sewing room tours youtube

2021 Sewing Room Tour!

Happy Thursday friends! I’ve had a ton of requests for an updated sewing/quilting room tour, so that’s what we’re doing today! Everything in my room is linked below!

Watch my 2021 Sewing Room Tour Video here!

Links to my furniture!

• Kallax shelving unit  (I have a 2×4 unit, a 2×2 unit, and a 5×5 unit.
• Linnmon Table Top  (78 3/4” x 23 5/8” mat white table tops – I put two table tops together as shown in the video.)
• Adils table Legs  (I purchased 8 of the white legs. Three on each end and two in the center for stability.)
• Micke Desk (My main work desk)
• Moppe Mini Storage Chest (For my smaller fiber stash)
• White Sewing Chair

Links to products mentioned in the video, along with some of my favorite sewing notions:

• Juki TL2000 Qi
• Stackable Mesh Scrap Baskets
• Wooden Scrap Baskets
• White Fabric Baskets
• Oliso Pro-Smart Iron
• Magnetic Pin Bowl
• It’s Sew Emma Stash ‘n Store
• Quilters Press ‘N Cut Ironing Mat
• Creative Grid Ruler
• Kai 5″ Scissors
• Fiskars 8″ Scissors
• Aurifil Thread  (I use 50 wt 2021)
• Olfa Splash 45mm Rotary Cutter
• Bit Mat Rotary Cutting Surface
• Clover Wonder Clips
• Clover Seam Ripper
• Little House Pins
• Alphabitties
• 505 Fabric Adhesive
• Comic Book Boards  (Used to store yardage)

I hope you enjoyed my sewing room tour!

If you just started quilting or sewing, check out my  How to Quilt Series !

Hi Erica. Nice set up. I “lost” a roll of diagonal seam tape and I was sure my cat had batted it off my table top and I searched for weeks. When i bought a new roll of it, I put it in a colorful tape dispenser so that it was less likely to become a cat toy and to be used more easily.

Great idea!

Hello, Erica,

Today I found your channel again. I’ve made at least 4 bags that I leaned from you for my granddaughters and even my son, but I kept it when I moved. We moved to Virginia recently and I realize I need to get back to sewing again and found your channel. I love your projects and way of teaching. Thank you for making these tutorials. Your sewing room inspired me as I can have a sewing room anywhere I choose in our new home. I’m excited to see many of the tutorials I’ve missed once we started the moving process. Warm regards, Maria Elena

Hello Erica

Where did you purchase the wooden tree that you put your ornaments on?

I did purchase the Kit. I would like to display them the way you did.

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Modern Quilting: Tips, Tricks & Tutorials

NEW Sewing Room Tour! (We moved!)

So it is finally here, photographed and ready for you to see! We moved about 2 months ago and I had to reconfigure my whole sewing room again! Just FYI, Here is my sewing space in our old house. 🙂

[Fair warning, this post has A LOT of photos 🙂 ]

First of all, I love you so much for your sweet emails and politely asking when I was going to show what I did with my space haha but seriously, y’all don’t understand when I say I didn’t know exactly what I was getting myself into with moving. whew! I don’t know if we will ever do that again!

My husband and I have moved plenty of times before. Most not by choice. In the past, the military packed and moved all of our stuff for us. Or we had sold most everything we owned and just bought new things to slowly build our new home, so we didn’t have a lot of belongings.

We lived in our last house for 8 years. If you’re under the impression that a baby comes with a lot of things… Nope… it is nowhere near the number of things that two children who think everything is worth keeping come with.

I can’t fault them entirely though… there was also me with an entire home office of crafting supplies and quilting fabrics too! 🙂

I know people move all the time and I am so proud of you for doing it. It was just… rougher than I expected. That is all.

BUT it has been a few months and things are finally running smoothly here again… we’re here and it is finally time to share my new sewing room with you!

DISCLAIMER: Please know that this is a creative space and as such… things will most definitely change and shift and probably get painted at some point or another. Freedom to change is a powerful thing!

I wouldn’t call this “finished” by any means… but it is functional and I love my space!

Here is our new house 🙂

The “Before” Photos!

I hesitate so much to show you these next pictures, because… well, you will see ! But I feel like in order to appreciate what it looks like currently, you have to know where I started!

My old house had a formal dining room that was open concept to the rest of the house and my mess was constantly on display. Our new house has a “mother-in-law” suite with a half bath and bedroom. It is now my sewing room. Upgrade? YES! And I’m so excited about it!

So here it is… the good, the bad and the messy…

I know to see my before pictures is going to be helpful to someone, even if it is just an ego boost that at least you’re not in as bad a shape as I was, right?

[ Type A personalities… you might want to look away! ]

When we moved in, things just got dumped in the general area of where they were supposed to go. It took me FOREVER to really sort things out and organize it all again…

Another view – the other side of the room… getting better but still a disaster… (hey at least I can see a floor now! )

I tried several different furniture layouts until I found one that was what I was comfortable with. The one above was good in theory but ended up cramming me into a cubicle-like-workspace in only 1/4 of the room – Not a good use of the space.

If you’re curious about what method I use to decide how to organize and furniture placement… I’ve written out everything in a step by step guide that you can download instantly here 🙂 It is one of my most popular downloads and has helped SO many people create the space of their dreams .

Just so you know… there was no HGTV crew to come in here and help me heave all my furniture around and plan out my strategy to find the floor again. It was all just me… and it all took place over the course of about 3 weeks from the “before” to the “after”!

The After Pictures

When we knew we were moving, I got rid of a bunch of my fabric and a lot of the quilts I had laying around. I tried my best to clean out and purge when I wasn’t using.

Needless to say, I still had A LOT of stuff to fit into this room again. It is still a work in progress as I fill the walls up and find a place for everything.

This is my sewing space!

As you can see, I made sure that there were multiple workstations for people to come over and sew with me! There are lots of tables to spread out and lots of good lighting as well!

