Thrift Store Sleeve Board Refinish

I love sewing tools and gadgets.  What's even better than having a plethora of them is finding them at a bargain price, as was the case when I found this sleeve board during a recent visit to a local The Salvation Army store.

BLC Day 4: Poppin' Wheelies!

I have long dreamed of having a beautiful and functional space in which to enjoy the various craft activities which interest me.  I recall in the pre-Pinterest days initiating and saving online image searches to see how other sewing-enthusiasts have set up and organized their sewing spaces.  And who hasn't thumbed through a copy of Dream Sewing Spaces by Lynette Ranney Black?

While working in my Sewing Room now, I look around and am pleased to see the progress I've made in improving its efficiency and appearance, but it has not been an overnight process. Most of the improvements have been done over a period of about 10 years - reminds me of the saying "slow and steady wins the race."  Case in point, my Project Table which I actually completed building in 2014 and blogged about in January 2015.  It has truly become a workhorse piece of furniture in my Sewing Room, and provides a lot of great storage capacity underneath its table top...

Taming of the Stash

The Sewing Room...the space in my home which serves as the center for almost all of my creative activities.  The thing is there is more than sewing that goes on in there.  I dabble in various "crafty" activities - sewing, jewelry making, yarn crafts, candle making, glass cutting, etc.  Additionally, my Sewing Room serves as the hub for managing the affairs of my home. To achieve maximum efficiency, I often re-examine the zones of this room to see if I can make better use of the space.

The closet in my Sewing Room once had sliding doors which I found to be inhibiting when trying to see the contents stored within.  Several years ago, I removed the doors and used them to construct shelving in the closet to store my fabric collection.  At the time, I decided to use Steralite storage drawers to contain, categorize and protect the various lengths of fabric in my stash.  While it did a great job of protecting them from dust and light, I did find the drawers to be somewhat limiting in capacity.

The Remnant Repository

Am I the only sewing enthusiast who has a difficult time tossing out fabric remnants from completed projects?  I shared with you that I learned how to sew by watching my mother, and how she would use leftover fabric scraps from her clients' garments for other projects, including helping me augment the wardrobe of my Barbie dolls.  So, I recognize holding on to fabric scraps as a learned behavior from Mommy.

I have found storing my scraps to be a challenge, partly due to the amount of space they required, but also because I wasn't always sure of the amount of usable "yardage" I had on hand.

Remnants were once stored at the bottom of my Sewing Room closet in a small plastic bin, which proved to be woefully inadequate capacity.

Fabric scraps would then find a temporary "home" in the storage drawers I used to categorize and store uncut fabric yardages.

The Dresser Refinish

I shared with you how busy my spring and summer has been due to the amount of travelling I had to do for work.  Well, now that the travel has slowed down, I've been able to devote time to making my sewing space visually appealing.  I finally got all of my pattern boxes decorated, assembled, labeled and filled.  Yes, a couple of them are decorated differently, and the color saturation on others is a little off, but they're all done.  I will revisit the "odd" units at another time.

At Last, My Project Table has Come Along

I used to be one for making resolutions with each coming of a new year.  However, I've found it more productive to identifying goals I'd like to meet, and then establish a timeline and plan on which to achieve them.  Sometimes the plan works as designed, sometimes not.  The good thing is I'm not holding myself to some ambiguous target and feeling less-than if it's not met.

Included in the goals I've set each year are various household projects, many of which carry over from one year to the next - and that's okay!  Transforming my Sewing Room into a space which sparks inspiration and creativity has consistently been on that list, and I've steadily been making changes to the room and furniture to make this space one in which I love being.  In 2012, I started this process by painting and customizing my self-drafted drop-leaf sewing tabletop.

 

sewing tabletop and base, before

Umm...Has It Really Been Four Months?!

Wow!  I can’t believe it’s been 4 months since my last post!  I’ve been pretty busy in that time period, although you’d never know it by my blogging activity.  You may recall in an earlier post that I reflected on how bloggers whom I follow are able to dedicate themselves to publishing daily posts and updates and still live a full life.  I find this to be a challenge at times, but I want to make a commitment to myself to be better.  More on that later…

So, allow me to bring you up to date on my activities.