Where do you sew?
Where do you sew? Earlier this month I asked, via Facebook and Pinterest, for you to share where you sew and to tell us about your sewing/quilting space set-up. We are lucky to have a craft that can be accomplished by hand and machine in large and small areas. We can travel with our craft or work at production level standards. The range is wonderful. I appreciate your answers. My staff and I chose several unique responses to share, plus a spotlight on one of my followers.
I am grateful to have an allocated home sewing studio for personal sewing: landscape quilting, and sewing and embroidering gifts. Being in the sew/quilt biz, I have two other sewing studios, which shouldn’t surprise you. Another is at the Sewing With Nancy TV studio at Wisconsin Public TV and the other at my office. All three studios are filled with decades of fabrics, notions, and supplies.
Below, be sure to check out September’s Share Your Insight question and if you’d like, submit a response. Enjoy!
Where do you sew? And, tell us about your sewing/quilting space.
Here’s what you are saying:
Largely, many of you are reclaiming bedrooms to set up dedicated sewing studios! Congratulations on the space.
Sewing Near Family
“I sew at the kitchen table. I have other places I could go to sew but I like being with the family.”—Mary Jo Pigott Groom, Winter Park, FL
Sewing on the Go!
“I am lucky. I have just enough room for a 2′ x 4′ table in our motorhome. And, it is wonderful that I can leave it up when we are not traveling. It works out great.”—Diana Smith, Micco, FL
Limitless
“I have put my sewing machine in every room in the house, except the bathroom and kitchen. I ended up in the dining room in front of a window. Now my stash and supplies, that is a different story, they are in every closet.”—Alice R Watts, Marion, NC
Innovative Small Space
“My sewing area is a closet, part of the family room. It is easy to access the kitchen area and close to family activities. When the kids were learning to sew it was convenient for questions and answers. I have a good light source and the cutting/storage cabinet is close.”—Helen Heise, New London, WI
Condo Living
“I live in a condo. I sew upstairs and downstairs!”—Karen Edgecombe, Lakemoor, IL
Front and Center
“Since I now live alone in a very small house, I turned what should have been my living room into my sewing room. It is so nice to have my dinning room table up on blocks to make it more of a working height. My ironing board and both machines are set up all the time, and my idea board is hanging on the wall.”—Eleanor Gibson, Netanya, Tel Aviv (Gosh Dan)
Second Kitchen Space
“My house has a good sized second kitchen that I claimed for my sewing room when my family and I moved in 15 years ago. With windows on two sides, I have lots of natural light, and I have a ceiling fan for when the room gets too warm.”—Anita Phelps, Eagle River, WI
At the Office
“I sew at the quilt shop where I work, Patchwork Angels. I have no room in my apartment at this time, but I am hopeful!”—Candy Beardsley, Endicott, NY
A Convertible Room
“Our spare bedroom has a Murphy bed, and my fabric stash is in the closet. I use a bookcase made by my husband’s father for thread and other bits and pieces. When company arrives we move the sewing desk, which stores my machines. Voila! We have a bedroom again. “—Lois Fay Gage, Youbou, BC, Canada
She-Shed
“I am lucky enough to have a good size shed in my backyard. It has plenty of storage for fabric, a design wall, a set-up for at least two machines, a drop down cutting board, cable tv, and a/c.”—Linda Bott, Mission, TX
“For many years I sewed in our bedroom. About 3 years ago, my dear husband bought me one of those barn buildings for outside. He has made over the inside with ac/and heat. It’s all mine. I have a sewing table almost the length of one room, and the other room is where 75% of my fabric is. The rest of my fabric is under the cutting table. I love it and can totally lock myself in! My husband has always done special things for me, but this one tops the list. “She Shed” he calls it.”—Margie McWhirter, Collinsville, MS
Garage Apartment
“I have a room over the garage as my quilt studio; it was my requirement when we built our home. Thanks to my handy hubby, I have custom drawers for my fabric collection, loads of cabinets for storage, and a very large design wall that can be tucked away. The room currently houses three of my Baby Lock machines but is about to be rearranged a bit. I usually do my hand sewing in our family room, sitting with my husband. So, I’m really all over the place, but I LOVE my studio the best!!”—Karen Christensen, Ingleside, IL
August Reader Spotlight:
Kathy Pidilla’s Answer
“I sew, quilt, and embroider in a two car garage that the previous owners of our house had converted into their family room. When we moved to Florida we looked at seventy-five plus homes to find one with a room that was large enough for my fifteen foot long Gammill quilting machine’s table. I now have my own room to sew, embroider, and quilt in. It is located away from the normal household activities so I can work in peace”—Kathy Padilla, Winter Haven, FL
September Share Your Insight Question
September Question: When you travel, what sewing supplies do you take on the trip?
Submit your answer by September 16, using the form below, to be considered for our September Reader Spotlight.
Watch Sewing With Nancy online.