*The really awkward closet situation is something I am at a loss for at the moment, but hopefully someday I’ll figure out a solution to be able to use to space efficiently.*

My Sewing Table

Underneath the sewing table, I have a cube shelf that holds fabric bundles, fat quarters, current project boxes and yarn.

A New Armoire for Storage

Behind my Sewing Table is this big beautiful monstrous piece of furniture! It was actually used in my kid’s playroom for toy storage in our old house.

It is huge and solid and so so heavy. When we had the movers move our furniture to the new house, I mentioned that I wanted it to go upstairs in the game room area… The sweet man looked at me and shook his head!! haha. It was a nope, not happenin g.

Thus, we pivoted the plan and now it belongs to meeeeee!

I’m using it to hold more quilts and fabric and general crafting supplies. The nice thing about it is that while the inside could use a trip to The Container store and some organization… right now, I can just keep the doors closed so I don’t have to see the mess and work on it one step at a time!

Just between the Armoire and my sewing table is the perfect spot for this rolling cart. It is one of my favorite places in the sewing room because it’s uses are endless! I currently use it to hold my quick grab sewing tools and it helps keep my sewing table in a more tidy state.

I have another work area that faces the window where I can change my point of view and soak in some sunshine.

Fabric Storage! (well, some of it)

On the other side of the room, I have a big tall shelf ( from IKEA if you couldn’t tell… I shop there a lot for home furnishings! ) I store a good part of my favorite fabric – though not all of it.

A Design Wall Space

I also have a large blank wall area for my design board! It is great to be able to leave my projects out and keep them up off the floor.

My favorite part?

My most favorite area of my new space has got to be this corner right here!

I think it is because it is the area that is “finished” the most.

[PEG BOARD TUTORIAL COMING SOON!]

My dream was to have a space for a pegboard wall for my tools. I finally made it happen! Because I know someone would want to see, I took pictures along the way and I have a blog post coming soon so you can see just how easy this project was and why I can’t believe I waited so long to make it happen!

[DIY DRY ERASE BOARD TUTORIAL COMING SOON!]

I also LOVE my dry erase board! first of all… it cost me $7. Yep. And it is so so sooooooooo useful! ( and… PINK! I love pink, I was hesitant to go with such a bold color at first but I am so glad I took the plunge and embraced my love of PINK! It makes me smile. )

I love having my reminders and thoughts and ideas up in front of my face all the time because sometimes… even if I write it down, there is a chance I won’t find that piece of paper again for a while. Do you ever do that too?

This dry erase board makes it impossible to lose track of current projects and deadlines as well as ideas I have for future projects.

I love having a space for all my tools in a neat and organized fashion!

My second favorite part…

I really love filling this space with things that bring me absolute joy. Everything in here inspires me and brings back wonderful memories!

I think this is probably one of the best things you can do for yourself is to fill your space with things that you LOVE. Even if its silly little trinkets… limit it to only the most important treasures.

“GRACE” was my word for 2019. And I fully embraced it… I love the idea that while I strive to be everything to everyone and accomplish my dreams and sew alllllll the quilts while I’m also moving and raising a family etc etc etc *BREATHE* … I am allowed to fail and I am allowed to not be perfect and I am allowed to have GRACE.

Because when you have GRACE, you look at yourself like you would a child who is struggling and just trying to do her best and with grace, you have love and compassion.

Anyways, that was my GRACE tangent 🙂 here are a few more inspirational things that I have up in my sewing room.

I have some stickers that I picked up from a conference that are beautiful reminders!

I have one of those letter boards that are SO in and trendy right now and honestly, I love it so much… but it takes FOREVER to write on the darn thing! To make sure you have all the letters and make sure that what you want to say is really impactful because you KNOW it is going to be a while before you change it again haha… so this is my current message 🙂

…and there you have it!

This is what my sewing space looks like thus far!

I’m still adjusting things as I go and moving/organizing, but it isn’t meant to be staged for a magazine photoshoot! This space is messy a lot of times there are multiple projects and kids in it!

Check out these posts for more ideas! OFFICE SUPPLIES YOU CAN USE IN YOUR SEWING ROOM A SIMPLE PLAN TO IMPROVE YOUR SEWING ROOM CHEAP SEWING ROOM STORAGE 13 MUST-HAVE TOOLS IN THE SEWING ROOM + PICTURES

What are some of the struggles you have in your sewing spaces? Do you need more storage ideas or are you running out of space? How do you deal with multi-purpose rooms?

Tell me down in the comments! I would love to hear your thoughts!

3 Comments on NEW Sewing Room Tour! (We moved!)

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Sewing Room Tour and Craft Room Ideas

Lazies, Join me for my sewing room tour and the craft room of my dreams! Over the years my sewing space has moved and changed while growing with my needs. In 2001, I designed my own sewing room in the basement. After six months of construction, Lazy Girl moved in to its current studio. I designed the studio for work flow and to keep me and my sewing supplies organized.

Basement Before Construction

Here’s the unfinished basement before construction which was about 850 square feet of unfinished space. Just below the Dallas Cowboys sign is where the stairs land at the middle of the basement. I designed the finished space to put walls where the I-beams and support poles were located.

My Sewing Studio and Creative Space

My sewing studio is approximately 13′ x 20′. Here’s half of my studio showing my sewing machine counter, which backs up to the elevated work surface and cutting counter. Beyond the studio is a storage room to the left and a full bath to the right. I chose cabinetry, wood stain, paint, and countertops to match or coordinate with the rest of the house upstairs. The carpeting is a commercial carpet.

Built-In Cabinetry, Shelves, and Drawers

I designed the sewing room to have work surfaces at standing and sitting heights. There are drawers of different sizes for different functions. A large corner cabinet holds bulky things like sewing machine luggage or extra sewing machines. Shelves on the wall are to display my sewing themed gifts, collectibles, and treasures.

