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Monday, April 11, 2016

Monday Morning Inspiration/Sewing Room Inspiration

I have a VERY dirty little secret. My studio is a disaster, and there are pictures to prove it!!! 
I dream of a pretty space where everything is neat and tidy. Look at the spaces below, how lovely and inviting they are.



And now for true confessions.... 
I hold my head in shame, what a mess!!! 


And wait!!!, there's more...
My cutting table. It's a very large table but you wouldn't know by the looks of it at the moment.


 This is REALLY bad.



And finally, my actual sewing table. Sometimes I wonder how I ever find anything. Believe it or not, even in the state of chaos that it's in, there is some semblance of organization. But only some.


So over the next few weeks as I clean, sort out and organize, I'll bring you along on my journey.

I love the idea of shelves. Under my cutting table, I do have wire baskets like those in the picture below. I think a table with the baskets would also be wonderful

                                       

And I think a beg board is a must.


So what about you? Am I the only one with an out of control sewing studio? With the pictures I see of some of your studios, I think I am. 

I would love a little inspiration, so if you have a studio that you would enjoy sharing,  I've created an Link Up, so please link away.

In the event that I am not alone and you too would like to take on the challenge of organizing your space, show us the good, the bad and the ugly as I have done. I  invite you to come along on my journey! Hey, misery loves company :)

Nothing like a little public humiliation to get one motivated. Hopefully a clean and organized studio is just a few weeks away. I hope :)






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39 comments:

  1. Haha at the public humiliation! :)

    I too admire the super neat studios but know that that'll never be me. I've been messy my entire life. My room is messy, my office is messy, my sewing space is messy...

    Everything does have a place though, which is good enough for me! :)

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  2. I feel so much better! My room is the same and coincidentally I was cleaning it last night. Part of my problem is that my kids think that it is the place to put whatever they don't want anymore!

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  3. LOL...I look forward to following this journey. My sewing/art 'studio' is my dining room. Although I do get frustrated at times not having a room solely dedicated to be my creative space...for the most part, it forces me to be relatively tidy. That all being said, the room is gradually becoming more a sewing room that has to transition to a dining room than the other way around. If I get one of those awesome peg boards, I'll have to resort to taking my guests out for dinner!

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  4. Oh thanks for sharing your space! Mine looks VERY similar! It goes through phases of being very messy, then being tidy(ish), then back to messy again. It is all part of the process of being creative! I love the framed vintage catalog prints you have on your wall! I have some, ready to frame....somewhere...now to find them. Thanks for the nudge!

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    1. The vintage pictures were salesman's pieces. You would order one of the samples of fabric and the size of your choice and have it delivered. I found them in an antique store in Galveston, TX. Did you notice that even they are crooked?!!!

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  5. A lot of the super neat spaces I see just AREN'T functional to me. Like a peg board BEHIND my sewing table? How am I supposed to reach for what I need when I'm sitting down in the middle of something? lol
    I think, everything having it's place is important though, so we know where to find things

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  6. Yikes! I have to admit, I'm a Felix not an Oscar and more so in my sewing space it is actually the master bedroom closet and not terribly large. Good luck I know you'll rein it all in. I find when things start to get messy/unorganized it is usually because I just have too much stuff. So I go on a stash diet and cull my scraps and such down to one container. Patterns get culled too. I find I like having a smaller stash and being as creative as possible with what I have.

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  7. Those pretty studios can't be where the magic happens because how does one create in a place so neat and controlled?

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  8. Mine looks worse--HONEST. I have been sorting "stuff" I removed from a 5 drawer chest that I just emptied and donated..........so I have all the stuff from the drawers strewn about an already messy room. Sheesh!

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  9. Those last two pics are my idea of wonderful. I do have a pretty nice sewing space and at the end of each day it gets tidied up and swept, everything put away or lined up for the next day's work. I'm really sort of anal about it as I am one of those whose creative juices flow more freely when I am not distracted by disorder. I am blessed to also have a big closet and a really good size connecting unfinished room that gets all the books and fabrics. That makes it easy for me to keep things happy. I recognized that we all function differently but for me I need order and respect that others are quite opposite.

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  10. LOL, my sewing room has been just as bad, and isn't in fantastic shape right now either. Looking forward to the journey!

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  11. haha, I think we all share your walk of shame. But we are creative women, and that's our story!

