Organizing Sewing/Craft Room

I saw this episode awhile ago. Inova makes the bed doesn't give the price of their products on their website.....obviously for good reason. After making some calls about that bed I found it starts at $3,900.00 and goes up to almost $7,000.00, depending on exact style and finish and doesn't include the mattress. "Stash" was never mentioned nor did I ever see any. I don't consider 'stash' one 8" high stack of fabric and KNOW mine wouldn't fit in one plastic box marked "fabric". I think the general concept was great, a few not so new ideas (labeled tubs and containers) that are always used in every organize it show. I think this room was more 'craft' than 'sewing', but even my craft stuff wouldn't fit in that little closet never mind where to store the stash. Hey, if we all tossed out 80% of our stash and craft supplies and stuff we could have a slick neat room, too......but do you really want to get rid of that?

I actually do have a friend that has a sewing room that is immaculate, sorted and organized at all times. Even in the middle of her projects you'll never see so much as a thread or pin on the floor or work surface or a single piece of pattern laying out unfolded. She even has little tape marks on the floor to mark placement of the ironing board. There is also not any sort of QI in the home or an abandoned coffee/tea mug or scrap of chocolate wrapper to be seen. She NEVER starts a project until the one in progress is completely finished. I keep telling her there has GOT to be medication for that kind of behavior, it just can't be healthy.

I don't know about most Grammas but I could sure think of better ways to spend four grand or more in my work room other than a relatively short term/little used sleeping solution. What happens in a few years when those kids are no longer share a bed? I think I'd use all that money to get a great work table or good sewing machine table then cover the walls in floor to ceiling shelving for STUFF. Then some aero bed mattresses and a few sleeping bags to put on the floor in the living room after I shoved the coffee table out of the way for sleeping kids.......but that's just me.

Val

I'm with you on this one Val! That's where the grandkids sleep when they come now! I do have a guest room for the adults that stay over but the kids prefer to sleep in the living room so they can watch TV. I don't want them sleeping in my sewing room. I'd worry about them snooping and cutting themselves or something. I have way to much "stuff" and "stash" to ever have a totally neat space, no matter how much money I spent! :) And it will only get worse if I don't start sewing or quit buying!

Marilyn in beautiful, sunny Alberta, Canada

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*******Have a SIL that is like that.....not quite to floor markings as they don't stay in one home long enuf. She CRINGED when I asked if she'd send her leftovers to me for the Crazy Quilt that I have plans for (this gal only buys the BEST fabrics, etc.and can afford to and TOSSES the leftovers --note I didn't say scraps ; ) Gave me the excuse of never thinking of that altho the other SIL has reminded her quite often that *I* would use them..maybe now that she has seen my collection and the projects that I'm working on. .....One can hope........... ********Kids LOVE sleep-overs on the floor. Never forget the time we drove up to my Sis's and her kids slept on the floor with ours cause they were having a sleep-over instead of sleeping in their own beds : ) Neat part is they asked me if I'd sleep on the couch in the same room so *I* could be at the sleep-over too. Thanks for a neat memory. ******Butterfly

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Sounds like a sick mind to me. ha ha Jeanbaby

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Can I meet your friend... maybe about 30% of her "organizational skills" will rub off on me. Wouldn't want much more than that tho.... I want to be neat... not nuts! :-) ;-) Besides.. DH couldn't take that much of a change!

I'm not a naturally tidy person, but DH is terrible and there does come a point! Since we moved we have both become (over!) involved with local organisations, and they all produce paperwork etc. that needs to be found again. So its our 'office' that is due for a big sort out - too many books/papers/files in there - just too full! Needs a complete rethink.

At the moment there is a very big and very nice bookcase in there full to bursting! When we moved we decided not to have it in the Living Room, which is where we had it in the last house (but that room was over

24'square) as the new room was too small for it, but as that is where the only other wall big enough to take it is, that is where it will have to go, and we'll have to get another shelving unit for the office.

I think we need to draw some plans, and have a big re-think about things like the siting of the desk which perhaps would be better at right angles to the window (less sun in your eyes and therefore drawn blinds). As I only had this brainwave last night, it needs a lot more thought, measuring and discussions. Sometimes its not the obvious layouts that work as I found out when I got my sewing area right last year.

Kate, I completely agree!!!

In our house, I"m not exactly the neatest person either (kids are worse than me, but hey....they're kids!). DH has solved his anxiety over clutter by simply stating that he wants the main rooms of the house reasonably clean, but I can have my sewing room as cluttered and chaotic as I want - since he NEVER actually goes in there for anything. Works for me .