Create A More Open Staircase

Large Elevated Ergonomic Work Table

This large, elevated counter is my cutting table and work station which has room below to store bolted goods such as my line of Lazy Girl interfacing. Shelves, drawers, and cabinets nearby are perfect to organize books, tools, supplies, and other resources. The work surface will fit a large cutting mat and still have room left over for notions, fabrics, etc.

Extra Storage Room for Craft Supplies

Connected to the sewing room is a nice big storage room with built-in shelves which are perfect for luggage, display items and samples.

The other wall in this room has smaller shelves which are perfect for fabric, sewing supplies, and notions. That door to the left leads to the utility room.

Storage for Large Items in a Spare Room

Finally, there’s an extra room with a desk just off the studio which has become quite handy for all of the unexpected things I need to store. The large closet opens to storage under the stairs and access to the crawl space under the rest of the house.

Sewing Studio and Craft Space

Here are a few pics of my sewing room and craft space with all of my stuff moved in.

Ironing Board and Pressing Supplies

One corner of the studio is home to my pressing station. I also store sewing and craft supplies in this area such as everything from zippers and buttons to KAM snaps and ribbons. I also use drawers for pressing notions and open shelving for my pressing sheets and cloths.

IKEA Ironing Board Hack

Take a tour of my updated IKEA hack pressing station: IKEA Hack Ironing Board .

Sewing Gifts Display Idea

I love having all of my sewing gifts and sewing themed collectibles on display, including treasures I pick up while traveling for my job. Other items are cherished gifts from my stitchy friends.

Sewing Room Organization and Craft Supply Storage

Some free-standing shelves work well for my Lazy Girl line of interfacing , supplies, and notions. I picked the shelves up years ago at Pier-1 Imports. The wooden boxes with clear drawers are old DMC floss display units I picked a long time ago from a store that closed.

Sewing Machine Table Custom Countertop

I designed this countertop to have a lowered area to hold my sewing machine which puts the sewing surface at the same height as the counter. Here’s a closer look at the nook I designed for my sewing machines. It’s perfect for my Janome or BERNINA 740.

Here I am at home in the sewing room of my dreams. Thanks for joining me on a tour of my sewing studio and creative space!

Sewing Room Equipment and Supplies For more info about some of the equipment in my studio, check out my blog post for Must Have Sewing Room Equipment.

Sewing Room Tours and Sewing Organization For more sewing room inspiration, follow my Sewing Room Tours , IKEA Sewing Room Ideas , Craft Room Organization , and Sewing Organization Ideas boards at Pinterest.

That’s Pinterest-ing! Join me on Pinterest here , remember to ‘Follow’ me there, and pin this post and pics to your Pinterest boards.

New to our blog? Subscribe to get emails so you don’t miss a juicy morsel. Like and share this post with your stitchy friends. Join me in the Lazy Girl community on Facebook here: Facebook Lazy Girl

Enjoy! Joan

Sew With Joan Online Classes | Joan’s Sewing Group | Pinterest

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Tags: #SewingOrganization , sewing , sewing organization , sewing room ideas , sewing studio

posted by admin on November 30, 2006 — 16 Comments »

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16 comments on “Sewing Room Tour and Craft Room Ideas”

Wonderful Joan! I just love llooking at your converted basement as an inspiration since we have been toying with the idea of converting ours for about 4 years now. It’s funny that you should post a tour of your studio today since I did the same thing on Monday LOL! Great minds think alike I suppose 🙂 Thanks again! Katrina

Hi Katrina, It’s nice to hear from you. I missed your post on Monday. Where is it posted?

Hi Joan! Here is the link: http://sunshowerquilts.blogspot.com/2006/11/newly-rearranged-sewing-room.html My room isn’t as nice as yours (or as organized since mine has all my “stuff” in it) but I hope that you enjoy the tour 🙂 Take care; Katrina

Hi I found your website while searching for Philadelphia quilt patterns. It seems they are hard to come by and thought since you have lived in Philadelphia you may know of patterns from this area. Patterns that may be named for Valley Forge, or Lancaster and other places around the Philadelphia area. If you would know of these would you please let me know. I really would appreciate it very much.

Thank you. Virginia

Hi Joan – I am just so excited about this website. And even more excited when I found out that you are in Westerville! (Cheryl G – Stitching Post teacher told me) I am in Lewis Center.

If I ever get organized I want to have a sewing room like yours! Mine is in the basement, too, but nothing like yours….bits and pieces…..

WOW! Can you spell J-E-A-L-O-U-S ? This is wonderful. I had a studio at one time. I’ve always had a work space but now I’m in a 2 room plus kitchenette apartment and my work space is in both of them. All my fabric, cutting table sewing machines, and a tiny, tiny sewing table is in the bedroom. The trims, fringes and that sort of stuff is in the walk in closet along with vintage clothes and linens to rework, play with, cut up, whatever. (clothes are jammed into the two tiny closets. Its all about priorities! LOL) Beads, buttons, paints, pens, pencils, journals, paint, paper etc are all in the living room… I guess it is the dining area of the Living Room. I thought the couch was for eating, or the computer desk… (I don’t have children and no one to answer to.) It seems to be OK, though I haven’t really done any work since I’ve been here, I mostly move things around trying to find the perfect arrangement. Isn’t organizing part of the fun of textiles and craftiness? Getting to retouch, re discover all that fabric lusciousness, the images saved, the colors of the paints. YUM!

I should put this on my blog. I just started it and don’t write because I don’t know what to say.

Do you mind if I blog your studio pix?

I am in the process of trying to design my new sewing studio. Presently I have a nook and of course I have outgrown it. We are building and I have been searching for design ideas and I must admit your design is perfect (with a little tweeking for my needs). I was wondering if you knew your room size (10 x 9?). And I click on the tour button but the site has been removed. Maybe we can see an updated version as it is today.