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  12. I don't trust folks with tidy sewing rooms. Seeing is messy. If your room is tidy it's because you aren't using it

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  13. Mine is worse than yours. I think threatening to set up my studio,but there are stacks everywhere and big plastic storage bags of fabric all over the living room floor. Also boxes and boxes of old and new patterns everywhere. It's so bad I feel demoralized every time I look at it!

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  14. I'm not in the pretty sewing room stage of my sewing. I think of my sewing cave as a workroom so as long as its clean and functional I'm happy. I will never have one of those pinterest sewing rooms and I'm good with that. However, if you decide to give away those Vogue pictures - let me know! I'll even come to Chicago to pick them up! *smile*

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  15. My sewing nook is just this side of crazy. Maybe. It may actually have crossed over and I've adjusted enough that I didn't realize it. Cleaning it is on my list of things to do this year...and it may actually happen, as that fleecy stuff I used to make lamb costumes shed ALL OVER and the feathery bits are fuzzing up on EVERYTHING.


    But I need a week. I'm going to wreck my nice new family room when I do it, as everything is going to have to be hauled out to get the lint up...

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  16. Ok, I cheated and added a link to my sewing room all clean & tidy. That's how I see it in my head, and I'm sticking with it! I look forward to seeing how yours progresses!

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  17. Hey Rhonda! I thought I was stepping into my studio! I am working on my organization too, but when I'm really being creative, the fur is going to fly!

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  18. Mine is just the right side of presentable as I have to let clients in! (Though they might not be so sure - I have low 'tidy' standards). However, the room I took over for cutting and stash storage is absolutely out of bounds! It's horrifying 😨

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  19. Looking forward to what you do with your sewing room. My room is multifunctional and try to keep it organize, but trust & believe it can look chaotic.

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  20. Mine is a mess, but when I get to a pause in my list I clean and sort. Some of those rooms don't look like much gets done but maybe the pic was a tiny moment in time. If I ever get mine like those I'll definitely take a pic!

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  21. Rhonda,
    My studio is only orderly when I'm not being creative!! Right now our house is for sale and everyone is commenting on my incredibly organized studio -creativity only occurring in my mind while I keep it all straight!

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  22. Oh Rhonda, you have pushed me to do what I have been procrastinating to do for a few months now. Time to do my studio tour and it is not one of those designer studios but it is mine and I am happy to have it. I do plan to do more with it in the future. I guess look for the link soon.

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  23. I agree with the other comments a degree of chaos is vital for creativity.
    My work room is also my living room which I share with 4 cats so a little being
    organised/tidy is vital if not to provide new beds lol.
    However my main thing is to be aware of wasted space, for example the sides of desks are so rarely used.
    Screw cup hooks into the edge of desktop and you can hang fabric storage bags or
    a length of dowel between two gives somewhere to hang ribbon/braid.
    Use small metal "s" hooks and little plastic baskets for storage. Got cats? Use fabric scraps and elastic to make covers.
    If not baskets how about little buckets? Metal or even children's seaside ones.
    I use those coat hooks that come on a length of wood (I buy them in Poundland, paint wood to match walls/table & spray the coat hooks then hang whatever from them.
    Got a small bookcase serving no real purpose? Attach to desk use covered cardboard boxes, baskets for storage. Or put it on castors and roll underneath when you've finished. Don't forget the sides are wasted space!
    Stick cork on and use as memo board or cover cork in pretty fabric then use as memo board.
    Multitask room? Measure height, width, depth of desk/table & any added fixtures then make a fitted cloth that completely covers the area. When works done, clear the desk/table top and put on cover. It's tidy, clean protects your things and gives you a fresh start when you lift the cover.
    If that's too much run a piece of curtain wire across the front of your desk, two simple curtains hung from it. Boxes on castors pushed under desk at end of work & close the curtains

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  24. I'm convinced that nice, neat sewing studios are owned by people who only sew now and then. How do you ever get a project completed if you are always cleaning up the mess you are in the midst of producing? I confess my studio looks almost exactly like yours. Now, I organize, sort, redistribute, put away, throw away, alphabetize, and as soon as I am in a project, it goes back to the mess I had before. I don't even let my cleaning lady throw out the trash in the waste baskets. Afterall, there may be a scrap in there that is just what I need!! It's my mess, and apparently it is here to stay.