Bye for now,
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Mary Smith
I have a small tote, kind of like a plastic tackle box, that I store a second set of sewing notions in. That way when I’m off to sew some place else, I just grab it and go. I find I even carry it around my home when I’m hand sewing. That way, the notions in my dedicated sewing room stay where they belong. I did however notice that for some reason, I have more than two seam rippers. Guess I have more to repair than I thought.
Marcia Stevens
I recently retired as an RN, moved to the midwest for family & purchased a nice home with an unfinished basement. At first I had plans to finish part of it then had second thoughts. I found a nice man to build a 10×10 foot table on wheels. I can move it all around the basement. It has shelves for storage. I covered it with batting & canvas. I do not quilt but make drapes & duvet covers as well as tote bags & make up bags, baby burp clothes, table runners, aprons & am a craft fare gypsy. After 41 years of hard work sewing is my therapy.
Robyn
It really depends on the trip! Europe or Hawaii…nothing! I want to enjoy the world around me. Florida…I’ve taken a machine and all the tools necessary! Vacation to me is seeing and learning about the other places and the culture. Sewing can wait!
Mary Ellen Klugh
I commandeered the livingroom/dining room as my studio.
I re-arranged the furniture to give me enough space to place 2 six-foot long tables, a smaller rolling table ( same height as the 6-foot tables) and a comfortable rolling desk chair. I have a Brother Innovis embroidery machine, a Brother sewing machine, a singer serger and about 500 spools of thread on multiple standing and other thread racks on parts of the 2 six foot tables. It isn’t ideal as I can’t always clean everything up while in mid-project, but my husband doesn’t object as he has the family room as his man cave.
ZBWonderWoman
A zippered plastic bag full of needles, pins, threads, safety pins, seam ripper, small scissors, fabric glue, small needle nose pliers, shirt buttons, 2-3 freebie thread kits, hooks & eyes and lip balm. (Last item goes walkabout regularly, so I carry 2-3.)
No serious sewing, other then snipping threads, sewing on buttons-hooks & eyes and/or repairing zippers. Rule of Thumb: Lose a button, it’s a guaranteed fabric run for a replacement. Or selecting 10-12 new buttons.
beth daniels
My sewing/embroidery/quilting room is a bedroom. When we moved into this house, I claimed this small bedroom as my room. I have an Elna embroidery/sewing machine, an Elna serger and an Elna coverstitch machine in this area. I have a three drawer sewing cabinet that my older brother made me many years ago and some plastic drawer cabinets. I have a small craft antique table in there too as my working table. It was given to me by my mother years ago. I also have a stackable plastic drawer bins for fabric and an ironing board and iron in this room. Also have cutting table up by the corner of the room. So I have everything set up. It works great for me.
Betty Stutson
I am currently using a room upstairs for my sewing room. But it is too small and has to be converted to a guest room when family visits. We are in the process of converting our attic into a large sewing room. In May when I attend my annual trip to Nancy’s Sewing Weekend, I plan on buying the Koala furniture. I have 7 machines. I do sewing, embroidery, quilting, paper piecing, serging, card making, scrapbooking, crochet, ceramic painting and. I attend lots of clases.
Lynn Deitrick
My adult daughter & I live in a 4 bedroom house. After years of sewing ehever we could find dpace, we finally had the spacr to create a dedicated sewing room in our home.We converted a bedroom to our sewing room. We have side by side sewing tables, a closet for fabric storage & a credenza with glass doors for additional storage & display. The room is decorated in a French Country style so it is pretty & inviting. We call it our playroom & spend many happy hours together in there sewing & creating. We love it! Should we need the room for guests, we can tidy up our sewing projects & put a cot in the room
Judy Sherwood
Like many others I know, the spare bedroom is where I sew. The bed must stay for guests, so I sew around the edges. My sewing table is in one corner. It is big enough for my serger and large sewing machine, but when I am actually working, I have to slide the one I’m not using over so I have room. Behind me, along the second wall is two small 3-drawer cabinets I use for notions, with a home made ironing board on the top. When I cut fabric and iron big pieces of fabric, I set up a regular ironing board and a 6 foot folding table in the living room. That arrangement makes me get cutting done quickly so I can get the room back to normal. It isn’t ideal, but when you love what you are doing, you make do.
Hazel Parrish
My husband and I have a small place at the beach. When I say small; I mean small. The living room and dining room were open concept with a bar separating the two. I made the dining area my sewing/embroidery area. Cabinets, uppers and lowers, were installed along two walls. The counter top space houses my embroidery machine, sewing machine, serger and computer. I had an extension placed on the bar. The area is currently 3′ x 8′. I have plenty of room to work on large projects. I store all my fabrics in labeled plastic containers. I organize them according to color and place this information on the outside of the container. This way I can with one glance pull out the container which holds a particular needed color. I have all my threads stored in cabinets and arranged by colors. Supplies for the various machines are stored close to the equipment. Thus, if I need serger thread, its close to the serger.
I had to be creative in designing the space and I find I continually made changes for convenience. I have found only when I work in a space do ideas develop for better utilization of the area. I love my little corner of the world.