Can you email me your dimensions ????

This is a beautiful studio. I am in the process of re-developing my sewing space. I love your layout.Just a question for you about how long is the wall that has your cutting and sewing desk along with so much storage both upper and lowers and work space as well… thanks

Hi Kathy, The whole room is about 13′ x 20′. The space for the cutting and sewing surfaces is about 6′ total. Thanks for your very kind compliments!

What a lovely space, can we see it ‘today’ in use? 

LOVE!!! in my dream, i’ll add an entire 2nd story to my house & it will all be for my crafting, the majority of which is sewing. we don’t have basements where we live, they’d just flood….. but i love looking at all the storage you have as well as your pincushion collection.  i have a small one too. thanks for sharing

LOVE your new sewing room Joan! I have a 13×13 bedroom that I am converting into a sewing room and all pictures of sewing rooms help me alot. This has been my sewing room for years, but someday I will have base cabinets and uppers so I can store most of the items I need. Someday I will get this all done, but major renovations through out the rest of the house pushed my sewing room to the bottom of the list! Thanks for showing us yours!!

Love your sewing room, thanks for sharing!

I would love to know where you got your sewing machine furniture?  Did you have it built or was it from a store?  I just finished my 20’x20’ room and really need a good sewing station.  Yours is fantastic.  

I think your crafting space is wonderful! I am a newbie sewist and, being from the Philippines, i can only wish for a good sewing machine that i can use. Your site has inspired me to be more creative while building my dream of some day having my own electric sewing machine.

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Discover Your Love of Sewing, Crafts, DIY Projects

Sewing Room Late Night Tour + YouTube Filming Setup

December 6, 2017 by Jennifer Moore Leave a Comment

How about a late night, low-rent tour of my new sewing room and filming setup?

This is a legit honest craft room here, no frills or fuss here – just me in a modestly priced apartment.

MY YOUTUBE FILMING GEAR: https://kit.co/sewingreport/youtube-filming-gear

SUBSCRIBE TO SEWING REPORT ON YOUTUBE FOR A REMINDER ON THE LIVE SHOWS + NEW VIDEOS!  https://goo.gl/WxA2s4

Join in on Instagram with #sewingreportsquad! #sewcheap to share your best deals and budget tips! Be sure to tag me  @sewingreport

WHAT I DO WHEN I’M NOT SEWING… JEN TALKS FOREVER CHANNEL https://goo.gl/EkWQP2

* SEWING & QUILTING PRODUCTS: https://kit.co/sewingreport

MY SEWING MACHINES:

EverSewn – Sparrow 25 -197 Stitch Computerized Sewing Machine http://amzn.to/2gh8iDh

Eversewn 6-pc Accessory Quilting Foot Kit Low Shank http://amzn.to/2npBQ3n

Thank you to EverSewn for providing Sewing Report the Sparrow 25 used in our videos!

Sewing Report is teaming up with Pink Castle Fabrics to bring you a special series of videos all about coverstitch machines. Mention Sewing Report when you order a sewing machine over $500 and receive a free gift! (Subject to availability)

Janome CoverPro 1000CPX coverstitch machine https://goo.gl/5xzmT6

Brother 1034D Serger  –  http://amzn.to/1FNpsxo

Janome MemoryCraft 7700 Sewing Machine  –  http://amzn.to/2uWS33L

NEED CUSTOM BUSINESS CARDS, STICKERS, PAPER PRODUCTS? https://refer.moo.com/s/sewingreport You’ll love MOO! They’ve awesome print products and cool design finishes. Get 20% off your first order!

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Join in on Instagram with #sewingreportsquad!

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ABOUT SEWING REPORT : Helping you discover your love of sewing at sewingreport.com through videos, articles, and tutorials. I’m Jennifer Moore – obsessed with sewing, and want you to be if you’re not already. Come on in!

DISCLAIMER:  This video and description contains affiliate links for several different programs. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

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Craft Room Organization – Sewing Room Tour

Thank you so much for sharing!

Hi there! Today I want to share my craft room organization and my sewing room tour of 2020! In December I completely cleaned out and rearranged my studio. It had gotten out of hand, we all know how messy craft rooms can get.

It literally took me an entire week of sorting, reorganizing and playing around with layout to get this result… and I want to say that I am so happy with my new craft room organization for sewing room!

How to Organize your Craft Room

• The first thing I did was get rid of stuff. Thin it out, donate and remove anything you don’t actually want in your space
• Think about ways that would make your productivity better. Do you need a label maker? Some new storage bins? A great bluetooth speaker for blasting music?
• Make sure everything has a home. A place to live, so that when it is time to tidy up, you aren’t wondering where on earth you should put this.
• Then… get to work! Pull everything out, thin it out and then put it away neatly in whatever way works best for your craft room organization and how your brain works.

Craft Room Organization on the Wall

I can’t tell you how nice it is to have a peg board for my craft room. It is a way to add pretty things as well as functionality to the wall space which is often bare or contains art work. Crafters need lots of storage so let’s utilize those walls without adding too many bulky bookcases or shelving units.

Melanie’s Craft Room

Let’s take a tour of my craft room shall we? I will include links to all of the furniture, storage pieces and supplies that you see!

My main worktable is from ikea, where you can buy the table top and legs separate. The legs are adjustable and up to the tallest that can go so that i have a height comfortable for cutting my fabric.

The drawer unit under the work table is also from ikea. I love that it is on wheels and I can move it around. Perfect for storing needles, thimbles and smaller items. I have drawer organizers in there to keep things tidy.

On top of the work table is a Stella Light , an Oliso Iron and a wool pressing mat . All of which I love.

I love my peg board for craft room organization. I did a post on how we hung the peg board in this room if you want to add one to your space.

Wanna see what my craft looked like when I first re-did this room?

