Sewing Room Show and Tell

Looking into my sewing room from the door, I have a new large work table that I got from Ikea, I put a small white bookshelf from Target as a "staging" area. This is a huge improvement for me in my new sewing room. I have dozens of items in progress, these used to be stacked on my ironing/card table and were easily disorganized.


This is my view as I sit at my worktable, looking north, it is where I store a good amount of my supplies. On the left I have a wire rack system that I got from Organized Living this holds tons and tons of supplies, I have lots of notions, works in process and many misc crafting supplies contained within these 12 drawers. Above this are 2 of my 6 mini shelves, the kind you might lean plates or pictures on as a decorative accent. I have on them 6 mini baskets that I use for catch alls or to contain small projects. I have 4 more of these I will be installing above my ironing space...hopefully soon.



I have a tall cabinet (with my TV on top) that I store my "live" fabrics. These are fabrics that are currently planned to be used in the near future, I keep mainly focal fabrics organized mostly by type, ie florals, birds, sock monkey, novelty, etc. On the top shelf of this I have my "blender" fabrics these are small quantities that I can find quickly sorted by color.

I have shoebox bins with colors sorted and labeled, these are completely unorganized except by color and are usually fabrics that are less then 1/4 yard, I find when looking for something, I just dump the bin and find and stuff it back in. These are too full to be stored with the lids on so they are just stacked with the lids underneath.

Next to my fabric cabinet is a closet, I have fitted shelves I got at Organized living, 3 shelves that are as big as the foot print of the closet, it holds tons of fabric and are extremely sturdy. I have yet to re-organize these from the move and a lot of the fabric is still displaced throughout the house, usually it is filled top to bottom with fabric, right now there is interfacing and felt on the bottom shelf and the bottom/floor is empty, I have roll bins I keep there with large cuts of fabric (actually not sure where those are right now). I also can store about 30 bolts of fabric up top which are also about the house somewhere.

You can see on the left my spice racks, I did a blog post with more info on that here.

On my west wall is my desk and ironing space, my desk is back to back to my sewing machine, with about 6 foot of space which is where the picture window is looking to the front yard this space also allows me to have 2 chairs. This is still being revamped, having my desk and computer in my sewing room is also new with my makeover, used to be this desk was in my husbands office. I also have used the space below for my printer and shelves with bins for receipts, paperwork and office supplies. I really did not want all this in my sewing room so I was happy I could fit it under the desk, it is a bit of a pain but I have made it work.



This is my ironing space which is still needing its makeover. I have a kitchen island that we used to use prior to our home renovation. It is in our garage and hopefully will be moved inside soon. It is insanely heavy and most likely will need to be somewhat dis assembled to be moved inside. It is taller and white (yay it will match) and has doors and shelving below. It will be the same length and a few inches wider then the card table, it will also provide a workspace above and I can add a stool as well. I had been stumped what to put there as it is a tight space between my desk and the door when I remember this alone in the garage. We did a major renovation to our home in 2005 and it has been there since, sort of out of sight out of mind. Super happy to not have to purchase something as this is like new, we only used it for 2 years.

****Update, I DID in fact do my iron station makeover, here is a picture and a blog post about it here****


Under the sewing table I have lots of storage too, but still have plenty of room to sit and work. Below is usually where I sit, I have a drawer with mainly threads and zippers, easy access when sitting at the machine.

Doesn't every crafter have these plastic storage drawers? I this are more works in progress, ribbon and fat quarters.

This is on the opposite side of where I sit, more bins for storage, and some space for books and magazines, though most of my ginormous book collection is in the living room in bookshelves.

And this is a behind the storage idea that I posted about before here. I still have some office wall pockets I need to find and install as well.


Still some to do and more items to get to be fully moved in, but I am already back to work in my new sewing space. Also still want to hang some decorations as well!

Thanks for looking! ! !

Crayon Roll Ups Now at Yellow Door

Dropped off today a collection of Crayon Roll Ups to my space at Yellow Door Art Market. Crayon rolls are great for kids on the go, it comes complete with 16 Crayola crayons all kept rolled up and secured closed with a pony tail holder and button.

I loved working with the kid friendly prints for both girls and boys, we all know they sort of get left out of handmade items, just a little anyway.

For the boys: robots, cars, planes, tractors, dogs, dinosaurs

For the girls: flowers, retro, zebra, bugs, owls, daisies

Unisex choices too!

Big buttons and pony tail holders makes an easy closure for small hands

This is my first offering of these at Yellow Door, and I hope to add to these still this year, mini crayon rolls, and crayon totes, look for those in the fall.

Getting Organized Back of The Door

I love using otherwise wasted space for storing items, I have also found to gain the most space sometimes you need to go up! I am still rebuilding my sewing room from the big move and with DH gone I got out the drill and put this handy item back to use.

Luckily I have solid wood door in my sewing room, thanks to a home originally built in the 1940's or else this would not work or would need a different installation. It took 4 screws to hold it in place and it holds a lot, not only that I can see everything so it cuts down on my scavenger hunts for supplies.

Empty and ready to be filled, it has 8 shelves each about 5" deep they are varying height, which is nice options are good

It holds a sampling of my rubber stamps, this is 12 Stampin up boxed sets

Holds these nifty plastic baskets from the dollar store, 2/1.00 actually, great catch alls

More storage ideas that this will hold, Mason Jars, Ivy vases for markers, Yarntainers I use for sorting and storing loose ribbons. Also I have covered baby formula tins for button storage as well

Fully loaded, and with some room to spare, I may shift a few things around still, but love this use of space and having a visual on items and not having to dig is a huge time saver, for me anyway!

