Studio Organization

My sewing studio is an extra bedroom I transformed.  It is still the guest bedroom when people visit, but it gets transformed back into my studio after they leave.  It's not a super large room, so I try to make good use of the space.

Click here to see the pictures from when I first "re-modeled" my studio.  A few things have changed since then, but the basic set up is still the same.  I have been trying to squeeze more things into the same space.

One of the things I had was a basket that held rolled up things - mostly papers and stuff.  I've never really had a particular place for this basket.  Sometimes it's under the cutting table or ironing board. Sometimes it's on top of a table.  I didn't think it was the best storage idea, so when I saw someone (I think it was Melody Johnson) had a different way of storing rolled up things, I wanted to get rid of the basket.

She had an over-the-door hanger for shoes that the rolled pieces went into.  It held a pairs of shoes horizontally.  I have been searching for a while for one of those things.  The more popular shoe storage organization seems to be the pocket version (shoes held vertically).  That wouldn't work.

I had looked in several different stores at several different times.  I had begun to think they didn't make that kind anymore and thought about how I could sew one myself, or something similar, knowing that I would probably never get around to doing that.

Unexpectedly, while I was looking for something the other day at a store, I found the right kind of shoe organizer!  I purchased it and came home excited to get the rolls reorganized.

Clearing the things out of the basket was almost like an archeological dig.  There were things buried on the bottom I had forgotten.  I found a shirt and two knit dresses I had bought to dye.  There were paper templates from older works that I ended up recycling.  Now the basket is empty, the items are put in the shoe organizer and I can see everything.  They are much easier to get to.

At the top, I have rolled pieces of fused fabric.  I rolled them around empty toilet paper rolls; this way they don't get flattened.  Then there is some blank newsprint paper, leftover paper from Wonder Under that can be reused, my teflon sheets, a clear plastic sheet I can use to audition quilting designs on with a dry erase marker, freezer paper, some vinyl Heat-n-Bond (which I'm sure I got for a particular project which will probably never happen) and, lastly, some oil cloth (also purchased for a particular project which will probably not happen).  So, there you have it.

You can see some of my other organization items I've used in my studio during my Open Studio on April 28th.  If you would like more information about that, please click here to sign up for my newsletter or contact me via email.