Welcome to my sewing room. Grab a chair & pour yourself a cup of morning Joe! It’s cozy in here, so I hope you stay for a bit!
Today I am going to share with you some sewing room tips that will save you time & help keep you organized while you are sewing.
I am a lover of all things organized. I love to organize things & I am pretty good at time management as well. If I think I can improve on organization or cut down time on a project & work more efficiently, I try to find a way to do so.
TIP #1
My first tip, is bobbins. I use to fill my bobbins as needed. My bobbin would run out, I would unthread my machine so I could use that same spool of thread to fill my bobbin. Rethread my machine, & pop the newly filled bobbin back in. Silly right? It is & once I realized I could & should fill several bobbins at a time, all with the same color thread & have them handy by my machine, I was going to cut down on time! So I will spend a few extra minutes filling up bobbins with a couple spools of thread.
TIP #2
How many colors of thread do you use? I use to color coordinate all my threads with my fabric. I liked it. But when I am sewing up orders like it’s a production line, I am wasting time switching out threads. Now, I use a whole lot of white thread.
TIP #3
Does your house have one of those shelves with the 9 bins? Of course my boys had one. We organized cars, books, figurines, weapons, bouncy balls etc in all the bins. Eventually, they grew out of it & I realized it was easier to shove it in the toy box & sit on the lid. As I thought about getting rid of it, it dawned on me that I could use it to organize my sewing stuff….. & there was a lot of it!
TIP #4
Scraps. Large scraps, small scraps.
To put it simple…. I have lots tons of fabric scraps.
I bought recycling bins from IKEA. I keep one under my cutting table & as I am cutting the scraps slide right into the bin. I empty this often & pass the scraps to my talented girlfriends that love to make quilts.
I have a HUGE recycling bin for my larger scraps. I use these pieces when I need a small piece of fabric, which never seems to happen. I had an Open House for lil’ alice & people were more than welcome to take all the scraps they wanted.
These are some tried & true tips that work for me.
I’d love to hear what great tips you have that you use on a daily or weekly basis!
Great post and thank you for the new ideas! I would like to add a little bit that I’ve learned from having to have my sewing spaced mixed with living space in an apartment (a small setting!). I’ve found it very beneficial to hang a spool and bobbin rack on the wall above my sewing machine so everything is in reach (a big peg board works for this too since you can hang other supplies there). I also stack my fabrics by color in old bookshelves to save space instead of using bins. I’m slowly but surely getting my things organized. -R
Great tips for a small space. You r making great us of what you have. What are some things that u like to sew. Do u have a site? Thanks for the comment.
Hi Katy,
I sew aprons and accessories (bags, clutches, wallets, etc). A lot of cool cottons out there and I try to upcycle clothing too.
I only have a store and Facebook fanpage right now: http://www.pinuppickles.storeenvy.com and http://www.facebook.com/pinuppickles
I’ve been enjoying all of your tips recently, keep ‘em up! -R
Great tips on organizing your sewing space. I particularing like that you repurposed the kids toy bin instead of getting rid of it. For items that are gently used, I tell my clients first see if you can reuse the item, if you can’t find another use for it, then, donate it.
I like to reuse things if possible. I have a metal silverware tray that holds my spools of thread that I use often, like all my whites & blacks.
I got my hubby to mount a couple of curtain rods on the wall by my sewing machine. I have all my ribbon spools on the rods. That makes them handy when I am sewing and need some ribbon. Works great!!! (use the rods with the deep sides in order to be able to thread your spools on the rod.)
I love this idea!!!!