Showing the Sewing Room some Valentine's Day Love

Like I mentioned yesterday, Mr. Pins wandered into The Clubhouse (aka, my sewing room) on Saturday and promptly got frustrated that I couldn't work efficiently in the room the way it was set up. I had to tell him "Don't get mad about it," 'cause he was mad. About a room.

I was confused by his reaction, but looking at the photo now, maybe mad was appropriate. It was bad, but I was ignoring it and trying to get work done anyway. I'm very grateful to have a whole room for my sewing adventures, because I'm sure it won't always be the case. However, there's a lot going on in here, and I just did not see a way to improve the situation with our given furniture.

After talking with Mr. Pins, we decided I needed:

- a scrap system that could grow with me

- flat storage for WIPs so they didn't have to be piled up on a table

- a large surface area for quilting

- access to my design wall

- a good place to work at the computer where I could still see it from the sewing machine

- some electrical help so I can plug my iron in without it tripping the breaker (currently I have an extension cord running to another room)

- better lighting would be awesome, too

We grabbed the measuring tape and set out to pilfer furniture from the office. We had to get the toolbox and remove the rounded extension from my Ikea Galant desk in the office, but we were able to put it in the corner of the room in The Clubhouse. After that, we slid the sewing cabinet and drawers next to it in front of the window and put another Galant table (previously scored from Craigslist) on the other end by the design wall. I still have some clearance to get to the design wall, and I just moved the table on Wednesday when I wanted to get a full design wall photo.

I didn't think that I would want to have my sewing machine in front of the window, but it's working out really well. If I do need to do some free motion quilting, I can just roll the sewing cabinet and drawers back in to the middle of the room and pull the Galant table behind it to give me lots of table to support the quilt.

Previously, I had scraps EVERYWHERE. I didn't even realize how much of a problem it was until I went to locate and sort them all. On Saturday night, Mr. Pins and I went to get some storage containers. These Sterilite 3 Drawer Carts are perfect for storing fat quarters and now scraps :-) There are seven of these in my sewing room.

The coolest idea I heard at Quilt Festival was to use a counter height rolling baker's rack for storing projects. Ultimately, we gambled on something that we saw at the store. This cart with the colorful drawers is meant to store 12" square paper, but it works well for all of the projects with 12.5" unfinished blocks that have been floating around The Clubhouse. I've had my rulers hanging on the side of the cutting table for awhile, and it's worked out really well.

Since the curved part of the Galant desk is in the corner. It makes it very easy to sit in front of the computer like a traditional desk or move my chair back in front of my sewing machine for sewing. The ironing board was hanging inside the closet. It's cheery to look at, though, so I flipped it out into the room.

I originally made my thread holder to fit perfectly on the side of my sewing cabinet, since it can't go there anymore, I cut a piece of wainscoating to fit with the jigsaw and nailed it to the back. Now it just rests on the side of the desk. I have a tutorial for this thread holder if you want to make one.

Now my Ikea Expedit in the corner can hold stash and larger projects. The bins are from Target. The black plastic ones are from the Y-weave line and the polka dots are from the Itso line.

The Clubhouse has been through a lot of changes over the months, but I feel really good about our most recent efforts. We've got an electrician who can help us with the plugs and lights. I feel so good about the situation now, maybe I should shoot a Harlem Shake video in here. 

I'm linking up with Somewhat Simple.

Happy Crafting!

Claire