I really love the workflow of cutting my fabric, pressing it and then sewing. It’s nice that its all right here. Aren’t craft supplies so cute! Its fun and functional to have my favorite rotary cutter , scissors , embroidery hoop , letter board and crochet hooks where I can have easy access.

Sewing Machine Table

My sewing desk is really fancy and from a place called Target, hehe. I would love a table where my machine drops down and creates a flush surface, but I have gotten around to figured that all out. I also swap between my Juki DX7 and my Juki tl-2010q so it would need to accommodate that. Currently I have out my 2010q, she is my favorite. I bought her in December 2013 after saving up for 2 years to have her ;).

My chair is from ikea and my heart light is from a local artist, Scott Coppersmith. When I first installed the large peg board, I had some left over when Lowe’s cut the boards for me so I put it on this little wall to add some more storage. The thread organizer is cute up there, I cut out the word “aloha” on my Silhouette (I have the cameo 2) and stuck that on and I film all of my macrame tutorials from this spot.

Craft Room Organization Closet

My craft room closet is a standard bedroom size closet. This is where I store my yarn and bins of organized craft supplies like fabric paint, zippers and elastic, embroidery floss and patterns. etc. My yarn shelf is not the cleanest right now, but hey this is how it often looks ;).

Qnique 14+ Long arm

I don’t have a ton to say about this yet since I haven’t started making videos on it. I will say that learning how to use a long arm has had a much steeper learning curve than I anticipated and I very time consumptive. I think I finally have the hang of it thought so videos should be coming soon!

The 10 ft frame that I originally built for it in the unboxing video was just too big for this space and it was making me crazy, so I dropped it down to the 5 ft.

Craft Room Design Wall

This design wall is the same one from way back in 2015 when I made that video. I love having it and highly recommend one for your space. It is helpful to stand back from quilts and see how they look from a distance. It is made with 1 inch wide foam insulation and white flannel, making it very inexpensive to put together and lightweight to hang on the wall.

Fabric Organization

Unfortunately, my fabric had to get moved out of this room. The good news is that it is just around the corner so it’s still easy for me to get to. I completely emptied it out and refolded all of the fabric and organized it so that it was neat and tidy just like everything else in my new craft room organization.

See that doorway just down the hall? That is my craft room, so it really isn’t far. This cabinet is from ikea, the billy bookcase with the doors that are solid on the bottom and glass on the top.

Here is the fabric cabinet closed and it is perfect little spot in my bedroom. This area wasn’t getting utilized at all, so this will work for now. The bin on the top of the cabinet are past projects that I sometimes need to pull out for reference or photographs.

Here’s a pin for you to save it for later!

Friday 31st of January 2020

Thanks for sharing Melanie!! I have this space or set of spaces that are so unique and fun/cool/useful that I can't even process ideas for everything!! I have multiple hobbies as well (before moving I had my king size bed on those 8" inch risers because under there....at least a huge closet worth of yarn and fabric! I so badly wish I had some YouTube or Crafting friends to do a few videos on it!! I would just love to see what you think with blank pallet space pics and see what you might think?! I've never had a "space or room"

Thanks for sharing Melanie!! I have this space or set of spaces that are so unique and fun/cool/useful that I can't even process ideas for everything!! I have multiple hobbies as well (before moving I had my king size bed on those 8" inch risers because under there....at least a huge closet worth of yarn and fabric! I so badly wish I had some YouTube or Crafting friends to do a few videos on it!! I would just love to see what you think with blank pallet space pics and see what you might think?! I've never had a "space or room"....just under the bed storage Madness collection of supplies for my hobbies (quickly learned is a huge hobby in itself)!

Monday 27th of January 2020

Hello! I just watched your quilting for beginners series and loved it! I just bought my first sewing machine yesterday never have sewed before! Having my first lesson where I bought it at Saturday but I was curious where do you get those charm square fabric pieces at?? Also can I get a link to your amazon page to look at stuff you mentioned in the video? Thank you!!

Hi Chelsea! Here's the link for my amazon store, thanks for asking! www.amazon.com/shop/melanieham

I like to get charm squares from Fat Quarter Shop, Missouri Star Quilt Co., Etsy or my local shop which is Superbuzzy

Jane Pecic Dial

Saturday 25th of January 2020

I am so glad you see you back in full swing, you are the greatest. I so enjoy watching your video's. Your hints and tips have helped me so much. I am 70 yrs young, and who said you can't teach an old dog new tricks. Thank you Hugs and Kisses

So glad they are helpful for you, Jane!

Lucy Barker

Lovely sewing room!

I really enjoy all of your videos. I hope you will be making some learn to sew videos soon (I'm trying to learn to sew but it can be so overwhelming) I enjoy your personality and how you explain things so easily! You're doing great Melanie!

Thanks for all you do and share! -Lucy in Mich.

Yes! Prepping a Learn to Sew series as we speak!

Scissortail Quilting

Love is Worth a Thousand Stitches

Sewing Room Tours: A Successful Sewing Room Remodel

Estimated reading time: 13 minutes

This week we have a special treat. We are peeking inside the sewing room of one of my favorite people — my dear friend and quilting buddy, Kim — who remodeled her studio in early 2017. My hope is that this will be the first of several posts spread out over the next 4 or 5 months in which we get to glimpse into some other quilting spaces!  I have an inkling we will see some interesting ways that people organize.

I was excited to travel to Kim’s house. It was a beautiful fall day, and the drive to her home, which is situated about 15-minutes outside of Tulsa, was saturated in the colors of autumn. Kim invited several of us over shortly after the remodel, so I had seen it before, but I hadn’t delved into the nooks and crannies to see how it really FUNCTIONED. This was going to be fun!

“Making do” vs Making an Investment.

For those of you who might just now be finding me, for the past few weeks, we’ve been talking about Sewing Room Organization . It was supposed to be a simple topic, but it stretched into five  long posts. (Maybe it’s a simple topic and I just talk too much!) 

