Do you need a little inspiration for arranging your sewing room or studio?

Sewing.org is running an ongoing reader challenge to share your sewing room with the world.  You can browse through photos of sewing rooms and studios – and even submit your own sewing room!

I’m not sure if I’m willing to submit my sewing room to that kind of scrutiny at the moment…  Of course – it could be a good way to inspire a good studio clean

image: Stock.xchg

Post from: Blisstree

Need a little inspiration for your sewing room?

I’m getting back into my normal schedule of studio life and teaching after December’s excitement and energy.  I definitely need to spend some time getting my studio and fabric storage area cleaned and tidied again.  I seem to have the habit of pulling fabric out, looking for inspiration… and then leaving it out.  Ah, the joys of being a visual person

I ran a month-long series on Tangled Thread during March and April last year called the “De-Stash Challenge“.  If you’re looking for ideas on how to de-stash and de-clutter your own sewing room, the series is worth checking out:

• De-stash Challenge, introduction
• Day two check-in
• Week two check-in, pattern de-stashing!
• Week three ideas
• Week four - got extra yarn?
• The final check-in

De-stashing and “shopping your own stash” are also great ways to save money and make you think about whether or not you really, truly need that new piece of fabric.  After all, if you’ve got ten boxes of fabric already – isn’t there something in your own stash you can use?

I’ll be running the challenge again this year – but you’ll have to wait for March until the official kick-off.  Let’s just consider this practice for now…

image: C Findlay-Harder

Post from: Blisstree

Clutter buster ideas for your sewing room or studio

Here are a few ideas to get you started… feel free to add more ideas as comments!

This year I resolve to:

• Maintain my sewing machine (ei change needles regularly, clean it, oil and it take it into the dealership for tune-ups)
• Learn a new stitch – once a week, once a month – whatever works for you.
• Take photos of everything I finish.  Documenting your work is important!
• Deal with my heap of UFOs – if I haven’t finished a project in five years, is it really important to keep it?  After all, it’s taking up valuable space in your studio.
• Take a class, watch a DVD, read a book – they’re great tools to help you learn a new technique.  On a tight budget?  Check out what your local library has to offer.
• Organize your stash!  Is there stuff in there that you’re never going to use?  Hold a stash swap with friends, donate it to a good cause or find a way to send it to a new home.
• Expand your artistic world.  Check out a gallery, visit a fine craft shop or even view a gallery online.  You never know – it may just trigger inspiration!
• Beautify your studio.  Is your studio dark and un-inspiring?  Take some time and improve it – after all, it’s easier to be creative if you’re happy where you’re working.

Got more suggestions – I’d love to hear them!

Post from: Blisstree

Are you making New Year’s resolutions for your studio?

But since this isn’t a perfect world, and my fabric has to live in a separate room from my sewing machine – let’s talk about some options!

I used to cut out fabric on the floor.

In a house with five dogs, several birds and a variable number of cats.

It got a little frustrating when one of the dogs would run across a fragile paper pattern, or the cat dived head-first into the pin-dish.

And oh my goodness – my back sure objected to bending over for that long!

But I also didn’t have the space or $$$ for a dedicated cutting table (at least not at $200 from my local sewing shop!).

My options for sewing tables?

• Use a pair of sawhorses with a table or sheet of plywood on top.    This works great – but don’t try and move the sawhorses around with anything on the table top!  It’s very messy to have a full table slide onto the floor.
• Get an inexpensive cardboard cutting mat ($12 at my local fabric shop) and use it on top of a bed.  I’ve done this in a pinch – but it’s still low enough that I strain my back.
• Use a standard dining room table, with a mat on top.  This is my current table solution and it works great for me.  The table is sturdy and now that I’ve raised the mat (plastic boxes!), it’s the perfect height.

Design walls or photography walls:

• Make small photography boards from styrofoam sheets (cheap from the hardware or building supply store) and cover them with a neutral fabric.  I use an old ceiling tile, covered with natural linen as my photography background – which you guys have seen hundreds of times now!  I just pinned the fabric to the back of the board.  It’s small, lightweight and can easily be tucked away.
• If I need to photograph a large piece of fiber art, I hang a background on the outside of my house.  My studio just isn’t big enough to photograph a piece of art that’s 6 feet square – but going outside works.  I’d recommend photographing artwork on an overcast day – you’ll get the most even lighting that way.

Task lighting:

• My studio doesn’t get enough light in the mornings – especially in winter!  I like small lamps with built on clamps, so I can clamp them to my shelves, sewing table etc and place the lights exactly where I need it.  Don’t forget that florescent light bulbs are a better way to go for the environment

Feel free to share any tips or tricks you have for making your own studio more effencient!

Post from: Blisstree

tip of the day – alternative studio solutions

Unfortunately, I was teaching for most of the evening, so here’s what they looked like just before I left:

And then the full bloom after the sun had set:

I definitely think there is a piece of embroidered fiber art in there

all images are copyright C Findlay-Harder and may not be reproduced or reused in any fashion.

Post from: Blisstree

three blooms in one evening

I know my cutting table is about 8 inches too short for me – boy, does that hurt after a couple hours of cutting fabric!

Tami, from Lemon Tree Tales has written an excellent article on how to set up your sewing room in a way that won’t hurt your body.

It’s definitely worth checking out!

Post from: Blisstree

setting up sewing rooms

It certainly inspires me to get my sketch book out and start planning a piece of fiber art based on the flowers I think painting the background and then using wool or silk fibers and fabric to form the blooms…

all images are copyright C Findlay-Harder and may not be reproduced or reused in any fashion.

Post from: Blisstree

I think they’re blooming tonight…

I’m not sharing my window (you guys got to see that quite recently anyhow), but I am sharing what’s growing in my window.  I posted these photos last year, when I had three buds on my night-blooming cereus.

Well, this year I have ten flower buds!

That’s a close-up of two of the buds… and here’s a close-up of one of the single ones:

The buds are tiny now, but in a few weeks they’ll be inches across!  I’m going to try and set up a webcam, or do some time-lapse photography to share with you all.  It’s quite an experience to see the flowers bloom – you can literally see them moving.

My hoyas are still blooming enthusiastically – in fact, they make the entire house smell like perfume at night.

all images are copyright C Findlay-Harder and are not to be reproduced or reused in any fashion.

Post from: Blisstree

A view from my window

Peggy, from Tree Hugging Family has issued a challenge to cut down on paper towel use in our homes.   I don’t use a whole lot of paper towels as it is (I think one pack of towels usually lasts me a year) – fabric cloths work just as well in my house.

Do you have scraps of cotton or other absorbent fabric hanging around?   Why not serge or zig-zag the ends and use them instead of paper towel?

Post from: Blisstree

Paper towel challenge

I normally write in the mornings, in my studio/office… after the coffee has time to reach my neurons and wake me up Here’s what the view is like from my studio window, which is right next my computer desk:

I’ve got a night blooming cereus, two hoya plants (in bloom right now – they smell amazing at night) and a jade plant that somehow colonized a little corner of one of the other plant pots. The plants screen out the intense western sunlight and keep my studio a little cooler

I also have my lucky dragon, who hangs above my computer:

I found it at an art market years and years ago – and he’s hung over my computer since then.

So now that you’ve seen where I write from, here’s a list of my blogs… Of course, I write Tangled Thread, but I also write Her Accessories (another b5media blog). I recently started The Creative Bride, a craft & photo blog for brides who want to do something a little more handmade for their special day.

all images: C Findlay-Harder

Post from: Blisstree

where I blog from