New Studio Part 2

Here are some more photos of the tour. Looking under the sewing table are some storage bins of fabrics. Blue and green are my favorite colors so those are my largest collections. The fabrics are just smushed in there. I used to try to be neat and arrange them by value, but I gave up on that pretty quickly. Also, I have all kinds of fabrics in there. The only ones I keep separately are my sari silks. I keep those in a plastic bin and the silks are sorted by color (sort of) in zip locks in the bin. Between the window and the sewing table, I've stuffed bags of batting and leftover bits of foam (messy; but hidden). The dresser under the ironing table back there has all my yarns and fusibles. And there is Opus my always present companion waiting to pounce on anything that moves. Notice there are no pin cushions... he'll pull out the pins and eat them... no kidding. I have to put everything away as soon as I am finished or else we will need to take a trip to the vet.

Here is my cutting table. I need to get risers to raise it up about six inches higher. Under it is where most of my fabric is stored. It is arranged by color except that I have the sheer fabrics in separate bins from the opaque fabrics. When I get going, I just pull out whole drawers and the table top gets covered. Such fun! You can just see my design wall peaking out over to the left beyond the futon. So from the sewing table and the cutting table I get a good view of works in progress hanging there.

cutting table

And on the other side of the cutting table is a nice reading area and a place where I can sit and hand sew. Presently, I just have a sheet covering the futon, but in a couple of weeks, I'll have a quilt on it.

So that brings you fully around the room. 

The next few posts, I'll open drawers and show you how I store threads and a really cool find from a thrift store to use to store presser feet.

New Studio Part 1

     I neatened up my new studio and gave its first photo shoot. It still has some odds and ends to go before it is complete but it is now a working studio. I doubt it will stay this neat, but I want to start out this way. I took a bunch of shots, but will show you a few here and there over the next few posts. I'm finding it a wonderful place in which to work and can't thank my husband enough for coming up with the idea for me to get my own place in the house. 

As you enter the room, here is my desk with my catalogued magazines on top and binders with articles and lessons on Photoshop. In the large drawer is my copier/printer/scanner which I connect to my laptop as needed. In the tall dresser I keep stationery supplies, markers, greeting cards, envelopes, stamps, cardstock, papers, transparencies, computer supplies, etc.

west wall

 Farther along the west wall I set up a craft table. It is a hollow wood door set atop a kitchen cabinet and an end table that I bought at thrift stores. All of these need to be painted; probably white. I have a small refrigerator that we got for free when our large one under warranty broke and took a long time to repair. This small one will be nice for when I get into using dyes. (I hope to upholster this chair, too.)

also west wall

And then this is the view you see when you walk in the studio. Nice, big windows for me and the cats. And their window seat. I'm going to cover those pillows with a quilted patchwork, eventually. I have big plans to have my sewing machine sit flush with the surface without carving a hole in the table. Intrigued? I'll show you the steps of how to do that in a few weeks (I have to wait until my husband retires in 2 weeks... I could probably do it myself, but I would rather let him.)

That's all for now. I'll show more later. And I'll show you some details of my storage.

south wall