Hello, and Happy Tuesday, friends! After working hard to get my sewing room moved from the back garage room into Josh’s recently vacated room, IT. IS. DONE. YAY!! I posted a walk-through of the reveal on my Flosstube Channel. The first eleven minutes show some of the process work before the finish, so if you want watch the video, but get straight to the reveal, go directly to minute 11:00. The reveal is 15 minutes long, and the last seven and a half minutes detail what I purchased and the cost of creating this room. I thought I would share that in case anyone else was considering doing this and wanted an idea of the budget it would take.
However, if videos aren’t your style, I’ll be sharing what I did in this post. We started by painting the walls with Behr Silver Shadow in a Satin finish. I love how it turned out.
The first thing you see when you walk into the room is the cutting and pressing table with the zippers hung above it. This table was made for me by my husband almost a year ago, in April of 2018. If you’d like more information about it, you can find it in this post HERE. I also tucked a RÅSKOG Utility Cart under the table, since this table has a hand-crank that allows you to raise or lower it, depending on your needs. I have used this table at desk height as often as I have at counter height for cutting.
While the table didn’t really match the white IKEA furniture, its functionality has made it an invaluable addition to this room. I anticipate that I will mostly keep it at counter height for cutting, but it’s great to be able to put it at desk height if that is needed. It also has wheels on the back of the base to allow for rolling and easy maneuvering. I put it in the middle of the room in this picture to show how versatile the table is. I have a little over two feet of clearance on the front and back of the table which allows me to cut from both sides.
The zippers were hung on an IKEA DIGNITET Curtain Wire with RIKTIG Clips (I didn’t use the hooks that came in the package). I found this idea from Alicia of Swoon Bags and loved it so much I incorporated it into the design plan for my sewing room.
The wall the door opens onto has two IKEA BILLY book cases with a 3 x 4 KALLAX unit in between. The book cases hold all of my fabrics, books, and interfacing bolts, as well as some of my cross stitch projects loaded onto scroll rods. The top of the book cases hold my beloved vintage sewing machines. The far right book case has my 221 and 222K Singer Featherweights and the left book case has my Singer 301 long-bed. They look so great up there! I just have to take them down and be sure to sew on them to keep them in great running condition.
The center KALLAX unit has 3 red DRÖNA boxes and 3 blue DRÖNA boxes. Those boxes hold various items such as cross stitch fabrics, WIPs, as well as hoops, rods, stretcher bars, and Q-Snap frames. The second shelf down holds my kitted cross stitch projects. I bought a couple of sets of 20-pack mesh A4 plastic bags from Amazon for $13.99 along with some key tags to label them. I also use an expandable file folder I purchased from Amazon to hold my paper cross stitch patterns.
The desk area was made from an IKEA LINNMON Corner Table Top, a LINNMON 43.25″ Table Top, 5 ADIL Table Legs, and a five-drawer ALEX unit. I bought an extra ALEX to sit beside the table. The Mister purchased a red low-back office chair to match the room… but it also feels amazing on my back. I sewed all day today and didn’t feel any fatigue at all. So glad for that! I’ve got plenty of space now for my sewing machine, my steam press, and my serger. The first project I did in the room was to make a cover for my serger using some Tula Pink fabrics! There is plenty of space to work, and I am absolutely thrilled with how this area turned out. The Mister bought me a new 32″ SANYO Roku TV from WalMart and mounted it for me on the wall too. He decided he didn’t want to move the TV that was installed in the old sewing area, since he is taking that area over. So now he has his own TV out there, and I’ve got mine in here. Yay!
The Mister took some time to go to the hardware store to buy materials to make me two custom organizers. The first was this spool rack. I love it so much! He used some baseboard trim and drilled 1/4″ holes at an angle in them about an inch-and-a-half apart. He mounted those onto a thin sheet of plywood (I think he actually used a dry-erase/chalk board piece cut down to 24″ square) by screwing them down from the back of the board. Then he cut some 1/4″ dowels down to 4″, and used a belt sander to narrow the tips of the dowels so they would hold my bobbins. He then put a little glue put into the holes on the baseboard and then pushed the dowels in and let them dry. The top two rows he made with 1/2″ holes spaced two-and-a-half inches apart. He cut 1/2″ dowels to about 5″ and instead of sanding the tips of those dowels down for bobbins, he tapped finishing nails into the ends of those. Once the glue was dry, we spray painted the entire rack white, and touched up the edges and dowels with white latex paint. He mounted the entire unit onto two studs in the wall, and used caps to cover the screws since they would be visible from the front. I absolutely love it!
