May, 2023 - By the Yard®

How to Turn Any Space into a Sewing Room

A sewing room of any size is a luxury that only a few can afford. Maybe all of your spare rooms have tiny humans living in them, or perhaps you live in an apartment, a dorm or even a trendy “tiny house”. You don’t need a dedicated room in order to have a space to create. You can carve out a portion of an existing room or you can make your sewing setup portable – easy to put up, take down then stow away. Here are some suggestions:

Carve out a portion of an existing room – Be sure to choose a space that doesn’t have carpet. You are going to be dropping lots of pins and needles, not to mention the endless rain of thread and little fabric bits. A smooth surface is going to be much easier to keep clean.
Not the bedroom – I speak from past experience when I say, “don’t use your bedroom for sewing”. This is a bad choice because of the likely probability of stepping on pins with bare feet. Additionally, it’s pretty much the most used room in the house: you are going to be tripping over half-finished projects all the time.
Invest in a sewing machine cabinet – Hide in plain sight with an inexpensive sewing machine cabinet. They all have a mechanism to fold away the machine when not in use. My mother had a fancy dining room that housed a sewing machine cabinet for over 30 years. She had a space for fancy dinners a few times a year and a place to sew nearly every day.
Repurpose office furniture – Computer desks are great for turning into a compact sewing space. They hold a lot of equipment in a small space, they usually have lots of cabinets and shelving and they always have cut-outs for wiring. They are inexpensive and available everywhere.
Smart Storage – The bulk of items that will take up your sewing space is your fabric stash! It need not live in the same space as your sewing machine. All the big box stores have under-the-bed storage bins (some even have wheels!) that will hold a tremendous amount of fabric, notions and patterns. Cute storage crates can hold fabric and patterns, and fit on any bookcase.
Dual Purpose – The best cutting table in the world is, believe it or not, the kitchen island, which is a very popular construct in many living spaces today. Using it for cutting will also give you good reason to clean it off now and then!

Does Fabric Collecting Count?

Sometimes I wonder if I’m a quilter or a fabric collector. I now own more fabric than I’ll be able to stitch together in my lifetime, yet I still find myself buying more. In chatting with other quilters and fabric artists, I find I am not alone. We all seem to collect way more fabric than we are using, but is this necessarily a bad thing? Should we be apologetic about our fabric accumulation? Are we too distracted or too lazy to sew it all up or have we inadvertently stumbled upon another hobby in its own right?

Quilting is a textile craft that involves stitching together layers of fabric to produce a finished product such as bedding or decorative items. Quilters use various techniques including patchwork, appliqué, and paper piecing to create visually appealing designs. Quilting requires sewing skills and knowledge of different quilting techniques, as well as the use of specialized tools like rotary cutters, rulers, and sewing machines.

Fabric collecting, on the other hand, involves the accumulation of fabric pieces or yardage for personal enjoyment, aesthetic appreciation, or future use. Fabric collectors often have a passion for textiles, colors, patterns, and designs. They seek out fabrics that catch their interest, including vintage fabrics, rare prints, designer fabrics, or fabrics from different cultures. Fabric collectors may source their fabrics from various places, such as fabric stores, online shops, flea markets, estate sales, or even by repurposing old garments or linens. The collected fabrics are typically stored and displayed, often organized by type, color, or theme. Fabric collecting does not necessarily involve the act of sewing or creating quilts, but collected fabrics may eventually be used for quilting or other sewing projects, presuming of course that the collector could bare to part with them!

In summary, quilting is a specific textile craft, whereas fabric collecting is more focused on the acquisition and appreciation of textiles. It is just as valid as any other hobby such as collecting stamps, baseball cards, dolls, or any of the myriad of oddball things people have been known to collect. So don’t be shy the next time you buy that fabric for the sole purpose of just putting it in your stash!

Quilting on the Kitchen Table – Just Roll with It

When I was a kid, the kitchen table was the hub of our home. Of course, we enjoyed all of our meals there, but countless other activities took place as well. Homework, science projects, model building, and craft projects of all kinds shared this space. Sewing projects, on the other hand, were the stuff of the living room floor. It was carpeted, plenty big enough and, as my mom would have it, immaculately clean.

Now that I’m running my own home, the living room floor is neither big enough nor clean enough to host a sewing project, so kitchen table it is. But what happens when it’s dinnertime and your project is not even close to being done? In Mom’s house, the table was always to be cleaned off minutes before 6pm, whether you were done with that model volcano or not. At my house, I can be more flexible but still, that quilt is at least two more weeks (or more?) in the making. What to do?

Eating in the living room is always an option, but in the instance that more civility is required, try just rolling it up! Start by laying down a tablecloth before you begin your project. Not the good one for holidays, the simple cotton one that won’t mind getting poked with pins. When it’s time to claim your table back, fetch one of your wrapping paper tubes – one of the big 4’ ones. It’s OK if it’s still covered in wrapping paper. You can still use that later. Start at the short end of the tablecloth and just roll your quilt up around the tube, with all your project pieces laid out on the tablecloth just as they are. Be sure to take out any quilt rulers first! Now stash the roll out of sight until your next spate of quilting. When unrolled your project will be relatively unwrinkled and all the pieces will be laid out just as you had them!

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