When Cheryl Sleboda put out a call to participate in her annual “Spring Clean Your Studio Blog Hop,” I jumped on board. It was March 18. We had just gotten back from our spring break trip and realized we would be in stay-at-home mode for the next few weeks.
Did I say weeks? Well, that’s what I really did think at the time. School was going to be closed until Easter, and I thought maybe that would be the end of it. Hahahahahaha! Oh poor, naive Sarah from 6 weeks ago!
These days, school has been cancelled for the rest of the year for my 2nd grader, and my 4-year-old’s daycare (which is at my workplace) is closed. Jose and I are both working from home while trying to keep the children from becoming completely feral. Our house is an absolute DISASTER, and cleaning has not been particularly high on my to-do list.
BUT! I did manage to clean ONE AREA! My sewing room!!
Overall, I am pretty happy with my sewing room setup — I have a good table to spread out on, enough storage for my current needs, and a good computer workspace as well. I have a big window that provides lots of natural light, and get to look out onto the street so I can see what’s going on in my neighborhood.
Here are photos I took on April 8. Believe it or not, this was AFTER I had already started to clean up…
The first thing you should know is that my sewing room is really a dining room. We don’t need and wouldn’t use a formal dining room, so when we moved to this house ~3.5 years ago it became my sewing room. This is our old dining room table, which actually works quite well as a sewing table.
My primary machine is a Juki TL2010Q, but when I snapped these photos I had just started the 100 Day Project. I am making one fabric postcard every day, and finish the edges with a zig zag stitch. Since my Juki is a straight stitch machine, I had to pull out my old Brother machine to finish my postcards.
On the left side of the table, underneath the second sewing machine in this photo, is my cutting mat and pressing board. It works pretty well to have this area right next to my sewing machine, so I knew I needed to find a different solution for my second machine.
I have a Ottlite in the corner that I use to add extra light, since I do a lot of my sewing at night after my kids are in bed. The white 3-drawer unit holds all of my scraps. Under the table are a couple big boxes of baby clothes that I still intend to turn into a quilt someday, plus junk.
My spring cleaning goal for this area was mainly to just tidy up. I’m not the type of person who will ever have a pristine sewing table, but it’s not fun to have it this covered with stuff either.
Opposite my sewing table is my desk. (Hey there Charlotte, stop hogging my chair!) I do a small amount of freelance pattern design, graphic design and layout, and tech editing work so I do use my desk and computer regularly. The iMac is my personal computer, but when the work-from-home thing began, I had to do some reconfiguration to make space for my work laptop and a second monitor.
Being in the dining room means I am directly in the traffic flow from the front of the house to the kitchen. I actually like this — it helps me be around the rest of the family even when I’m working on projects. However, right now it’s also presenting a new set of challenges since I can never have any privacy during the workday!
My spring cleaning goal for this area was to get rid of the two large piles of stuff — one in front of the window and one to the left of my desk. It was mostly stuff that didn’t really belong in my sewing room anyway, like mazagines, kid art and school work, and miscellaneous junk like cords and chargers. There were also a few works-in-progress languishing under a couple stacks of fat quarters.
And then there’s this wall, which is devoted entirely to my huge Ikea Expedit bookcase…plus a kid play tent, at that moment. (Sigh.) I got this bookcase free from a coworker many years ago and it’s really great for storing all my supplies. It also serves as a sort of self-limiter if I start to accumulate too much — if I start running out of storage space here, I know it’s time to either make a couple big quilts or donate unused materials.
My spring cleaning goal for this side of the room was to get rid of the stack of junk in front of my quilt ladder on the right, and weed through my fabric bins to get rid of what I no longer like or don’t think I’ll use.
I set a goal for clean and organize for at least 20 minutes a day almost every day for the last couple weeks and here’s where I ended up! These may not be the prettiest pictures, but that’s because they were literally taken last night — talk about cleaning down to the wire, eh?
(drumroll please….)
Woohoo! Look at that nicely set up sewing table, with slightly less stuff underneath it and a sneak peek at the fact that there is no longer a pile of stuff on the floor in front of the window. I moved my second sewing machine to the right end of the table, where it will stay for the rest of my 100 day project so I can quickly scoot over there and finish the edges of my postcards.
