Sewing Room Makeover

You may recall that one of my major goals for 2012 was to makeover my sewing space.  I took that goal on in January and am very happy with the results.  I feel very lucky to have a dedicated sewing space.  We rent a furnished apartment (it's almost impossible to rent an unfurnished apartment in Scotland) which presents some challenges for creating a unique space.  I've taken over the spare bedroom of our flat.  After disassembling the bed in the room (and getting creative with storing it elsewhere in the flat), I still had a mammoth storage closet and couch to contend with in the room.

In the photo above you can see the 'before' shot which had my teeny tiny corner desk (sans computer in the photo--but the computer literally took up the entire desk space) right next to my sewing table.  My patterns were stored in accordian files and the overflow were in boxes.  The previous layout also had challenges with plug outlets--especially the area right by the bookcase which became a sort of 'cord central'.

The two major things I wanted in the new sewing space was a bigger table/workspace and more fabric storage.  You can see in the 'after photo' that we moved our already existing bureau into the window space (which fit perfectly!)  The bookcase stayed in it's original position (just tilted it more to face the room).  And the lovely new-to-me piece of furniture that David got me for my birthday against the wall:

Isn't this beautiful?  We got it for £40 from the local charity shop down the street! I would say it's from the 30's or 40's and had two large storage areas on either side that I use to hold my fabric (the right side is wool/woven fabric and the left is everything else).  I was pretty astonished when I moved to Scotland to find such wonderful antique furniture in the charity shops and auction houses for such reasonable prices--and we've definitely taken advantage of that in decorating our space!  What sold me on this piece was the middle top that folds up with a mirror and then can close again.  There's storage at the top, which is where I keep my make-up and hair accessories.  Each of the drawers is pretty deep and I keep my interfacing in one drawer, my oversized vintage vogue patterns in another with buttons stored in clear containers and my repro patterns in another drawer.  I also LOVE The bottom drawer as the drawer folds down completely and this is where I keep my curlers because I can pull them out to rest on the folded out drawer and just plug them right into the wall! Brilliant!

In one of the photos you can see David filling in the scratches--we're going to rub that off soon and it will make the scratches literally disappear!

Next to this new dresser, I've utilised the wall space for a new monthly planning dry erase board.  That's where I have fun brainstorming all the creative ideas I have and what I want to do during the month.  I also thought it would be great if I could hang the patterns that I have in my sewing queue:

To do this we took two wooden sewing spools that I had used all the thread from and screwed them into the wall and wound twine around each of them.  I had little mini clothes pins that I used to hang up each pattern (in protective plastic).  The patterns move from this position quite frequently depending on my mood (and more on being realistic about what I can accomplish...hehehehe).  All of the patterns pictured have moved down the queue and have been replaced by new projects!

I really love that I now have more storage space.  I've cleaned up my bookcase and just love pouring over my sewing books.  The bureau that we moved into the space in the window now houses my patterns, zippers and UFO projects.  On top of the bureau I still have my buttons in old honey and IKEA jars and my threads (white, red, yellows, pinks) in a vintage tin (the darker colour threads live in my sewing table).

Here's the other side of the room:

The knotty pine wardrobe came with the place and is where I keep all my clothes, belts, shoes and purses.  In the 'after' photo, you can see I now have a large table where I can work.  It is SO much better to have more space while I'm working.  Plus, there are more outlets on this wall so it's much better for sewing as well (not to mention a bit warmer since it's not right near the window).  The table was also a birthday present that we got for super cheap at a local charity shop.  We've managed to get all the furniture in this room (table, two bureaus, bookcase and including the sewing machine, the 1930's Singer sewing table and adjustable tailor's dummy) for under £200 over the last three years we've been in Scotland. I'm super happy that we've been able to find such lovely pieces for reasonable prices!

While the 'before' photo looks like there is more room--it was the only space I had to set up my ironing board--which because of the outlet situation had the cord extending across the length of the room (a big safety hazard)!  Now I have space near the monthly planner dry erase board to put up my ironing board right by the wall so that it's not in the way.