Poppies and Rick Rack Quilt

I pieced this quilt last fall for a local quilt shop, it was appliqued and machine quilted then displayed in the store with kits for the quilt. The kits have sold out and so I brought the quilt home.

Large scale floral stands out on both sides, the piece was about 1 2/3 yard

10 strips of fabric I think they were 2.5 inch by width of fabric, or about 42 inches

It used a large scale focal print from Michael Miller Fabrics by artist Laura Gunn. It is a length of the large print, cut down one side, the poppy print was then placed on the outside and accented by 10 strips of fabric, and a few large rectangles. Then a focal circle with a few layers and some jumbo rick rack, machine quilted to highlight the flowers.

Lovely at home!

This quilt has joined a few link parties on some fun crafty blogs, be sure to look left to see it in action. A new one I joined this week which is mostly quilt-y types of things is "Quilt Story" be sure to check them out here!

Chalkboard Contact Paper Party Cups

I love this idea, mainly because I have eliminated my needing to get plastic cups every time we have a gathering. Actually the part I hate most is trying to remember if I need these cups and over buying them. I got these plastic tumblers at the end of the summer for a steal, 4/1.00 and bought 36 of them, that should be enough!

I also got some chalkboard contact paper and cut out with a paper punch some scalloped circles. Adhere to the cups and get out the colored chalk. Guests can write their name or a message to know which glass is theirs. The circles will stay on through a few careful washes.

The only place I was able to find this Contact paper was on Amazon, I think I paid about 6.00 for a 18 foot roll, add shipping and it was around 10-12.00 total for the roll. I tried several hardware stores, family hardware stores, school supply/teacher supply shops and could not find it locally anywhere.

EASIEST Dish Makeover

Having a belated Valentines party this weekend and have a buffet of sweets I will be putting out for dessert. I love this pedastal dish I have for Christmas and decided to do this 5 second makeover, it actually took longer to find the paper.


I also got out my old fashion compass to draw a perfect circle, cut it out with mini pinking shears, and wella a Valentines dish that I will use to hold truffles.

Accessorize It Treasury Feature

Thank you to Foogirl for featuring this sock monkey accessory set.

Mini Coin Purse and Pocket Mirror Set

Spice Rack Storage

If you are a crafter and a one who collects and accumulates many supplies you know the challenge of keeping it all organized and under control. I have been using spice racks and jars for years and this week been adding them back into my sewing room.

I managed to snag a bunch of these racks about 5-6 years ago, they are simple two shelf wood racks, each shelf will hold 6 spice size jars. I think I paid about 2.00 each for them and got about 8 of them, though honestly I am not sure where they all are right now. I really only had put about 3 of them to use in my old sewing room, and never hung them up, they were just sitting on a table against a wall, they are flat bottom so they actually stacked well and that was how I used them.

Now in my new spot I wanted to hang them up, I also did not want to do too much damage to my new walls so I gave these wire Command Hooks a try. They are plastic with a small wire hook, perfect to fit in the wire triangles that you use to hang these racks.

Also I like to use space in different ways and opted to put these on the side of my tall fabric cabinet, using the Command Hooks gives you lots of different options for hanging. Admittedly the space these are now hanging is quite tight, but for me this is ok, but getting pictures was challenging, I would be better standing outside taking the picture through the window. This particular Command Hook was rated to hold .5 pound, I have sort of pushed this to the limit as the rack by itself weighs about 2 pounds, I am just going to keep my eye on them to be sure they are holding well, so far so good. I will add my husband is keeping an eye on them too, he really wants to improve the hold with tape, usually his improvements are not so attractive.


The racks will hold a variety of sized jars, I had bought a bunch of matching jars I think for about 1.00 each, of course I wanted to get lots more but this store is now out of business, so if I add to the jars they will different (this mildly upsets my crafting balance). I am actually contemplating hanging one with my large spool threads near the sewing machine.

Side View of Spice Racks

The racks also hold ribbon nicely, don't we all have issues storing ribbon? The Spool O' Ribbon size will only fit on the top row, but still easy to see and grab.

Another spice rack storage I use is a revolving spice rack, I got this at the same sale for about 6.00 each, I got two of them each holds 12 jars. This is a great option as it is semi portable (at least around the house) and rotates to find items quickly. Best part about this spice rack purchase was the jars were empty so filling them up was easy.

I find in general if I can get crafting supplies out of packages and into sight they actually get used, or at least looked at from time to time.

Look it makes a great book end as well!

Quilted Button Jars

As I continue to spend time in my new sewing space I am inspired by my color choices for the room, aqua and orange. Still funny to me working in oranges for myself and it not be Halloween. I also scored these super cute collections of buttons which I stitched into small quilt blocks that look like jars.

Auditioning buttons

Luckily I also have a smidge of a Amy Butler Oxford Stripe in duck egg, orange and brown - perfect. I pieced a simple jar block from a pattern I got at a local quilt shop. You could use basically any rectangle with a triangle attached (I have shown below) at the tops, then a "lid" for the fabric, border on all sides as desired.

Block pieces ready to sew

Sew a 1.5 inch square at the top corners, mark diagonally, this is your sewing line

Trim 1/4 inch away from square and backing (white-jar), iron squares "up"

I did not actually quilt it but did include batting to stitch through when I attatched the buttons, the backing covers and protects the random stitches from the buttons.

Block pieced, border audition and playing with more buttons!

I sewed about 100 buttons total between the two blocks, I added a 1.25" binding and closed by hand. Not sure where this will hang in my new sewing room, but I will enjoy my button collections on display!

Completed block with binding is 7.75 wide by 9.25 tall.