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  25. Mine becomes disastrous when I have multiple projects going at once. I really try to keep it picked up, because it's the first room you see when someone walks into the house. I could use some purging! LOL

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  26. Rhonda,
    I commend you for your bravery in showing your studio - truth be told, most of us probably have the same sort of thing going on... I certainly do! I long for order, I covet neatness, I pin photos of beautiful spaces. I even gave away 4 large boxes of stuff I'll never actually use and yet I look around and wonder how could I actually have so much stuff?!?! This is my year for an orderly, organized sewing space that will beckon me to creativity instead of scream "come clean me up!" I look forward to working with you on this project!

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  27. I thank you for your bravery. You must be my long lost twin. I am currently working in the only horizontal clear area in my studio. It is about the size of a 3"x 5" card. When I am creating I always seem to end up with all surfaces covered except the 3"x 5" space. I will be following your cleanup and hope to be inspired.

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  28. I don't have a lot of rules about my work spaces, but I have a few.

    I need to be able to find what I am working on and the tools to do it immediately. Adam Savage's "Tested" You Tube videos and his "rule of first retrieval" has been a big influence on my thinking.

    I have to clean up/out/over my space between big projects. I don't have one space that is just mine, so I can only get so messy before I make my spouse really angry. We are just recovering from nonstop sewing/building for the first wave of comic convention costuming, so this week is Just Cleaning, nothing else.

    Clear plastic boxes with lids are my storage of choice; I can see stuff, I can clean them out and move stuff from smaller ones to bigger ones, and I can stack them. Those cute wicker things are opaque, snag, need dusting, and take up more space as objects than containers. But everyone finds the method that clicks for them.

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  29. Reading your post is so timely.. I cleaned up my sewing room just tonight. It was bad!! I go through a few projects and then it gets too bad to deal with so I give a tidy. A tidy...no deep cleaning is happening. Just enough to get me sewing again because that is the goal right? To sew! If you can do it in a messy space then so be it!! Who cares!?

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  30. Hi Rhonda, you're not alone! when I am in the midst of a project my space looks like yours. And as I tend to start new projects before one is finished, I am always in the midst of projects...I now try to clear away things when I have finished a sewing step. Else I get frustrated because the free space on my table gets smaller and smaller and I waste time looking for tools.

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  31. I'm not sure whose sewing room is messier, yours or mine. I would love to get more storage, but have lime rendered walls so can't attach anything on them. I look forward to see what you come up with.

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  32. Hey Rhonda, you've obviously hit a chord here. Your space doesn't look too messy, just well used. I feel lucky to have sewing space and it does get out of control to the point that I have to stop and sort through stuff before I can sew another thing. Every now and then (we're talking in years), I totally revamp the place trying for a better use of space. But I'm not into the cutesy Pinterest spaces or spending money on storage/ furniture. I try to use what I have or make it myself.

    After having shoulder pain from sewing all the time, I'm now trying to address table height for the sewing machine and the cutting table. Thinking of cutting down the current sewing table to 24" + the 4" of the sewing machine. And raising my cutting table about a foot with crates underneath. We'll see how that works.

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  33. LOLOLOL!!! So glad to see your sewing room looks as bad as mine does sometimes. I cannot work with it like that for long, so I do clean it up after most projects. Actually, I am cleaning it right now, so I better get back to it. Loved the post!
    Hugs, Joy

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  34. I'm messy too. I often think these very tidy spaces belong to people who may be quite young and have not yet developed a complex life where layers and layers just accrete. Also, some of these spaces seem purpose built, and I am more a normal, average person trying to make do with what I have and can afford. One day though ---!

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  35. Feel free to check out my board on Pinterest:
    https://www.pinterest.com/irishpack/craftsewing-room-ideas/

    I just moved into a small one bedroom apartment and have not figured out how to store my craft materials so my front room is constantly in chaos. It looks like a Hobby Lobby threw up in it....you get my drift.

    I don't have any tools and am not at all handy so, what's a girl to do?

    Thanks for sharing!! :)

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  36. I have to interject here. I have a dedicated sewing studio. Not large but wonderful. There are so many comments about clean rooms are not being used. No, there are some of us that can't think amongst chaos. When I cut things out, I do it all then clean up the mess before I start sewing. At the end of a day, I clean and oil my machine, put in a new needle so that I'm good to go for tomorrow. I would never go in there if it was messy. I clean up my mess before moving forward. I'm the same in the kitchen. I'm somewhat chef trained and a messy kitchen breeds germs and havoc. I prefer clean no matter what room. No, I'm not add or weird. I just was not raised in a mess so I don't function in one. For those of you that like that, fine by me. But please don't assume clean spaces aren't used. Mine is used daily. I love creating.

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