Sewing Rooms and Quilting Studios

What do you call yours? And is it a sewing studio?An old fashioned sewing room?  A shared space with the rest of the family? A Sewing corner?  A nook? A cranny? A little bit of here, there, and everywhere?

 

I love nooks and crannies, so  I call my small sewing room 'my sewing nook'. It started out as an unfinished storage space cut out of the attic space over the garage but bordering our proposed 'family room' loft area. 

It has room for my different hanging and storage spaces...a bit of a closet, some built in dresser drawers, and shelf spaces.  I hung my Oregon Driftwood coat rack (made by my son) on the wall and use my antique wooden hangers to hold things I am using, or just love to look at. Right now it displays  my vintage shirt and fabric stripes and plaids.

 

It has enough shelves for my folded fabrics, enough open closet space for my backing bins. And enough room for a sewing table, a chair, an ironing board and a built-in set of drawers for all of my dressmaking and craft supplies.

 

It has room for my roll top thread holder..that my husband made decades ago... a vintage wooden coke bottle carrier we actually found along the side of the road about 40 years ago and now holds thread, as well.

It has a door with space for a set of hooks holding my homemade bags which hold all of my ziplocks etc. for storage use in other areas.  It has under the table space for my basic potholder and bag making supplies..two of my all time favorite things to create when I've losty 'mojo' and need to get the engine roaring, again!   And I have tiny built in knick knack spaces for cute little supplies and collections!

 

Then I am blessed to have inherited our large open and railed loft space next to it. Here, is the computer, scanner, fax, and printer. A small cutting table (the big one folds up and away when not in use behind another area), 

 

my art quilting 'dry' supplies (wet ones like paint are kept downstairs near water sources and counter top areas). My dry supplies are bits and pieces of fabric, kept in the small cabinet, beads, art crayons, pencils, markers etc.

My roll top desk that my husband made for me about 30 years ago, that houses my serger and my featherweight sewing machine..depending on the project in progress! Right now, I am sewing bridal wear..so I'm using the serger on silks and satins! And I keep a lot of quilting books stashed in here, as well as in other places, too!

Lots of changing corners and crannies for either quilts, art supplies I am currently using and lots of quilts, quilts , quilts ..some in progress, others finished and ready to be donated to my big list of places I love to support!  This pile of quilts has seen been passed on to 'quilt heaven'..in the loving arms of others who are putting them to good use, I hope!

   

And the open loft floor space...that's my absolute favorite way to lay out blocks, quilt tops, or quilts for photographing!  Here, quilts I made, am making, or have since given away to new homes. And always, I am making pillowcases for foster children that pass through our system with little but the clothes on their backs. If they don't get to keep their own pillows, they do the pillowcase and often use them for packsacks for personal belongings. Now, doesn't that make you want to sew and donate pillowcases, today..look for my free tutorial in the side bar.

Every bit of the loft gets used!  The railing are in constant motion of use..an ongoing display of works in progress! Most of my quilts have aired during their making on these loft railings at one time or another!

 I don't need and wouldn't use a large design wall and my nook is too tiny and has a sloped attic ceiling, which cuts down on height.  So, I still use my floor and not my small portable design wall of batting.  And then..every bit of my floor space, everywhere.

I use the 'bridge' as we call it, that leads to our Christmas Tree in December, potted plants and music all of the time. And best of all...it's a fabulous out of the way space for my projects in progress! And its corner railing space, too!

 
Let's face it...we all love to see how others manage to fit in sewing and quilting into their busy households and often, very limited spaces. And we all love to find ideas from even the simplest bins, boxes, bags, and cubicles...oh, yes I even use the outdoor dec furniture. One way for the quality control inspectors to check everything out! 

And because I have always loved lists, and love to organize and categorize, and most of all...I love to share what I have, what I know, and what I save with others..I am in the process of saving an ongoing master list of links to "Sewing Rooms and Studios" every where of all different kinds!

Some of these are fabulous, some are super artsy and creative. Some have the best stash and storage ideas, ever...but all of them are just plain fun!  And boy, once I made this collage...my tiny little spaces seemed so busy. Well, they are! Always busy, always being creative and always lots and lots of fun!

Comment and tell me about yours! What do you call your space?

Then if you want to share....create a simple blog post with a photo of your space, add my link to your blog post and send your link to me...I'll add you into the list, below!

My master list just had a whole bunch of broken links since I first began to save them. So, the big list of links will appear here after I get a new better list made up!

Send me your own links if you want to be included! And yes, even one photo is so fun to see!

Michele Bilyeu blogs With Heart and Hands as she shares a quilting journey through her life in Salem, Oregon and Douglas, Alaska. Sewing, quilting, and wildcrafting, with small format art quilts, prayer flags, and comfort quilts for a variety of charitable programs. And best of all, sharing thousands of links to Free Quilt and Quilt Block Patterns and encouraging others to join in her Liberated Quilting Challenge and make and donate small art quilts to the Alzheimer's Art Quilt Initiative (AAQI) Help us change the world, one little quilt at a time!