Sewing Room

Hmm, seems I'm a little behind in posting. We went to Costco yesterday and that took much of the day, not to mention the work that goes on once you get home. Where to put everything? Dan came up from our basement pantry to tell me I shouldn't worry about running out of canned chicken broth. By his calculations, with our latest purchases, we now have twenty-one cans. Guess we're set for now! :-)

But on to today's subject: my sewing room. Or as Dan refers to it, my "studio". When we purchased this house ten years ago, I designated the second main floor bedroom as my sewing room. Then several years ago, my parents went through a year when they each had both knees replaced. Yup, four new knees in one year. The non-surgery parent stayed with us and both stayed the night before the surgery. This worked out fine until Dad had his second surgery just six weeks following his first. No stairs for him, so the basement guest bedrooms were out. After some thinking, we decided to move the twin beds upstairs rather than the queen bed in the other bedroom. That way when grandsons stayed over without parents, they'd be just across the hall from us instead of a floor away. This move meant my sewing room would now be downstairs. Unintentionally this also meant it would go into a much larger room. Score!

As you know, I began my sewing on Mom's Singer, in its cabinet, in the living room of the house I grew up in. When Dan and I were first married, we lived in an 8'x35' trailer so I sewed on the little kitchen table. In our first real house, I sewed on the table in the little dining nook off the living room and then moved to the laundry room in the basement where Dan built me a wonderful sewing area. Unfortunately, it was built-in and when we moved, it stayed. We learned a valuable lesson: sewing cabinets need to be free standing. He built me a nice sewing center in our next house, and we were able to take it with us when we moved to a new town, and it's become the center of the much larger area I use now.


This is the view from the door into my sewing room. The Brother sits on my original sewing cabinet, to the right is a long table Dan built to match. It slides into the corner and holds my trusty Pfaff and my serger. While everything looks a bit scrunched in the photo, I can easily move from one machine to the other.


My 200/730 sits on a quilting table I purchased several years ago. It has the extra leaf which folds out on the back and has the lift for raising and lowering the machines. I have plexiglass surrounds for both the Brother and the Pfaff, and Dan cleverly made a wooden piece so the Bernina fits down in. Notice the little stand to the left--Dan made it to hold my embroidery threads, manuals, and extra stabilizers. It has wheels so I can move it around. It's so handy for sorting threads when I embroider, and then it's perfect to turn in place when I'm quilting or sewing on bindings to help hold the bulk of the quilt.


My Handi-Quilter fits into this same room. It wouldn't fit in the upstairs sewing room and so I was using it in the family room where it was not a happy fit. Having everything in one room is wonderful and I love it. I also love having its table for laying out fabrics.


This last picture is of a long table I use for sorting, um, piling things when I get creative. It's also the place where others can set up machines and sew. My daughter usually sets up two machines when she comes to sew and we have a blast visiting and watching chick flicks while we stitch away.

Thanks for hanging with me on this long post and visiting my sewing room!