This is a guest post from the lovely Shelly over at https://sew-spacious.com/
Want to start organizing your sewing room, but not sure where to start? Any of these 5 things below will help you see progress. Get a quick win and everything else feels easier.
Do all 5 – plus the bonus 6th one 😉 for maximum inspiration!
Choose your work in progress spot
Everybody needs a place to tidy their current project away. Maybe it’s a shelf above your sewing machine, or a pretty box.
Having a spot to place your current work in project (WIP) will help you look and feel organized.
Choose a box or area you can dedicate to this.
Make it appropriate to the projects you typically make.
If you are making clothes, it might be a special coat hanger and your mannequin. If you are making large quilts, you might need to have a very large shelf or rack to drape your quilt over.
Don’t choose the bed. No, no, no. The bed is not a storage spot! Ideally, it will be somewhere that “looks tidy”.
I typically work on piecing projects, so I use a rack above my machine that I can hang my current project over. It’s visually easy to see, but still looks and feels organized and put away.
2. Sort out your boards
Do you have a pegboard, bulletin board or whiteboard for keeping tools, notions, and ideas easy to hand?
Go ahead and organize them. Clean them off and wipe them down.
Make firm decisions on what you really need to keep on there.
Toss any notes or papers you have finished with.
File away any notes on ideas that you are not going to do soon.
Take off any tools or notions that you aren’t using. Make firm decisions on what you really want and need to keep on there.
Add some inspiration. Perhaps a swatch of your favourite fabric and a sketch of an idea you want to make with it.
Allow for some empty space to give yourself a bit of breathing room. It’s okay not to pack the board full.
Finally, stand back and appreciate your hard work. Take a photo to remind yourself. Sewing will start to feel inspiring again when you feel calm in your surroundings.
3. Put away your scraps
Organizing your scraps is sometimes the last thing we want to work on. After all we have seen that fabric before. Why would we want to play with that again?
But over and over, I keep hearing that you need help with organizing your scraps.
Organizing your scraps is easy once you make these decisions:
Decision # 1 What counts as a scrap for you? Be realistic here about what you actually use in your projects. Toss out anything smaller.
Decision # 2 Who gets the scraps I don’t want?
Decision # 3 Where am I keeping the scraps I want?
Decision # 4 How will I sort my scraps?
Once you have made these decisions, everything falls into place. You can decide what way to sort them, whether it’s by color, fabric pattern, size or project. Even if you sort by color or project, I still recommend sorting them by size as well.
4. Organize your UFO’s
Imagine having your UFO’s each tucked into its own little bag just waiting for you? How easy would it be if you knew exactly what the next step is? With a few dollars and a bit of effort, you can.
Here’s how:
- Do a rough count of your UFO’s (if you have lots, start with about 20)
- Get some bags or boxes (large ziplocks or boxes from the dollar store work great)
- Gather all the parts of each UFO together
- For each UFO, write down some notes about it.
- I’ve created a little printable for you to help you do this. Pick up the UFO action sheet here!
- Put all the pieces and your notes in the bag together.
Now you have organized your UFO’s, put them away or leave them out to keep going on them.
You might even get inspired to finish one or two up!
5. Inventory your batting, wadding and stuffing.
Is your batting, wadding and stuffing organized and stored safely?
Sometimes we focus so much on organizing our fabric, that we forget about the other bits and pieces.
Organizing your bulky items can help keep you safe. Before I did mine, the batting used to keep falling out of the cupboard onto my head! Plus, you will be surprized how much space you gain to arrange other things.
The bonus is that when you know exactly how much batting you have, you don’t buy extra “just in case”.
Here’s how to do it…
Sort into sizes, then cut and organize as follows:
- Mug rug size – stack and store together
- Placemat size – trim, stack and store together
- Strips – trim and fold together
- Large quilt size pieces – measure the size then use the original bag to store in, just cross out the size and write the new size on the bag.
For smaller sizes, large ziplock bags work well. You can press the air out to get it really squished in.
For large quilt size pieces, use the original bag to store in.
This will make it easy to know what batting and wadding you have ready for quilts.
Next, make sure it’s stored well. You can choose an out of the way place for storing this. The top of the cupboard or tightly wrapped under the bed works well. Just make sure it’s stored securely, no one needs to be bonked on the head by batting!
Is your fibre fill and stuffing escaping? When it comes to the fluffy stuff, there really isn’t much organizing you can do except to squish it down as tight as you can, and stuff it somewhere. I like to keep mine in our suitcase. When I’m travelling I just shove it in the closet while I’m away. When I return home I pack it back in the suitcase.
Bonus # 6. Sign up for the free Sew Spacious 28 day challenge
Any of these tips will help you. But, if you want to get your sewing room really clean, then the Sew Spacious 28 day challenge is perfect for you!
This is a free challenge over at Sew Spacious to help get your sewing room organized. It’s a daily email with one little task each day.
It will motivate you and keep you excited as you organize your sewing room.
Participants have said “it is a way to once again make your sewing space your happy place” and “I actually enjoy being in my sewing room now”!
Take the Sew Spacious 28 day challenge and transform your sewing room!
