My Sewing Room

If you tidy up your sewing space and don’t document the occasion with photos, did it even happen? I really admire sewists who keep a beautifully pristine and clutter free sewing room. Mine doesn’t look like this most of the time, which is probably why I want to write about it now. Let this be a reminder to myself, and maybe you too, of how good it feels to have a tidy working space.

I also love peeking into people’s homes. Have a peek into my little sewing sanctuary. Take a look at which machines I’m using, how I organize, and which tools make my life easier.

The Details

• The space: upstairs bedroom and hallway with cork wall
• The organization: copy shop patterns rolled up, cut patterns filed in envelopes, drawer organizers for little bits, and pdf organization in the cloud.
• The machines: Singer Promise II, Juki MO654DE serger, vintage Singer 603 Touch and Sew with original table
• The furniture pictured: hand-me-down marble desk from Pier 1, dresser and corner shelf from IKEA, free mirror from Craigslist, dress form from retail liquidation sale.

The Space

I live in a 1.5 story home, and when you reach the top of the stairs there is just a hallway with a bedroom at the end. The hallway has a wall that is completely covered in cork tiles. The previous homeowners put these up with some serious adhesive and I desperately wanted to remove them, but couldn’t figure out how. Then I started sewing and found how incredibly useful this ugly wall actually is! I love it because I can keep pattern pieces and copy shop pages pinned up here. They don’t create extra clutter on the floor or table surfaces. Every few months I have to do a “wall cleanup” because it turns into a cluttered mess so I usually spend 20 minutes re-filing everything.

The Organization

Speaking of filing, I keep copy shop pdf patterns rolled up and stored in this bin in the corner. I label the outer top edge of each roll with the pattern name and designer.

I also keep my top drawer of notions and small tools (somewhat) organized with these drawer organizers. Any time I come across a tiny ziplock plastic bag, I save it to keep buttons, rivets, grommets, and other small things – the pile of bags you see in the center compartment. Otherwise, I simply keep like with like. Cutting tools together, adhesives and tapes together, zippers together, etc. The bottom two drawers hold my entire fabric stash and large scraps. I keep a small stash and I like it that way!

For my traced, tissue, or cut up pattern pieces, I file them in these 9×12″ envelopes and magazine files. I don’t have an overwhelming number of patterns so I can organize them into three bins: tops, bottoms, and jumpsuit/dress/others. The envelopes are labeled with the designer and pattern names, and it’s the perfect place to keep size and fitting notes on the front of the envelope.

I keep all my pdf pattern files in the cloud! If you haven’t done that with your patterns, please stop reading and go do it. Just go. Google Drive, iCloud, DropBox, I don’t care, but quit reading sewing blogs and go take care of that, k?

My ironing station is at the top of the stairs in front of the window. If I can’t have a window over the kitchen sink, this is the next best thing. My pressing tools and point turners live in this area too. I’ve been using this iron for over a year now and I still really like it.

The Machines

Pictured above on the left is my Singer Promise II, which was the machine I learned on. I sewed everything on this little lady in my first year. Bless the day I invested in my Juki MO654DE serger on the right – it was a game changer for me. I love this machine. Many others do too, and rightfully so. I call it the Juke Jam, named after a song I love by Chance the Rapper.

My favorite child and proudest thrift store find goes to this Singer 603 Touch and Sew from the 1960’s. The table is also original and has a mid-century modern vibe. I did minimal tuning and cleaning up myself, and I think I hit the jackpot with this one. It does all my top stitching on jeans, and otherwise most construction seams on my garments now. I still use the Singer Promise when working with two different threads on the same project for efficiency’s sake. This vintage machine has a knee lever, and the newer Singer has a foot pedal so you better believe I still roll from one machine to the other trying to knee or pedal something that isn’t there. My brain will sort it out someday.

That’s my space! Thanks for letting me give you a little tour! If you have any questions about any of the tools or gadgets or furniture you see, feel free to ask!