My sewing room and stash

Suzette has suggested we talk about our sewing room/area and post pictures if we dare. It's been awhile since I posted pictures so I took new ones a few minutes ago. I didn't do any straightening up so you can see that I work fairly neatly. Clutter drives me nuts so as soon as it gets to a certain point I have to do something about it. It would look much worse if I were pulling fabric for a new project - right now the table is clear because I knew I'd need to stretch the top out to measure for borders.

The first picture shows the view looking inside the door. This is a small room - about 9'x12'. You can see my ironing board, the light box underneath it, and the stack or recent purchases waiting to be washed. My design wall is pellon fleece stapled all over the wall behind the ironing board - floor to ceiling. The bookcase holds novelties, florals, thirties repros and plaids, as well as odds and ends stuff I need within reach of the ironing board. Plastic shoe boxes of cut scraps plus all my rolled Baltimore Album patterns live on top of the bookcase. You can also see my TV/DVD player combination - a birthday gift from my DH.

The second picture shows the view from the ironing board. In the front is my featherweight that I use for all my piecing. The filing cabinet holds patterns as well as stuff I've saved from over 20 years of quilting magazines. The two sets of stacking drawers hold sewing stuff and part of my wool stash. Behind the chair were you can't see it is a short rolling set of drawers that I use for a portable pressing station and storage of stuff needed near the machine. When I'm sewing I roll it so I can just pivot in my chair to press what I'm working on.

The third picture shows part of my stash storage and my worktable. This also taken from the ironing board-bookcase corner.

The next picture is a view into the closet from in front of the filing cabinet. Two tall stacks of plastic drawers hold my "brazen hussies" - "haven't started yets" that are more than a year old. As you can see by the sidebar I have 50 of these - number 51 is the one I just bought this past weekend so it's not yet "brazen". Four tubs on the top of the drawers hold various widths of strips. This picture also gives you a better view of the tall bookcase of fabric. The blue box holds my strings, and under it out of sight are my two baskets of Jo Morton fabrics and my last big tub of uncut and unsorted scraps.

Here you see the stacking plastic baskets that line the wall between the closet and the drawer. They hold yardage that measures 1/2 yard and larger. I've had them for years, and they are starting to sag under the weight. I hope to replace them with more bookcases in the next year or two, as bookcases would be narrower - giving me more room to walk. I could also see the fabric better, as the front lip of the baskets hide the bottom fabrics in each of the stacks.

The last picture shows my worktable. It's gerryrigged from stacking plastic cubes I've had forever, two chip board risers I built from scraps, and the closet door sitting on top. It's just the right height for rotary cutting, and provides lots of storage underneath for tubs of scraps and drawers of current projects and HSY's. They also hold the magazines I've not found time to rip apart and file. I'd like to get a real cutting table someday that isn't as wide as this so I'll have more room to move. Right now there's about 14" clearance all around the table, and I have to get down on my hands and knees with a flashlight to find fabric on the bottom shelves.

You can certainly see why I am no-buy except for rare exceptions like this past weekend retreat. I do use my stash constantly however. I rarely buy anything for a new project unless it's an occasional kit. I love being able to pull fabrics for a new project whenever I want to, and not have to wait until the stores are open. I hope you can get some ideas from my pictures that will help you solve your own fabric storage problems - if you have any.