From the start, I tried to emphasize that  you don’t have to spend a lot of money, but you do need to put a little thought into how you set yourself up.  As I took you through my space, zone by zone, you probably noticed that there were a lot of areas where I “made do.”

In the grand scheme of things, I’ve been pretty frugal and haven’t spent a huge wad of cash on my space. But all of us are at different phases of our lives, in different situations, and at different levels in our quilting journey. Needless to say, a large spectrum exists for ways that spaces can be organized and how intricately or minimally this is done. What matters is that the room works for the person using it.

When you see Kim’s space, you will realize instantly that she’s made a sizable investment into her space.  But don’t let that discourage you.  Kim waited a LONG time before she was able to create a space like this. And I so appreciate her willingness to open her home up to all of us, because I think she has some terrific ideas that almost anyone can glean from!

But first, meet my friend Kim.

Kim started quilting in 1991 and is a fantastic quilter (although she will tell you she doesn’t think it’s her strongest skill.)

She’s an avid gardener, a pet lover, a generous heart. She has a very discerning eye for color and scale. (If I need a decorating opinion, she’s one of the first people I will ask.)  She’s also an excellent knitter and a former knitting instructor. She loves machine embroidery.

But her real passion is needle-turned applique and decorative stitching.

She wouldn’t let me take any pictures of her during the visit, but here she is with the amazing and talented Sue Spargo . You can also find Kim on her Instagram Account .

She’s also a military wife. Since she married adventure, her life has been a series of moves, sometimes to foreign soil.

(Translation: her sewing room has been all over the world and has had to adapt. A lot.)

I asked Kim about that experience and about her early days of quilting. Her first sewing table is still in her space – a solid oak table made by her father-in-law. It went with her wherever she moved. The fact that the table survived all those moves, and is still in use today is a testament to how solid it is. (I’ll show it to you later.)

So, without any more delays, let’s take a look into Kim’s sewing space.

Before the Sewing Room Remodel

Before we get into the details, let’s see where she started. Here is the before picture.

Actually, this is the picture from before she moved in! When Kim and her husband first bought this home, this particular room was the “exercise” room, complete with a wall of mirrors. This space was located next to a large landing area upstairs which served as a media room. While the focus of this post is on her sewing room remodel, I should probably point out that the actual scope of the project included some updates to the Media Room as well.

After Kim moved in, she claimed the exercise space as her sewing room. This space had several advantages and a few disadvantages. The main advantage was that the room was located right next to an attic crawl space, so she was able to use that for overflow storage. (The door you see in the BEFORE photo above leads to the attic.)

But there were some disadvantages too. Here are some of the problems she needed to solve:

• She needed improved lighting . The lighting was so poor, she was having to supplement the lighting quite a bit in order to work. Each time she left the room, she had to turn off 5 different lamps.
• She needed more storage . While it was great to have tubs in the attic, she wanted to be able to access her “main” stash easily. All of her stash was in plastic tubs, so each time she needed to pull fabrics, she was having to hunt through her storage containers. Even though she had them fairly well-organized by color, it was still a chore to dig through them.
• She really needed more space . Since Kim is an avid machine embroiderer, she has two machines and needed to have more space for the embroidery machine set up. As you might notice from the floor plans above, the Media Closet was eating up 4 feet of the room, leaving her with only 7 feet in the center part of the area.

She spent a lot of time on Pinterest trying to find ideas on how to improve her space. She showed a few to her contractor/carpenter who sketched out a plan. And here are the results. (I’ve also identified where she has set up her sewing and cutting tables.)

When you walk into the room, the first thing you see is her cutting table.

As you enter the room on the left, there is a long counter. A wool mat and her iron is situated on the countertop so that it sits directly across from her main sewing space. This forms a nice work triangle, with the three points being her main sewing machine, her cutting table and this pressing station.

She keeps her full-size ironing board behind the door for when she needs to iron large sections. Further down the counter sits her computer and her digital cutter .

Her contractor had suggested that she “sink” the desk area in the middle of the counter, but Kim was smart enough to realize that it would be more functional to have a long uninterrupted work surface. She opted to keep the desk portion the same height and purchased an adjustable chair. Her contractor was thoughtful enough to put a foot rest below.

You can see that she has ample storage for notions, stabilizers, and works in progress. Toward the far wall, you see more custom-built cabinetry.

As you can see, he solved her fabric storage problem. In addition, with a stroke of genius, he figured out how to store her massive collection of embroidery thread, right across from where her embroidery machine sits. (Store it where you’ll use it!)

Here is the cool thing about the thread shelves: They actually sit inside a double door unit. The thread “door” opens to reveal the attic door behind it.

You can see that she takes advantage of the space between the doors to store her embroidery hoops. So clever!

Let’s look around the room a bit more, to see how her “sewing zones” are set up.

You may notice that Kim kept the mirrors. The main reason she did that is that her room does not have any exterior windows. You can see that one machine (on the right in the photo) is facing the mirrors. This is her main machine where she does most of her sewing and patchwork. The machine on the left (under the cover) is her embroidery machine. It sits on that nice heavy solid oak table I mentioned earlier. Also, note the little cart.  We will talk about that later.

Here are a few other nifty features. Kim’s husband installed a small TV in the corner for her.

She’s happy it’s there, but what Kim really loves is her music. When she works, she usually has relaxing jazz music playing in the background (It was playing while I was there…so soothing! I could see why she enjoys it!) During the remodel she had wiring run and a special cubby holds the speaker unit.

Let’s talk about Productivity

Now that Kim has been in her newly remodeled sewing room for over a year, I asked her how it was working out for her. She said, “This room functions very well for me because everything is in one place. Before the remodel I was all over the place.” Remember that she was having to go to her attic to find fabric. But she was also sometimes going downstairs to use a table when she needed more space.

I had observed that Kim had two rolling carts in her space – a gray cart and a teal cart.