The other custom piece was a ruler organizer! I kept complaining about how I couldn’t find a way to store my big 20.5″ and 15″ ruler, as well as my rotating cutting mat and my long 8.5″ and 6″ by 24″ rulers. He came up with a fantastic plan to use white peg-board and some 1 x 2 boards to create a perfect box for me! It’s perfect at protecting my rulers and they are right at hand for me to grab and use.
The bonus to using pegboard was that I could hang my rulers that I had shoved in a drawer. I’m telling you, that Quick Curve ruler is screaming my name!!
After planning the room out and installing all of the furniture, I realized I had no space left for a design wall. I was just going to deal without having one, until I realized that the closet doors are hung on a metal rail. I had the perfect solution! I grabbed some magnets I had purchased to make needleminders with, pulled down some batting, and tested hanging it up from the metal rail with the magnets. It held perfectly! Brad loved the idea, but saw that it was a bit of a struggle to hold the batting, separate the magnets and try to put it all up. He suggested getting a very light piece of trim wood and I can glue the magnets to it. Then I can just put the batting up and hold it down with the longer strip of wood. I love that idea, so we are going to be testing that out shortly.
So, now that all is said and done, I am back to sewing! I worked on two bags today and was *this close* to finishing them. I have five more bags to make this week, and I hope to have them all done by Friday! I hope you enjoyed seeing the new sewing room! I look forward to catching my breath a bit after this whirlwind month and catching up with all of you!
This week’s To-Do list:
- Get 5 Project Bags Sewn
Now it’s your turn! Write up your post and link up using the InLinkz linky below.
Rules:
- Link up to this To-Do Tuesday blog post using the InLinkz linky below. The link up is open all week, and you can link any post for the week even if it’s written on the prior Sunday or Monday. It simply needs to be related to setting, working on, and/or completing your weekly goal(s).
- Try to visit at least one or two other blogs and leave a nice comment.
- Include a link back to my blog. Feel free to grab the blog button from the sidebar to show that you’re participating in To-Do Tuesday.
- You do not have to follow my blog to participate, but if you do decide to follow me… thank you! I appreciate it!
Inlinkz Link Party
https://fresh.inlinkz.com/js/widget/load.js?id=bd46ee895fd41fe5b451
Stitch ALL The Things 
I have a table something like that – raises and lowers – really saves the back love it. Your sewing room looks great.
LikeLike
Thank you! These tables are just amazing!
LikeLike
they sure save our backs! so glad my husband searched and found mine
LikeLike
Hi Christine! Oh those zipper look so cool when coming into the room. I love the rainbow color palette and it must make you smile each time you see it. I also adore the setup for your rulers! That is just too darn cool – how handy each compartment is. You are so darn organized – I can’t stand it!! LOVE the whole bookcase setup with the shorter one in the middle Your collect of Tula Pink fabrics is impressive, and isn’t it nice to see just what you have?! Everything looks so very nice. I am happy for you! ~smile~ Roseanne
LikeLike
Thank you, Roseanne! The rainbow colors definitely make me smile every time! And I have to admit, I’m pretty sure I maxed out all of my organizational skills on this one room. If I don’t have to organize one more thing in my whole life I will be so happy!! LOL!! (but, for real!)
LikeLike
what a transformation!!!! Can you believe this was an adolescent boy’s room not long ago?? I had to go order some mesh bags immediately. I covet the alex drawer units, and may eventually get some too. Thanks for the tour. Now a question, does your husband come do custom work for your quilty friends?
LikeLike
I showed Josh pictures and he couldn’t even believe it was the same room! He said it looks much better this way anyway… I couldn’t disagree. LOL!!! I think I exhausted my husband on making and assembling things, he may be of no use to anyone now. LOL!
LikeLike
What a beautiful space to create in – I’m jealous! Thanks for listing the names of all furniture pieces you used, as that gives me some ideas. And I especially love the peg board/slit unit for holding all your rulers.
LikeLike
When I was doing some research and trying to get ideas I really appreciated it when people linked the products they used. I wanted to make sure to do the same!
LikeLike
It is a wonderful space!! I am taking the cutting table idea to Husbter!!
LikeLike
Thank you! These handy husbands are fantastic! I think Brad had the whole table done within 24 hours, and it took that long because he needed to let the varnish dry! It’s such a fantastic table!
LikeLike
Oh Christine, I am in love with this room. How wonderfully organized! Many happy hours of stitching will occur here, I’m sure.
Kudos to Hubby too for his contribution.
