004. Sewing/Craft Rooms

Another thing you have to think about when you start getting into sewing your own clothes, is how much space it's going to take up in your house, and how much space you can afford. I started out just hand sewing things in my bedroom, but when I moved to university, I got a little spoiled in our house, where we had a largely unused living room where my housemate and I set up a sewing area, and the couch got covered in projects, and there was fabric all over the floor. I had stacks of cardboard boxes vomiting fabric all over the place, and no one really complained. When we moved to another townhouse, we were lucky enough to have a spare bedroom even with 4 people in the house, and it was used as a guest-room-slash-sewing-room, where once again, there were boxes vomiting fabric all over the place, and projects were stored in plastic shopping bags. I also got a dressform, which is one of those adjustable foam covered mannequins you use to make clothes from scratch.

You have to think hard about organization. I'm not the most organized person in the world, so my mother hates venturing anywhere near my sewing room, but I call it an organized mess. I know where everything is, even if I have to dig into old suitcases for it. I've seen people stack clear plastic rubbermaid bins to the ceiling! And have things pinned all over the walls. The only thing I'm marginally organized with, is my patterns. I have a U-desk with a filing drawer, so I bought a pack of hanging folders, and the drawer is bursting with patterns. The best thing, though, is that I don't have to really bother with fitting the fiddly folded patterns back into the tiny envelopes they come in. I just fold them as far as I can, and stick them in a file folder.

I don't go to the fabric store as often anymore, unless I have a very specific project in mind. Most of the time, I can now go into my fabric storage room, and dig around in there. I have a habit of buying fabric I don't particularly need, just because I like the pattern or it was on sale. I once bought about 5 meters of stretchy lycra fabric with cherries on it, just because I liked the cherries. I had no idea what the hell I'd do with lycra. It wasn't until about 5 years later that I actually did something with it. And I love going to the fabric store down the street from my house every month, and checking out what fabrics they have on sale for $2-$4/m. I have stacks of 2-3 meter bolts of patterned fabric that I haven't found a use for yet. Like the Tom and Jerry print upholstery fabric...I'll find a use for it someday! Even though it may feel like a waste of money, I like this strategy. That fabric isn't going to expire. (Just don't lose it!) And you'll find a use for it someday. Sewing and crafting is somewhat of a lifelong hobby, in my opinion. Once you start, you can't bring yourself to stop. 

My desk also doubles as a computer desk and sewing desk. The computer sits on one part of the U, and my sewing machine is on the next bend. So all I do is swivel my chair. I find it works out really well to have my computer and my sewing in the same room, that way I can look up tutorials and patterns while I'm sitting at my sewing machine, and I can play music while I work. I also keep a garment rack in the room, for finished and unfinished projects, and random other clothes that I take to photoshoots. I have a lot of costume pieces, and things I used to wear to class but don't wear anymore.

I have also recently added a cutting table to my sewing room. I had to plug in 2 more lamps to get proper lighting, but I now have a nice table to cut fabric on, after years of straining my neck and back to cut on the floor. Light is another important thing to think about. I had to set up 4 lamps around the room to add to the ceiling light. However, my room is in a basement, with a very tiny window up high on the wall. If you have a room with a big enough window for natural light, you probably won't have the same problem as me.

PS. Sorry no post yesterday! I was at an Atreyu concert. It was wicked.