I took advantage of the fact that I had to clean up the guest room for our recent guests to photograph the room that I also use as my sewing room. I always find it interesting to see what kinds of spaces people use to create in. It’s still a room that I’m getting used to due to the fact that I switched to this room 6 or 7 months ago, giving up my previous room to our little baby girl.
I created a lot of this room prior to using it as a sewing room, including making all the bedding from scratch. I made the duvet cover, two pillow shams, two accent pillows with the fabric on point and one small pillow created with an embroidery machine. I found the curtains at Target and they matched well, so I opted not to make those. (I was doing the whole house at the time and didn’t need any more projects!)
You might recognize that little quilt at the end of the bed too. I made that right before the babe came. I had started it a ridiculous amount of time before I was pregnant and finally finished it about a week before she was born…just one of the things on the to do list that I actually crossed off.
My friends call this “The Welcome Bed”.
I use the bed a lot to lay out my projects when I am working on them. I also lay there when I’m tired of sewing and that is where the little gal hangs out while I’m sewing. So it’s very multipurpose. It even lets my husband join me while I’m sewing which was never done in the old sewing room.
I have a little space at the end of the bed that gives me just enough room for a little bookcase where I store all my quilting books, my markers and colored pencils, and various other little projects. The tv sits on top of it for noise in the background while I sew. I like to have voices around…keeps me from thinking too much! LOL.
There is just enough space under the window for my ironing board. I had covered it to match my last sewing room and I’m starting to think about recovering it again. It’s been a few years…and I’m ready for a change. I need to use a fabric that will match this room now. Maybe a black and white fabric…hmmm…suggestions?
Here is one of my bookcases where I store fabric and my fabric scraps. The scraps are all in the clear bins and all my greens, reds, and purples are on the bottom shelf. Above this bookcase is my thread. I like to arrange it mildly in a rainbow order to find things more easily and see how much of each color I have.
Here’s a closeup of the bookcase where I store all my scraps. They are sorted by color and are starting to overflow. I need to make more scrap projects because it seems every time I make something I end up with more scraps. I also have containers for extra bits of bindings, charms and other notions.
I have a large closet in this room (about the only large thing in the room!) and I have room for a dresser in there with more fabric storage…things like flannel, my solids, batting and knitting items. I also hang all my finished quilts that are waiting to go somewhere or quilt tops waiting to be finished. Along the walls I have all my rulers, templates and boards hanging.
I have another little bookcase that doubles as a bed side stand that stores most of my fabric. It’s arranged by color and I need to use up my fabric before I buy any more! And to think of what I have coming still…agh!
And finally, this is my tiny little desk with my lovely sewing machine where all the work happens. You can see why I need to move to the dining room table when I quilt anything larger than a baby blanket. I just don’t have the space here. I have a bulletin board above where I can keep my coupons and post inspirational pictures. I used to have a huge one in the last room, so this is much smaller…so I’m pickier about what I put up now!
I also have under bed storage with some more fabric (like decorator weight and dress weight) and projects in process. It’s such a tiny space in comparison, but I know that I’m lucky to have even this. Like I said, I want to recover my ironing board and I would also like to make a patchwork cover for my sewing room chair. I like to have inspiration in all places!!
I hope that you enjoyed this tour of my little sewing room/guest room. Probably more than you wanted to know, but maybe it can help someone organize something in their room or space better. I hope to have a whole studio for myself someday with a counter height cutting table and a larger ironing board…but a girl’s gotta have a dream!
I did actually manage to get some sewing done today as well…both the ravishing in red block and pretty in pink block…so I’ll have those to share tomorrow! Then I’ve got to get cracking because August is my month for pretty in pink and I need to pull that together early because I’ll be going out of town for a bit. So there’s still tons to do!
awesome! what a great use of space!
ooops! that was from randi @ http://ihavetosay.typepad.com/randi/
Oh my word–I LOVE your sewing room! You know, sometimes you'll see photos of sewing rooms and they're like 500 square feet with 12 foot ceilings and really just make you all wanty and sad and pathetic. LOL, but I love yours–it's a place where you can do your thing and the family can come hang out and everything is at hand and even TV! I think I need to copy your sewing room. I definitely need a bed in mine. Oh great, now I'm all wanty! But not sad because I'm pretty sure I can do it. 🙂
Looks perfect! I have the room to myself for the first time ever and I love it. I dont think I could fit a bed in my sewing room its 10×10 so very small, but I have a walk in closet!! I am slowly working on making it pretty. I really love yours 🙂
I like your bed covering. I need to organize my room. I had to move it and it still is in the bins.
I loved seeing your sewing room – its so pretty and well organized!
where in the south are you? I'm in AL
In in New Orleans!
I'm glad you guys liked the sewing room. It's humble, but useful. I'm working really hard at just keeping one project out at a time. And I do think that anyone with a guest room can make it work if this one did…trust me. It took some clever space planning, but I actually had to buy a new bookcase for the room and I thought that I wasn't going to be able to use two that I already had!
Nice sewing space Angela. I feel I know you a little already from The Plaid Scottie. The pictures after you did some pale blue painting are even prettier. Your daughter is favorite baby, right? N