is that we have a light and airy back of the house rather than a gloomy one and a lot more space.  So I now have a sewing area.  It is a room that you have to walk through from the hallway to the kitchen/diner so it will have to stay reasonably tidy.

This was the view on Friday evening before I tided up:

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I had started to make a bag and was also part way through sorting out my vintage sheet stash (which has been living upstairs) which is the reason for the clutter.

This is the view from the hallway (he took the door off for the photo):

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The view from the corner by the right hand cupboard:

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You can see that from this ‘aerial’ shot that it leads down to the kitchen/diner and then out to the garden.  At the top of this picture is a wide window which lets it lots of light but very little direct sunlight (you can also see it in the night time photo above).

What you can’t see from those pictures is the other side of the stairs which aren’t technically part of my sewing space but who cares?

New stairs - after decoration

If you want to know more about them and how I did it read this post.

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My sewing machine sits on the yellow formica table that I found recently at the charity shop.  The leaves fold down so depending on how much space I need I have them up or down.  I can put them both down and put the table underneath the worktop and have it right out of the way if I need floor space.  (I also have a fireplace which is perfect for small children to sit in and suck thumbs).

So have you had enough of the tidy photo’s?

Here are some open door shots:

Vintage sheet stash

The top cupboard houses my vintage sheet stock which I sell in my etsy shop looking the neatest it has for a long time.  The bottom cupboard contains vintage fabrics (not sheets) that need sorting/rehoming and a bag or 2 of vintage sheet scraps.

The cupboards either side of the fireplace were made for us by a by a local craftsman a few years ago.  The cupboard to the left was removed during the building works due to the changes to the back of the house but my talented husband fitted them back in with some adjustments (the space was slightly smaller) once the work was finished.

The other cupboard

This is home to my sewing machine extension table, boxes of scrap fabrics (sorted by colour), a box of hardware (self cover buttons, trigger clasps, magnetic bag clasps etc) and zips.

You can just see on the wall behind the open cupboard door a hand printed linocut of goldfish bags with kissing goldfish by the talented Amy Friend of During Quiet Time.

Deep breath…this is the fabric stash cupboard:

My fabric stash

We found ourselves in a bit of a vicious circle, we couldn’t move the contents of one cupboard until the cupboard upstairs was empty of fabric and moved downstairs for all our crockery but we couldn’t move fabric until the built-in cupboards were empty.  Then I realised that we had this unit from our old kitchen that we weren’t reusing in the new kitchen so I could have it in my space, so I literally pulled out all my fabric from the cupboard upstairs and shoved it into this one – just to get things moving!  It’s a 60cm deep cupboard so the fabric goes back a long way.  I will sort it very soon and probably put it in the cupboard to the left of the fireplace.

Can you see that this is very much a work in progress?  At the moment that cupboard has an odd shaped piece of work top on it, it’s doing the job for the time being.  I think that I would like to keep the cupboard as it’s a great height for cutting so I have my eye on a table top from Ikea, it’s deeper than a kitchen work top which will give me a bit more space to work on.  If you have any tips and advice on work top sizes please tell me.  Ideally I’d like to be able to work around 3 sides of it so we might just configure the space differently but for now I am just so glad to be getting back to (a new sort) normal.

Sometime I may paint the room for now I have some things on display looking pretty including a gorgeous print of threads from Rebekah Leigh Marshall a localish artist whose work you can find in her etsy shop.

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I also have a print of a Singer sewing machine by Rebekah which is framed and already hanging.

The wooden unit was a charity shop find and has been in the loft for at least a year waiting for the extension to be complete.  I’ll probably fix it to the wall and fill it with ‘things’ but have yet to decide where.

Also hanging up I’ve got some paper pieced blocks hanging up (I love picture rails) and 2 quilt tops waiting to be basted, quilted and bound.

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The bad news is that there are a couple of big boxes in the loft of sewing patterns, books, notions etc that also need to be stored somewhere down here and a Horn sewing cabinet in our bedroom which I think will be leaving me as my machine is too big for it.  Oh and there’s my original Janome and my hand powered Singer somewhere around the house.

I hope you’re enjoyed the tour, hopefully soon it will be more organised and feel like home.  I’m linking up with the Studio Spotlight Series; go on over and have a nose through other people’s sewing spaces, some are huge, some have sewing spaces housed in a cupboard in the kitchen.

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17 Replies to “My new sewing space

  1. Gosh, I love your room! It’s so nice the way you can see everything that’s going on in the house from there. And I spotted my goldfish right away! Thank you 🙂

  2. Great tour! I could do with just sitting in that fireplace and sucking my thumb right now rather than the pesky day job 😉

  3. WOW! This was such a super post! I love that it’s your own space, but you’re still involved with your family via the loft. You have a gorgeous space in which to create 🙂

  4. Oh you lucky thing, it’s lovely. I know it sounds kind of odd but the thought of sorting through all those fabric scraps, crafty things and notions… I would SO love it! Finding things you’d forgotten, organising… yum! The pictures are beautiful and the trouser-hangers on the picture rail is just genius. I’m going to be copying!

  5. Lovely tour! I like how it seems to be pretty central in the house, and it looks like you have lots of light. Plenty of storage too – that’s one thing I’m a bit short on. Hope you have fun sewing there, thanks for sharing!

  6. Your sewing space is perfect!!!! All laid out just right!
    And I love your home made and bought art hanging up!!

  7. It’s brilliant! Would love a dedicated sewing area, especially one as light and airy as this and love the fact you can just shut the cupboard doors on the stash.

  8. I love it Mary, bet it was well worth all the months of building work. Great that you have so much storage, I’m struggling to fit all my sewing stuff in now and keep buying more shelves and drawers to hide my stash in!

    Looks so nice and bright and at least you can keep an eye on the family whilst you sew. Mine is out the back of the house in the garage so I have to tempt my son to come out with me so I can keep an eye on him. Luckily the other half of the garage is a playroom so it keeps him busy too.

  9. What an amazing space to sew! It looks fantastic and worth the wait. Your flower quilt is still catching my eye – love it!

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