I also decided I wanted to decorate the walls a bit more:

David put up all my hats on the far wall (just with small nails) and now I have a bulletin board right near my desk.  Also, above my sewing machine is another small clothesline/frame thing that came with the flat that I use to hold the pattern I am working on at the moment.  My next goal is to add some framed photos from the lovely meet-ups I've been able to attend on the wall next to my sewing machine.  And don't worry--there's some extra paint to cover up the nail holes when we eventually move out, but we're hoping to be able to stay in this space for awhile.  I just love having everything visible and find the space so much more creative now!

YAY! So happy with my sewing space and a big thank you to David for indulging my birthday wishes to spend the entire day moving furniture around!

What about you? What does your dream sewing space look like?

Sewing Retreat Comes to a Close

My sewing retreat is coming to a close.  For my birthday I treated myself to the one thing I never have enough of: time.  Time to spend doing something I really enjoy.  I took three days off of work (plus I had the weekend for 5 whole days!!) and spent most of the time sewing!  Here's a few stats from my sewing retreat:

Hours spent sewing:  35

Hours spent plotting and planning future projects: 7

Hours spent reading about sewing: 6

Projects almost completed: 4

Panic moments: 1 (said panic moment involved stitching the waistband of a skirt on wrong--but it all turned out alright...David volunteered to take the really tight seam out with a seam ripper for me--he's got great attention to detail and it saved the day!!)

I've got some pieces I am really excited about that are almost finished!!  I am hoping to complete all the finishing (hemming, plackets, etc) by the end of the week and I promise to post some pictures as soon as they are finished.

On my birthday I also got a big surprise--David got me a new sewing machine!  It's a Singer model from the 1980's which I have named 'Lucy'.  It's amazingly fast and has a lot of features my older 50's singer doesn't have (like zig-zags, back stitching, and really tight stitches).  I love it.  I've used it almost exclusively this weekend and it has been amazing.  Here's a picture of Lucy:

Introducing Betsy

I just realised I never formally introduced Betsy, my amazing Singer 15K.  We bought Betsy at the auction house for £20 and she was guaranteed to work.  She came with her sewing manual, a bunch of foot attachments and some oil.  We had to first change her plug since it was from the old UK plugs that didn't work in current sockets.  We also had to change her light bulb since the old one was burnt out.  Then we held our breath as we plugged her in and lo and behold, she still worked!  Like a dream!

We then found the sewing table at the same auction house about 2 weeks later, again for £20.  We think the table is from the 1930's.  It had a machine already in it that was horribly rusted and broken.  The beauty about singer sewing machines is that the based of all their sewing machines (no matter what decade) are made the same.  So any singer sewing machine would fit into this table.  So, we tried Betsy out and she fit!  The old machine in the table was a foot pedal machine and Betsy is electric but it worked out fine.

It's also great because the sewing machine can fold down and you can close the table.  Which is good since I don't have a separate sewing room but do all my sewing in the living room.  So, it's nice when company comes over to close the machine and have a nice side table!

And here is a picture of the table closed:

 

Betsy has an amazing plate on the side of her that is so ornate:

Here's another picture with the sewing light on:

Of course, Betsy has her quirks too.  There's no special stitches on Betsy (just the straight stitch) unless you use separate foot attachments.  There's no back stitching unless you turn your material around.  And she doesn't have the dial that tells the length of the stitches on the front.  So, I just guess and practice with a scrap of remnant material.  She doesn't have a tension dial.  Again, we use trial and error here.  Also, there is no length guide on the sewing plate (though I think I could easily remedy this by buying a new sewing plate).  But overall, I've found that I haven't really needed all of those things. 

I do have a buttonholer attachment from the 1970's that works on Betsy just fine.

She's a beauty and I love her!  Every time I sit down to sew I imagine all the women in the 30', 40's and 50's doing the same thing on a similar machine.