Wow! Check out my nice desk area! No piles in front of the window! And no pile next to the desk! I was able to toss several things and relocate the non-sewing stuff to more appropriate spots in other parts of the house. It feels really good to have open space again.
And voila! You can actually see my quilt ladder again after it spent the last several months blocked by boxes. I also cleared out some excess fabric, which opened up space on these shelves for a stack of quilt magazines and a couple works-in-progress that previously sat sadly in front of the window.
I am super thrilled to have this room reasonably tidy again, and while I’m sure it won’t stay this way forever (or even through the weekend, given my kids’ propensity for leaving a trail of toys wherever they go) it feels good to have a refresh, especially given everything else going on in the world.
I hope this gives you ideas for your own sewing room or inspires you to do a little spring cleaning of your own. There’s a lot more fun to be found by visiting all the other bloggers below!
April 1 – Sam Hunter – http://www.huntersdesignstudio.com
April 2 – Marian Pena – http://www.seamstobesew.com
April 3 – Jennifer Fulton – http://www.inquiringquilter.com/questions
April 4 – Martha Wolf – http://Www.pinwheelprodns.com
April 5 – Jennifer Strauser – http://www.dizzyquilter.com
April 6 – Steph Carton – http://www.theelimonster.com/blog
April 7 – Simone Fisher – http://www.simonequilts.com/blog
April 8 – Kate Colleran – http://www.seamslikeadream.com
April 9 – Carlina Moore – http://www.alwaysexpectmoore.com
April 10 – Jen Frost – http://www.faithandfabricdesign.com/blog
April 11 – Leanne Parsons – http://www.devotedquilter.com
April 12 – Becca Fenstermaker – http://www.prettypiney.com/blog
April 13 – Sarah Myers – http://www.quilted-diary.com
April 14 – Mitzi Redd – http://www.reddhomestead.com
April 15 – Jeanette Larson – http://www.Jenonthefarm.com
April 16 – Camille Ainsworth – http://www.stitchinthenw.com
April 17 – Becky Philips Jorgenson – http://www.patchworkposse.com
April 18 – Bobbie Gentili – http://www.geekybobbin.com/category/blog
April 19 – Janellea Macbeth – http://www.janelleamacbeth.com/blog/
April 20 – Lisa Ruble – http://lovetocolormyworld.blogspot.com
April 21 – Debra Davis – http://www.tuning-my-heart.com/blog
April 22 – Rona Herman – http://www.Ronatheribbiter.com
April 23 – Sue Griffiths – http://www.duckcreekmountainquilting.com
April 24 – Sarah Ruiz – http://www.saroy.net/ <– Yay that’s me!
April 25 – Jessica Caldwell – http://www.desertbloomquilting.com/
April 26 – Tammy Silvers – http://tamarinis.typepad.com
April 27 – Ebony Love – http://www.lovebugstudios.com/blog
April 28 – Cheryl Sleboda – http://blog.muppin.com
Misti says
Nice, it looks good! My art studio was a disaster because my kid (and partly me) and I took some time a few weeks ago and it is soooo nice now! I am also doing the same, going in there after bedtime to get some stuff done. It is so peaceful.
Also, I can’t believe you’ve been there for 3.5 years already!
Sarah says
I know! It feels like we moved like a year ago, but it was 2016 and Charlotte hadn’t even turned 1 yet!
Becca says
I’ve known you for 20 years (cause we’re old), and I say this with a great deal of love because I think I’ve visited basically every place you’ve ever lived in that time (and lived with you once) and shared an office with you. There’s one thing that is a sure as death and taxes — your inevitable organization method includes a Sarah-pile somewhere in the vicinity of your desk. It is nice to see it cleaned up (I also cleaned the clutter in my office, which now makes me want to redecorate before it becomes a mess again), but I suspect your pile will grow back, because it is part of the pattern of your life!
Sarah says
No doubt I will have piles again, and probably sooner rather than later. But hey — I know exactly what’s in all those piles!!
Gretchen says
Looks good! I also have my work stuff in my sewing room, and I’ll admit I sometimes reward myself for accomplishing a work task by doing just a little sewing!
Sarah says
It’s certainly not the setup I would want if I worked from home all the time, but it is what it is given current circumstances!!