I asked her how these functioned in her workflow. The gray one sits beside her embroidery machine, and she uses it to hold the spools being used in current projects so they are right there beside the machine.

But her teal cart goes with her from zone to zone holding supplies from her current project. When she needs to cut, she pulls it to her cutting zone and arranges her fabrics (and later the cut pieces) in the cart. When she is at her sewing machine, she rolls it beside her again.

This little system saves her a huge amount of time. She told me, “Maria, I look at it like this: You know how it is when you’re piecing — how when you’re off just that little 1/16″ of an inch — how that multiplies across the quilt? And then you realize you’re off a whole inch because it all adds up? Well, all those little extra steps you take hopping back and forth across your sewing room are just like that. They add up and cost you precious time!”

She says her little carts are her “step savers.” If you’ve followed along in the series on Sewing Room Organization, one of the first suggestions I made was that you use a cart . As Kim’s system demonstrates, it truly is a versatile item for organizing.

Last minute questions about this sewing room remodel

Before we close, I thought I’d end with a few specific questions that I asked her – because I’m a curious soul nosey person (and because I knew you’d want to know, too!)

• How long did it take? A little over three months
• The most expensive part of the remodel? The electrician got the biggest wad of the cash.
• Could you have saved money using laminate counters? Wasn’t granite a bit extravagant for a craft space? This one surprised me. Because plywood bases have become so expensive, her contractor encouraged her to visit the granite yard and see what she could find. Turns out, all things considered, the laminate was only $50 cheaper than the granite, so she chose the granite.
• Anything you’d do differently? Probably not, but she had originally wanted to install a window on the exterior wall behind the cutting table. The electrician discovered that there was a gas line in that wall. Since it would have been quite costly to move the line, the plan to install a window was scrapped. However, since she left the mirrors in the room, she can see the reflection of the windows from the media room, so it almost feels like there is a window.

I hope you enjoyed this post about my friend’s sewing room remodeling project. A few other posts about other sewing spaces will come out in the coming months, so I hope you’ll come back to check them out. In the meantime, if you have any specific questions, comments, etc., please leave me a note in the comments section below or email me using the Contact Form on this website.

Until next time,

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Sewing Room Makeover

Hello! I thought I’d give you a little update and tell you what I’ve been up to since my 2022 year review blog post. And of course, we all love to hear about a sewing room makeover don’t we?  😉

 Well, a couple of months before Christmas my mum gave me her lovely Bernina 1230 sewing machine. Mum’s nearly 94 and her eyesight and health aren’t what they were so sadly she no longer sews. She wanted me to have her machine while she was still around to know that I was enjoying it. But here’s the thing I had no room in my sewing area for it and it ended up sitting in its box in the corner for quite a while.

Then halfway through January, I started to think about how I could accommodate the machine and a plan was hatched for a sewing room update.

First of all, I did some research… and by research, I mean sitting and watching sewing room tours on YouTube for inspiration, haha!

Next, I started measuring up my space and looking at Ikea table options etc. and a plan (and an Ikea order) was made 🙂

First things first though. A fresh coat of paint was needed as part of the room refresh not least because where the old tables were there were holes and untidy areas on the walls so after dismantling the old set up I painted the walls in a nice fresh cream colour.

A Plan Comes Together

I bought two Ikea Lagkapten tabletops. One is 120cm long and the other is 140cm long.

The table legs are the Olov adjustable ones and I have them set at 67cm high plus the depth of the tabletop. This gives me a nice comfortable working height.

I also treated myself to a Skadis Pegboard and a Rashult trolley for my ironing equipment.

I made myself a new thread storage board and changed its location so that it’s no longer in direct light to reduce fading of the threads. It’s not difficult to make one. Mine is a piece of MDF board that I drilled holes into. The 5mm diameter wooden dowels came from eBay I think and I gave it a couple of coats of white paint before knocking in the dowels.

And finally, I made a simple change to my fabric storage drawers. I dislike visual clutter, so just the simple addition of some white paper lining the front and sides of the drawers and everything now looks fresh and bright and clean. This simple change makes a big difference.  And so that I know what fabrics I have, I’ve cut a small sample of each piece and put them onto a card on my notice board with a description of what they are etc. 

And that’s it my 3 Berninas look very happy on their new tables and the whole space feels so much more spacious, uncluttered and efficient.  

And now for the obligatory before and after photos…enjoy!

I hope you enjoyed my sewing room makeover. See you soon! And let the sewing begin!

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A hello and a snoop around my …, diy thread storage method., life update…aka remember me, diy folding cutting table with storage, 18 comments.

Well done, the room looks fabulous. Happy Sewing for 2023. I have a Bernina 1130 which I bought at a garage sale 14 years ago and I love using it.

Thanks, Cathy! Oh, how lovely that you’ve got a Bernina too. Such great machines.

What a great sewing room you have now – I’m envious

Thank you, Christine. I feel very blessed to have such a space.

Looks great and is motivation for me! I have a sewing and drawing / painting studio room, but my sewing tabletops are cluttered and I need thread and tools storage. Thanks for the tips, always fun to see other’s sewing space.

Thanks, Heather! Ooh nice that you feel motivated to do a refresh too. I felt like it cleared mental clutter as well once I’d done my room.

Hi Diane Your room looks so bright and efficient with your three Berninas. It must be a joy to work, I mean play, in your space. I feel inspired to rejig my space now. Enjoy your room!

Aww, thanks, Jen. I’m sitting in my room right now typing this and it feels so lovely!

Thanks for showing us around your sewing room makeover. Looks great, well done. Hope you are enjoying the new arrangement.

Thank you so much, Barbara. I am, very much enjoying it and having my machines set up like this and rearranging various tools etc feels so much better now.

Looks fabulous 👏👏👏

Thank you, Vicki!