LikeLike
Thank you so much, Jocelyn! Hubby did so amazing helping me make this a dream come true room!
LikeLike
I just love your new sewing studio. It’s so organized I know your creative juices will just flow freely in there. The cutting table you have is probably my favorite part. Who cares if it matches the other furniture. Most of the time functionality is more important. I’m sure you back appreciates it being able to raise up to a height for cutting that doesn’t have you bend over too far. Also your design wall in ingenious.
LikeLike
Thank you, Cherie! The table really is perfect in there and I love it! I’ve made some real use out of it this week and I’m so happy that I’m utilizing the height adjustment a lot more than I was previously!
LikeLike
Great sewing room. We may be moving, and I’m collecting ideas for my possible new sewing space.
LikeLike
Thank you, Cheryl! I hope if you do end up moving that everything goes smoothly for you!
LikeLike
OH MY GOSH, Christine — I am SO EXCITED for you and can’t wait to see what you create in your new space!! Your studio is GORGEOUS. Once the dust settles, I’d love to hear more about your experience at QuiltCon. I’m going to Spring Quilt Week in Paducah to take EVERY SINGLE longarm quilting class this April and it will be my first time attending a major quilt show. I’m thinking ahead to next year and wondering whether I should plan to do QuiltCon, Houston, or some other big huge fancy show next.
I have to thank you for sharing where you got those hooks for your zippers. I’ve been frustrated for the past few years trying to figure out a way to display Christmas cards during the holidays, especially the postcard photo type that doesn’t stand up on the mantle. I’m going to get some of those IKEA curtain hooks that you’re using for your zippers and use them to clip Christmas cards to draped ribbon, string, wire, or maybe hang them off evergreen garland… :-).
Also, tell me about your steam press!! Do you use it in your quilting or for dressmaking/some other type of sewing? Your Mister sounds a lot like my own “handy husband,” which is awesome. I’ve been pestering mine to make me a reproduction of the vintage oval Singer Featherweight cabinet but so far I’m getting no bites. What I may need to do is order the plans, purchase the wood and supplies myself, and then go out to the garage wearing overalls and safety goggles, make a lot of crashing noises, and then innocently poke my head into the house and say, “Honey, can you please show me which one is the table saw?” MWAHAHAHAA!!!!
LikeLike
Thank you, Rebecca! I laughed at the finagling your way into getting hubby to get the cabinet done. Ingenius! LOL! I didn’t actually go to Quilt Con, this year. My friend Sarah did and she had an amazing time! She loved everything about it! She is on Instagram as Stitchologie and her website is http://www.stitchologie.com/
I’m so glad I was able to help with an idea for displaying your Christmas cards!
The steam press is what I use in my bag making endeavors. I use it to fuse interfacings. I don’t actually use the steam function, as I prefer to cover the fabric and interfacing pieces with a tea towel and then spray that with water. The steam pressure on my press usually moves the interfacing off of the fabric, so pressing them with the towel sprayed with water ensures that the interfacing stays in place.
LikeLike
One more question I forgot to ask: It looks like you have “mini bolts” of nearly every imaginable color of solid fabric. Where did you get the thing you’re wrapping your fabric around? Is it cardboard or plastic, does it come the right size or have you cut something to size (and if so, what size?). I’m also curious how much of each color you purchase and like to keep on hand. I have a bazillion prints in my stash and am realizing that I like those prints better when I space them out with healthy doses of solids, but I’m not sure about the best way to build up and store a stash of solids in usable quantities. When I’ve bought a collection of half yard or full yard cuts and put them in with my print stash I always end up needing more than that when I want to use that color, and at that point I don’t even know what color/manufacturer it is because it’s not on a bolt. So very interested in how you are purchasing, storing and keeping track of your solids.
LikeLike
I use comic book boards to wrap the fabric around, since they are acid free and archival safe. I ended up joining a Kona Cotton Fabric Of The Month Club through Intrepidthread.com years ago, so I would receive 6 half-yard pieces of fabric in different shades of that months color (one month was reds, then oranges, blues, greens, etc). It was a great way to build up my solid stash and get a variety of colors. I haven’t bought fabric collections for a while, other than Tula Pink. I just haven’t had any of them calling my name lately. I typically buy half yard bundles when I order a fabric line but then, like you, I get irritated when I want to make a quilt out of a whole fabric line and I didn’t buy extra yardage for backing or binding. So now when I find a half-yard bundle I like of a collection that I know I will turn into a quilt, I buy enough of one of the prints to be the backing (usually 4 or 5 yards) and an extra half yard of one print I think would likely be the binding.
LikeLike