An Update On My Sewing Space

Recently my sewing space has been getting out of control. It has been taking over the room it shares with a shelf, storage boxes, a clothes drying area, guitars, and our bikes. I needed to overhaul the space and make some rules (let's think of them more as guidelines) to avoid the space becoming this crazy again. The top photo is how the space looked in December of 2013 and how the below photo is how it looked last week.

In the last year I've obtained A LOT more patterns, fabrics, notions as well as an overlocker. I've also  been recently gifted bags full of trims, fabrics, threads and every other sewing related item you can think of by Tim's Grandma who is down-sizing. I love everything she has passed on to me and feel very lucky to have access to vintage bias binding, zippers and lace trims that she used. But how to make it fit tidily in my sewing space?  I hear Ikea calling!

I bought another Alex storage unit, this time a cupboard. Tim and I put this one together in record time! I moved all my traced patterns into the lower shelf, organised by garment type. The upper shelf will items that I plan to refashion. If it becomes too full then I'll have choose some garments to take to the opshop (Rule 1). I'm using the space above the units to store works in progress and my pressing cloths, ham and sausage. If I have more WIPs than will fit I wont allow myself to start any new projects untill I finish some (Rule 2).

Buying a storage unit freed up my drawers so that I could sort through my existing and newly acquired sewing notions and dedicate each drawer to one type. The above photo shows just some of the sewing things Tim's Grandma gave me and the photos below that show them sorted, with my existing items in my drawers. I have an entire drawer dedicated just to thread (LOVE those bobbin trays!), one for trims, bias, ribbons and lace, and one for elastics and zippers. I am yet to go through my 5 tins of buttons but there is a draw for those too when I'm feeling up to it.

I had been hoarding two bags of fabric scraps thinking that one day they might come in use. They had to go, along with three more bags of slightly larger fabric scraps and fabrics I knew I'd never use. The only scraps I'll allow myself to keep from now on are those big enough to make another garment or bias binding from (Rule 3). I'll be taking my scraps to kinders/schools or textile recyclers more often. I wont be making a rule around fabric purchases - I'd only break it.

On my sewing table I keep all my paper patterns, although I don't think it's a long term solution. Under the table is one shopping bag where I will keep all "to fix" garments. If the bag gets full I'll have to either fix stuff (no thanks!) or consider whether some garments need to be refashioned, recycled or opshopped (Rule 4).

I like the minimalist look but I have hoarding tendencies. I'm so glad my sewing space is back under control and all of my mess has a place to call home.

Time for Sewing & An Overlocker

After a wonderful trip to Eden & the Blue Mountains with Tim last week, I am finally back at work.

I've been on leave from my work and studies since early Feb and have pretty much sewed every day possible in that time. Heading back to the office is difficult for a few reasons. Just one of those reasons being that I can't sew all day, every day, anymore.

I have a few tricks up my sleeve to help make the most of what time I do have for sewing. 

First, two months in my sewing room has made me a much faster sewer! I can whip through projects in a day (or two evenings) rather than a few weeks. I've noticed such an improvement in my skill and knowledge in this time too!

Second, I'm better at planing out makes now. For example, on Sunday evening I cut fabric for two skirts and Tim's PJ Pants. This means I've got a few projects, of different difficulties, on the go during the week that I can pick up after work if I'm feeling up to it. 

Third, I bought an overlocker (heck yes!!). I finally caved and bought the Aldi re-branded basic Janome overlocker. I'd been thinking about it for weeks and ended up buying it on Monday after work. It was an unplanned purchase. I carried it all the way home on public transport and to and from the train station. I arrived home with led weight arms and blisters on my feet from work shoes I hadn't worn in a long time. It was totally worth it!! 

On the train platform with my precious!!

 So far I've only used it only on wovens. But, its going to be a great help in sewing up my knit layers as pledged for MMM'14. I sewed up Tim's Simplicity PJ Pants on it almost entirely, not bothering with the sewing machine except for the hem and waistband. It is so fast at finishing seams! and damn they look good! I'm really excited about trying some more knit patterns. Please ignore that I wasted close to an hour re-threading, cursing, and tweeting, when I managed to upset it. It's a temperamental thing.

I'd like to say that having less sewing time will make me value what time I do have more, but that assumes I don't already value my sewing. I also thought that I might get bored of sewing every day while I was on leave. That did not happen, at all! If anything, I got more excited to sew as the days went on. I'd love to know how others fit sewing into their days and how much they like to sew each week. Are you a sewing junkie like me, or are you more of a everything in moderation person?  

Sewing Ironing Board Covers

Apologies, but this is going to be a photo heavy, boring post about sewing ironing board covers...

I've noticed heaps of tutorials for sewing ironing board covers in the past. I never read them with much interest. I like sewing dresses not inexpensive practical stuff, or so I thought! I mean, I sew my own knickers now - and I love it. On Saturday I found myself cross at my badly fitting Elisalex dress (I'll blog eventually) and needed a quick pick me up. The stained cover on my Ikea mini ironing board was driving me bananas, so I decided to replace it. I could have looked at any number of tutorials, but I decided to wing it instead.

The finished product, and the naughty Elisalex dress. 

First I unpicked the my old cover. It had a round of thin elastic sewn into a casing. I removed the casing and noticed that the elastic was in great nic so I could re-use it. I used the the unpicked scummy cover as a pattern for my new cover. 

The recycled elastic

I decided to make two, this way I can swap them over regularly to pop in the washing machine. I cut one out a quilting cotton (red and black diamond pattern) and the other out of some bright pink linen.

I used the recycled elastic in the pink cover. I didn't want to cut the elastic in half prior to insertion as it was already the perfect size for the cover. I cut a long strip (around 2"wide) of a contrasting fabric for the elastic casing. I attached the casing right sides facing to the cover with the elastic inside the casing. As I sewed around the cover I pulled the elastic tight towards me.

