My sewing area can get messy from time to time …. I’ve shown you the photos! I do, however, have some easy tips to keep my sewing tools organized and close at hand. I thought I’d share some of these tips to help you organize your sewing area.
First, I like to keep my cutting table area free of clutter. Nothing is more frustrating than getting ready to cut out a quilt …. and not being able to find the ruler you want or the space to cut your fabric! To solve that problem, I bought a metal pegboard that was made for a garage and hung it on my wall.
This keeps my rulers hanging to the left of my cutting surface. I can just pick the ruler I want! Before I had a place to hang them, I would just put them down anywhere on the cutting mat. They would either get in my way, or I would bury them in fabric and not be able to find them!
I also keep a wire basket next to my mat to the right to place all the extra strips left over from cutting. Before I did that, scrap fabric used to pile up on my cutting mat and get in the way. Let me tell you, that was not good. When the scraps take over your cutting mat, it leaves no room to cut out a new project!
By the look of the basket ….. it’s time to store or use some scraps!
Next, I occasionally need marking pens or pencils, my klutz glove and other tools while cutting. I re-purposed an old sewing machine drawer and placed it at the top of my cutting area above my mat. Now things are easy to reach when I need it!
Once again, it keeps things corralled so they don’t “disappear”!
On the other end of my cutting table, I have my scissors, rotary cutter and some other small tools I use hanging on an old coffee mug tree.
It’s fun to find things around the house that you can put to good use in your sewing area instead of throwing them out.
Have you ever struggled with where to put a pattern while your sewing? I like to keep block patterns and instructions I’ve written close by while I am sewing, but I never knew where to put it so it doesn’t get in the way. At a garage sale, I found an old wooden clipboard and problem solved!
If you have a wall space next to your sewing machine to hang the clipboard on …. even better! I don’t so I just prop my clipboard onto a wooden box I have next to my machine.
Speaking of wooden boxes ….. besides holding my curious studio cat …. I use these to store the tools I need while I’m at my machine. Machine needles, pincushion of pins (to hide from a prying cat), wooden pressing tool and machine cleaning tools. It keeps them close at hand but they’re not scattered across my table to get in the way of my piecing. This is a great storage solution if you do not have a sewing cabinet with storage. I don’t because I use an old dining room table for my machine.
So, that’s a few of my tips on taming my sewing area. Do you have some to share? Put some of your ideas in a comment and be entered into a drawing for my book, Blooming Patchwork!
The drawing will be on Monday, September 17th…. so leave your comments and tips below and good luck! Ooops! Today is 9/23 and I missed my deadline to choose the winner. Congrats, Eugenia! You’ve won my book!
Happy Quilting!
Deanne