We have a family rule that the children, DH and I follow....be responsible for your own bedrooms! It is part of the choire list for each child that they clean up their rooms. Anything that is on the floor in the children's room when Dad and I go to check on them for the night disappears for a week. In our room, if one leaves something on the floor and the other has to step over it, it disappears...mostly DHs socks and dirty clothes but sometimes books that belong to both of us, etc. That really drives me bonkers because I tend to have at least 2 books going at the same time.

The sewing room, as I told Karen on IM yesterday, is in complete chaos. My apparel wardrobe (chest) looks like it has vomited all over the room and it is threatening to take over the quilts that I'm working on!! However, it is somewhat justifiable as I am trying to get a summer wardrobe (clothing) made for my DD and will also be doing one for my DNiece. I will more than likely be rotating between the 2 wardrobes because one is purple and pink, and the other is lime green, orange, and blue.....too much pink or too much lime and I might go bonkers!!

Larisa, who CAN be neat and tidy, but chooses to be creative and chaotic

Even though this particular project is not geared for a quilter, I think there will be a couple or three ideas that can be applied to a quilter's home. While I would not buy that expensive bed, I might consider making it! In our home, all our visitors are adults, and they do not sleep on the living room floor. But if I did have little kids to visit, I would not want them to take over the LR because then *I* would be forced to go to bed at their bedtime. Where would the adults relax and visit in the evening? PAT

Val wrote: (CUT to FIT)

I've read all the replies to this and pretty much agree that I could never function in that room. My biggest problem was the sewing machine, though. Did you see where it was "stored"? Would you ever do that to your sewing machine?

I'm breaking out in hives!

Rita l.

Pat > Upcoming on HGTV Mission Organization:

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Remember that one where the Organizer/Nazi made her throw out all her stuff??? Organizers don't think we should have a hobby that 1) takes up a lot of storage space, or 2) makes messes.

Unless the organizer is a quilter or at the very least a crafter, this room will turn from a sewing room/guest room to a guest room/sewing afterthought in a heartbeat.

I won't be able to bear to watch it. I'll throw stuff at the TV.

Cindy

I agree! It made me shudder --- esp. given I have about 100 sewing machine in my collection....not a one is laid on it's side! I suspect a home decorator with no sewing machine knowledge designed that room LOL

-Irene

This makes me wonder & now I have a question for you guys:

What is bad about storing a machine on it's side?

The reason I ask is that my machine has been in it's case for a good little while now, and that case is one of those little tables, where when it's "put away" it is essentially on it's side, down inside the table. Is this bad?

Thx, //Mary/mgl

I have two machine well over 50 years old that tilt onto their sides when they are down inside the sewing cabinet and closed up. They are still sewing beautifully.

I don't think it's so much just that it's on its side. That machine is laying on its side on the bare FLOOR and NOT in a case or with any protection. That's a hard wood floor, carpet wouldn't be any better as far as I'm concerned. Seems to me the dust and such that collects under a bed would probably not be too good for that machine and with no case to protect it who knows what part of the machine is resting on the floor to get pushed all wonky. I wouldn't even lay a machine on its side in a case. In a sewing cabinet they are secured so nothing gets whacked around.

You'd think with all that "closet organizing" Mizz Decorator could have found a place to store the machine properly and with a little more respect for the equipment. If that had been MY machine getting shoved like that under a bed they would have had to cut to a commercial while Mizz Decorator's bleeding and battered body was being loaded into an ambulance.

Val

It sounds like it's high time I put myself on the market as the quilters organiser: I organise what you *have* and you get to keep all except the UFO's you really, really *hate* (and wouldn't it be nice to get rid of that UFO skulking at the back of your closet that glares at you each time you open that door?!)

mind you.. this reorganising of my room is getting extreme.. I have 3 tiny tubs each colour scrap : 1 1/2 inch square, 2 inches square and 2 1/2 inch square and 3 larger tubs for the strips but here the colours are mixed 1 1/2 inch, 2 inch and 2 1/2 inch.

and errr..

I have to admit...

the batiks have their own tubs though all the colours get mixed in both the squares tubs and in the strips tubs

but.. I like having my scraps by colour and I *need* my batiks separate

Oh I should have elaborated more - I don't have any machines lying on their sides unless they are in a cabinet! Sorry about that!

I would never leave a machine on the floor or on a shelf on it's side.

Besides that oil might drip out (and damage your carpet)....parts like the spool pin, take up lever or presser foot lever are easily bent, and sliding the machine to move it could damage it...motors and belt that are external may not appreciate being dragged across a floor.

I am trying to stop drinking coffee and yesterday my head was not working on all cylinders.....

-Irene

Hahahahahahaahaha! Jess, how do you find time to sew?? And I _know_ you do cause I've looked at your work.

Cindy > I'm a Virgo so I likes to organize as well. I just wish I could keep it organized while I'm working. Flat surfaces get me every time.

.....A common Virgo trait......

Dee in Oz