 It looked like a giant shower cap upon completion, but fit perfectly.

 For the second cover I used some wide bias binding for the casing and piping cord to tighten the cover around the board. I first made up the piping as you would normally, but making sure not to sew over the cord as it needs to be loose to tighten properly. I then attached the casing right sides facing to the cover, finished the raw edge and that's it.

 

I popped it on the board, tightened and tied a bow.  

That's two new ironing board covers made in around an hour or so. Now that I know they're so easy to make I'll be on the look out for some sewing themed fabric or perhaps polka dots to match my chair. 

My New Sewing Station

Late last year, when I began sewing, I sat at the kitchen table. My sister had been hoarding an inherited sewing table in my parents garage and luckily enough she offered it to me. So, my small stash of sewing gear moved into the spare room of our apartment. This small stash quickly multiplied and began to spread. The sewing table was fantastic but that one small cupboard just wouldn't contain all my fabric or bits and bobs. Particularly as I constantly threw everything on to the floor trying to find whatever it was I was trying to find. I didn't have any space to keep my patterns either, so they ended up in a another pile on the floor. Also, as there was no space on the table to iron or cut out my fabric or patterns I constantly draped my projects in and out of the the lounge and kitchen leaving a trail of thread behind me. And finally, the table was just too low for my back! As you can imagine Tim avoided the spare room as much as possible, but this room is also where we keep the bookcase, tool box, bikes, clothesline and Tim's Guitars. Here are a few photos of what I was dealing with. Don't judge me...

A mess!

Fabric Mountain

So, here's the part of the story where the hero saves the damsel in 'dis mess'. Tim and I agreed the current state of affairs just wouldn't do! We thought about what my ideal sewing space needs and how that can be incorporated into our ideal spare room (e.g. leave enough space to fit the crap that doesn't fit anywhere else in our apartment). Our aims were the following: 1) storage for fabric, patterns, tools, notions etcs; 2) a table long enough to cut, iron, sew and still have room for a future overlocker; 3) height!I slouch and get sore lower back and shoulders so a table top with height was crucial; 4) compact, but with room to grow.

Sewing Station!

Even Somewhere To Hang My WIPs!

Fabric Draws & Maxwell The Pincushion Cat

A Place For Everything!

I think we achieved those aims! We bought everything from Ikea. The table top is a Linnmon 2m long with Vika Kaj extender legs (they extend to 90cm). We bought Alexs draws for under the table and 1m high Algot wire mesh draws to keep my fabric. We also purchased some magazine holders to keep my tissue patterns and the mini ironing board so that I can iron my fabric/seams etc while I sew. The only major thing left to purchase is a giant (approx 90cm-60cm) self-healing mat to go under the ironing board for cutting out fabric. While my new sewing station is bigger than what I had previously it actually uses less floor space as all my crap has a place and even some of our regular house crap fits under the new sewing table. Also, there is room to grow! I have a few spare draws in my under desk draws and so much table top space to hopefully share with an overlocker in the future.

So pleased with my new space, and thankful to Tim for being so incredibly supportive of my hobby. Also for helping me set up Ikea furniture - we kick but at self-assembly!

My Birthday or Birth-month!

Checking in with a quick post about the past few and future few weeks, mostly non-sewing related.

Last Friday was my birthday and I felt beyond sufficiently spoilt by Tim, family and colleagues! Tim took me for a beautiful day out to Rye the Saturday prior. This included a walk along the beach, an afternoon in the Peninsula hot springs and a full-body massage, followed by a delicious dinner at Steam. What a fricken' fantastic boyfriend, am I right? FYI, I recommend all of the above for a great day out.

The following day, my family put on a wonderful joint birthday afternoon tea extravaganza for my sister, my niece and I. Unfortunately, I didn't get any photos. Thank you to my family (including my own and Tim's immediate family) for helping me celebrate my birthday and for spoiling me with beautiful gifts, including very useful vouchers (Ikea and spotlight! yay!). I absolutely love ALL of my gifts (and all of my family for that matter!). Here are just a few that are particularly pretty or relevant to this blog.  

My little sister, Gen, bought me these sweet fabric covered earrings. Thanks Gen!

Tim's family gifted me this beautiful bowl, as well as an awesome tea cup and some green tea. I am lacking any fancy and practical bowls, platters, plates so this is a really useful gift as well as being rather pretty. I also had a special birthday dinner at Tim's families house which was lovely. I look forward to ANOTHER special dinner with my own immediate family in the coming days (I think this may be the most celebrated birthday I have EVER had, lets call it a birth-month!)

My sister, Nat, got me some beautiful cotton sateen fabric and two Colette Patterns I've been wishing for: the Laurel and the Hawthorne dress. Thanks Nat! Looking forward to the holidays to get into these patterns!

On my actual birthday (Friday) and the following day my work place was hosting a symposium so the office/conference centre was humming. None the less all my colleagues made me feel really special and made sure I wasn't forgotten. Thanks team! 

After a crazy last few days, Sunday (1st of December) was a lovely rest/fun day. Tim and I went on a long walk, Summer arrived, I got burnt and we put up the Christmas tree! For my birthday, Tim gave me tickets to see Architecture in Helsinki that evening (as if a day in Rye wasn't enough!). We ate delicious burgers in Richmond, followed by the show.

Tim also gifted me this ridiculously cute pincushion cat made by Fat Cat Crafts! I absolutely love him! His name is Maxwell and he is now filled with pins.

So, it would be fair to say I am exhausted from birthday celebrations and I am super-duper lucky to have so many wonderful, generous people in my life. Thanks to everyone who has helped me celebrate my birthday over the last few weeks (because one day just isn't enough!)