I dream of one day having a very large sewing/ craft room in our basement. I’ve already started planning what will be in it and pricing out storage. But since that basement is unfinished (and full of junk), I make do by using the dining room.
I have to preface this post with saying that when we were looking for a floor plan for this house, my one requirement was a big dining room. I wanted it to be big enough for both of our immediate families. I love the idea of eating in the dining room more often than the kitchen. However, with a 4, almost 3, and a 1 year old, that’s not always realistic. So, my dining room has become my sewing room.
This is the area where I spent the most amount of time. I keep my laptop on the top of the cart so I can easily hook it up to use the embroidery part of my sewing machine. I love my sewing machine, but I must be honest with you and admit that I am tempted to purchase an upgrade! A friend of mine recently showed me this review site and I have not been able to stop thinking about all the amazing new models out there. Who knows, maybe I will have to treat myself?
Note, I keep my coffee cup close by but not on the side that the fabric is on. I am eternally clutsy. I keep it on a trivet that I got as a house warming gift from my friend Kathleen when Matt and I moved into our old house. It was meant to hold a candle but the piece that goes on top broke during our move into our current home. I also keep a lint brush handy to help pick up all those stray threads. That black case is from Creative Memories. I bought it when I was much more into scrapbooking than I am now. I keep my scissors and rotary cutters in it.
This is the rack that houses my laptop. It sits immediately to my right. I got it from Ikea and I LOVE it! It has wheels on the bottom so I can roll it into another room when I need to actually use the dining room. It has 4 drawers. In this rack, I keep the things that I use most often. If you look closely, you can see orange Tic-Tacs in the top drawer. I give those to the big girls when I need an extra minute of sewing.
Behind the rolling rack is where I keep my ironing board and iron. This iron is the one I got when I lived in an apartment right before I got married 10 years ago. I think it may be time to get a new cover. I just realized how the ironing board barely fits between my china cabinet and our wine rack. Too funny!
The area behind my sewing machine is where I keep my “garbage bowl”. If you have every watched Rachel Ray, you know what a garbage bowl is. In short, it’s a bowl where you can put all your trash so you aren’t constantly going to the trash can. I use an old Glad plastic container. It’s a deeper one so it’s fabulous for thread, scraps of interfacing, stabilizer, and ribbon.
Here is where I do all my cutting. Can you tell how big this dining room table is? It was Matt’s grandmother’s. We loved it because it has 2 leaves that can be put in to make it extremely large. The size makes it the best table for holidays and the best table for lots of fabric. I’ve actually been thinking of buying some new furniture for the dining room since the furniture is a little battered. I’ve seen some beautiful pieces of antique furniture on antiquesworld.co.uk but I can’t decide what to buy first! There’s so many things I want!!
Along the wall to the left of where I sit and sew, is where I keep another of the rolling racks. In this one I keep all my fabric and supplies for the shop. I also use Flat Rate Postal Service boxes to store some of the fabric I already have cut for bags. I have a box for different sizes and a box for fabric scraps. And just so you don’t think I am stealing from the post office, if you look closely you can see the boxes all have labels on them. They have all been sent to me from my fabric supplier.
Because I am a mom first, I have pretty set hours of when I work and only occasionally will it be while all 3 girls are awake. Some times if I am in the middle of finishing something I’ll work longer so I can try to get it done. The girls are really good about playing by themselves when I do. But when this cutie crawls over to me and grabs onto my chair to stand up…
…I know it’s time for me to shut off my machine.
So where do you do your sewing or crafting? Leave a comment with a link so I can see your space!
–k
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