Sewing room on Mission: Organization

I don't know if I've seen that one but I have groaned over a tv organizer's notion of what a sewing room should look like. First, when I'm sewing I want to be facing out, not facing a wall. Never know when a gator or something is going to come easing up behind me. Must be a leftover hang-up from my life of crime. Even when I wasn't driving the getaway car, I wanted to sit so I could look out the window. Polly

BUT......why in the world would you

I didn't see it but I have carpet in my sewing room. I like it very much. My chair rolls just fine and dandy, it's warm underfoot, threads get vacuumed up so fast and I guess I'm not a pin/needle dropper because I don't have them hiding in my carpet. I'm a socks and no shoes girl so I would find them if they were there.

marcella

Being the messiest person in the entire world, I hated the carpet in my quilting room. Thankfully, the room flooded with sewage last year and the carpet had to be yanked out. (Its truly an ill wind that blows no good.) I constantly drop things. Everything. All the time and over and over. I have a magnetic wand that I harvest pins and needles with. And I darned near need a rake for the little pieces offabric. I try, I really truly do try to keep them up and thrown away and organized andso forth. But in the end, destiny is biology, or something like that. And I can't keep anything straight to save me.

Well, that's my weigh in for rugs on floors. I am trying so hard to organize my own 11 x 11 room. It's not easy. And I've given away so much fabric it makes my head spin. I had to give it to people/places where no expensive postage was involved or I would have blanketed you guys with yards of old fabric and new fabric and all kinds of strangies. As it is, the group that makes charity quilts have been the recipients of so much fabric that they have asked me to stop. LOL.

Sunny

Have you thought about (gasp!) eye glasses?? When I was only nearsighted, I did not wear glasses while quilting. That was OKAY for piecing, pinning, cutting, but not necessarily good for checking the overall look. Result was that some times my quilts looked 'different' when finished and I happened to have my eyeglasses while at Show and Tell, say, than when they had been on the design wall,. THEN I needed bifocals and started to wear them 24/7 ... so I had benefit of corrected vision when viewing the design wall. AHH! It suddenly became clear to me! PAT, just joshing in Virginia

Val: My experience is similar to Marcella's. In my house, I am using a 'bedroom' for sewing. The bedroom level (rooms, stairs, hall) all came with carpeting; it would be expensive to add in a hardwood floor in that one room. When we replaced the original plush carpeting, I went with a nice tight Berber. It works very well for me through out the home, and is an excellent choice for a sewing room. Basically, I think the flooring choice depends on habits, location, budget, and so on.

As to the staging of the sewing desk and work tables, I agree with Polly and Taria. It is nice to be able to 'see' ahead. I have my sewing desk at right angle to the window. This overlooks the back yard and green space, plus it looks out over my work area, and allows me to watch the door .... so no one can sneak in and raid the stash!!

PAT in VA/USA

I saw bits and pieces of the show, Val........ and I wondered the same thing. I'm not much of a carpet or area rug person anyway, and I most certainly wouldn't want anything on my hardwood floors in my studio / sewing room. I think designers have some weird notions sometimes about how rooms should look & function.

Patti in Seattle

Didn't see the show, Val, but I agree with you 100% - when we moved the spare bedroom / sewing room upstairs, the rug came out and a hardwood floor went in. It's a breeze to clean up.

-Irene

You must have those special soft, squishy eyeglass frames to wear your bifocals 24/7??? VBG

Leslie, Missy & The Furbabies in MO.

You realize, of course, that any design decisions that they make on a TV show are governed by the products that are provided by the advertisers and sponsors of that same show. Don't even think that they would do something that might reflect practical thinking as to usage of some item that was not paying to be featured as needed to be used. One of the best examples of that is Norm Abram, of New Yankee Workshop. This show, along with others like This Old House, would have you believe that you can not accomplish any type of project without at least $20,000 worth of power tools and other costly accessories. Don't get me wrong, I like those shows, but I take their opinions with a grain of salt. They are entertainment, not gospel.

John

On Feb 6, 2:43=A0pm, "Val" wrote: I have gone both carpeted and bare floor on my sewing room. I finally settled on carpet because it makes this particular room warmer to work in and that makes it more likely that I will spend more time there doing what I love. I have a pin dish that is magnetic and pass it over the carpet and it picks up any fallen pins as quick as you please. I too, work with either slippers in winter or socks in summer, and that is easier for me with carpet. Less dirt to clean up and that is a plus for me. I take the Dyson vacuum cleaner and give it a once over, and it looks like new. I think that the whole thing boils down to personal preference. Just like whether your choice of sewing machine is the best for everybody else. Probably not. but it works for you.

John

I have tile floor in my sewing room, however, in the past I have had carpet, and I can say I love to be able to clean the floor easily without worrying about pins.

We built our house two years ago (well, OK, we paid people to build our house after my Dad built the house I grew up in and 37 years later it's still not finished!)--and I knew the bonus room over the garage would be part home office, part sewing room. Fortunately, our flooring consultant's wife was also a sewer so he was able to advise me well. Because it's over the garage and I work from home so I'm in that room for 10 hours a day (plus sewing!), we really had to go carpet. So we put in an "industrial" carpet--although contrary to the way that sounds it's actually attractive. It's the kind of carpet often used in office buildings--very tight weave, very sturdy. I never have a problem with pins or threads or anything.

I love Mission Organization, although I didn't see this particular episode. But I've seen a couple of home-cleaning shows in which they're working with a sewer or quilter and when they start eyeing her stash with the intent to de-clutter, my heart clenches! "No--don't touch the fabric!" On the other hand, I am fairly careful about my own stash because I recently helped my Mom pare her 35-yr-old-stash in preparation for a move. That'll put the fear of God into you! :-)

Carpeted the Butterfly Studio with the BEST we could afford and a good padding as I have Neuropathy in my feet. Makes walking/standing much easier. Don't wear shoes when I'm sewing as I need all the 'feel' I can get on the foot pedal. Have had tile (hated it) vinyl, and linoleum.....that worked best for 'squaring up' when I was able to get down on the floor for basting. Now you a long wand with a magnet on the end to swish over and/or a long handled 'pinchers' if I know I dropped something

Boils down to what works best for you.

John

Whatever your 'on' ....are you sharing?

Butterfly (who just went thru the MONTHS of an add-on bit)

LOL Dad the carpenter has always said if you need to add on then move and save some trouble! They just make it all seem so easy on tv don't they?

Are you enjoying your new quilt studio? I sure hope it is working out really well for you. Was it worth all the trouble? Warm weather coming and hopefully you'll be doing better and up to more quilting. I still have my fingers crossed for a good job for Mr. Joe.

Hugs, Taria

Butterflyw> Whatever your 'on' ....are you sharing?

John