This is exactly what I want to do. I am 5 hours away from my nearest IKEA. Did you order all your items together? Was the shipping price the same for all items as it would be for the big large item. I’m trying to figure whether I should drive down there or have it shipped. You can email me privately if you wish. I love the iron storage idea!

Hi Maureen. I ordered off the website. Not sure if you’re UK or not but on the website they have various tiers of delivery pricing at £15 and £19 for medium or large parcels and then £40 or £50 for selected day or express. Although I ordered everything together, my order came in 3 separate packages at the same time and cost £15 for delivery so I thought it was pretty good value.

Hi Diane! I keep finding your posts belatedly in my junk folder (never used to be the case) — so frustrating! Lovely changes to your sewing room to accommodate your mom’s machine: my table bases and all of my storage (filing and closed shelves) are Ikea: very sturdy and functional! I had to change out my Ikea tops to a different brand when I bought a coverstitch machine, but they are essentially the same, just longer.

You have done such beautiful garments with your Bernina 1008: what do you expect to do on your mom’s machine?

Hi Joan. Oh, that’s annoying. I’m actually subscribed to my own blog posts to make sure they keep getting sent out but occasionally they go into my junk folder too…ugh. And Bloglovin’ just doesn’t seem to be operating anymore as their website is always down and that affects my view figures… Anyhow, I’m glad you like my new set-up and it’s good to know that the Ikea tables are sturdy. I plan on perhaps setting up mum’s machine for topstitching if I’m doing a project that has different coloured topstitching to save me from swapping out threads. Also if I’m doing some client work I can set one machine up for that and the other for me if I’m also working on something for myself. I’ve also discovered that mums machine does a great machine basting stitch and also keyhole buttonholes (which mine doesn’t do).

Keyhole buttonholes: I bought my machine in 2006 to get keyhole buttonholes (Pfaff). Re. Bloglovin’: is that where you initiated your blog? I don’t really understand how blogging platforms work. I added you to my address book (which I’ve never done with other blogs) and hope that works!

Oh yes, let’s hope so. Bloglovin’ is just a platform where you can register your website and new blog posts appear on it when published. I used to follow all of my favourite blogs on there and for the last several months it’s not been working properly or the site is down completely. It’s affecting a lot of bloggers. I think there are other wedsites where you can follow blogs. Feedly is one I think?

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The Little Mushroom Cap: A Quilting Blog

Quilting Blog

My Quilting Room Tour

Welcome to my sewing & quilting room!!!!

I am really happy with the current setup so and recently when I was cleaning the area, I thought I would just record a video and bring you along for a quick tour around my quilting room. 

So here it is, I would love for you to join me over on YouTube as well, I do have a dream of posting a lot more video there and hopefully, that dream will become a reality very soon.

Let me know what you love the most about the space, some of your tips to help me organize better or anything really! Drop me a comment and let’s chat all about sewing and quilting space. 

The things I love about the current setup of my quilting room:

• the large combo back-to-back table which makes it easier for me to quilt large quilts. I teach many ways how you can quilt a large quilt on a small machine with the right setup in FMQ Bootcamp but this one is my favourite! 
• the DVD rack for my fat quarters
• Mini quilts especially those gifted or swapped by other quilty friends (I miss swapping mini quilts! I should really join one or host one. Would you like to join?)
• my quilt cabinet! I talk about how I painted the cabinet HERE . I love how useful the cabinet is and how it keeps my fabrics, quilts and WIP away from dust. 

For the things I mention in this video (some are affiliate links):

• Wool Pressing Mat 
• Selvedge Tote Tutorial 
• I buy most of my fabrics from HERE. 

For more ideas on creative space, check out the newly released book: Love your Creative Space .

What is most important to you when organizing your sewing and quilting space?

If you are inspired to reorganize your sewing space or share your current setup too, drop a comment or email me! I would love to hear from you. 

4 Comments on My Quilting Room Tour

Beautiful quilting. Your room is lovely….very organized. I need to get mine reorganized before I begin quilting again.

Hi Amirah, I hope you are well. You sound like you have a cold. Thank you sooooooooh much for the quilt room tour. It’s been so beneficial to me as I’ve had a summer house built outside which has been insulated all around so that I can use it all year round. I’m so excited. Now even more so after seeing your quilting space. So many awesome ideas. I’m in a tiny space at the moment which is actually dangerous as my Shelving has had to be attached to the wall as they were toppling over.

I now realise that I need the double back to back tables like you have, bookshelves so I can read all my quilting and crafting magazines and books. I am so inspired by your little sticky block boards so you can plan blocks that you are making. It’s going to be such a difference to me. I hope you do consider getting yourself a new sewing space when you do your extension. You deserve it for keeping us all entertained and inspired. I’ve found so much inspiration in your blog and I love getting my emails which I store in my little Amirah’s mushroom folder. 😃 I’ve been unable to start many things which I have ideas for as a result of you sharing what you do, as I’ve not got the room and looking for my things in this tiny space is a nightmare. I am now however going to be able to do all of the above in my little place in the garden which I am going to call, ‘The Craft Shack’ . Thank you Amirah for sharing all you do and for all the tips and help. I have no quilting friends and your blog is the perfect way to find inspiration.

Good luck and be blessed with your new baby. I pray you are well and that this awful virus touches no part of your life or of any of the other quilters. Now masks are mandatory here in the UK for shopping etc, I shall be back making masks for my village and anyone else that needs them. I don’t charge for them but I ask for fabric donations instead to make more. But hopefully I will be back to quilting soon. Thank you Amirah. Love your sewing space.

Hello Amirah,

I love your quilting room! I am so inspired by you as I also have a small space for my quilting room. You are proof that as long as I stay organized, everything will all work together. I love IKEA for organization supplies. This is my first time watching one of your videos, but look forward to many more. I love your sweet personality. Contractions on another addition to your family.

Thank you for your sewing room tour. I enjoyed looking at all the different ways to organinize fabrics. Congratulations on your having a baby.

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