Some helpful things I have in my sewing room
06-03-2011, 04:50 AM
#23
Senior Member
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: Coastal Florida - Mountainous Maine
Posts: 949
Great ideas, thanks. Love the inventiveness! Great idea for a dry presser (clothspin 1/2). I'd forgotton about that one.
Here are some more ideas....
I use cheap freebee chinese chopsticks for holding down points of fabric as I sew. The point is thick enough it won't go under the needle, but it's small enough that I can hold down seams/pieces that want to flip wrong as I'm sewing. Saves my fingers from getting stitched. I tried bamboo cooking skewers too, but unless I break them in half, I keep poking myself with them. lol
Also use an upright cardboard desk stationary organizer (the pretty kind for stationary - covered in cloth or pretty papers) to hold my small square, triangle, etc. rulers and my mylar press sheet. The rulers then stand up straight on edge, I can see them and pick through them to get just the right one I want to cut with. TJ Max clearance sale... $5.
Scissors? I use a clearance sale/TJ Max leatherette 3 section pen/pencil holder for my scissors and rotary cutters. (Shaped like a 10" long by 4" rectangle, with 3 equal sections. The height of the side walls increases. First compartment, the walls are only 3" high, then it curves up to 4" high, then 5"). The small scissors/rotaries go in the small section, the large 10" sheers, etc. go into the tall section. GREAT find/idea. $4.
How about using a clear lucite 8x10 leaning table picture frame... for putting my patterns/instruction sheets on if I'm using one. That way, I don't have to take my hands off my work while double checking cutting sizes, sewing instructions, etc. I lean the pages up against the lucite... perfect angle to read! If it's a short pattern, I just flip the holder sideways and use it like that. Thrift Store find.... 44 cents. If the paper doesn't stay upright, a wood clothspin easily works.
For a hanging rack, to hang freshly ironed yardage, etc. ... my husband found an old funky shoe rack at a good will store. Not the plastic baggie kind, but the old fashioned kind with rails and wire ovals (the shoe slips onto the wires). We took it apart, slid the shoe wire thingies off the rails. Put it back together... then I hung it over the closet door that I don't use much - on the outside. The four corner 'feet' hold it out about 3" from the closet door surface. It's currently holding about 20 or so pieces of pressed cottons, on 9 rails... Best thing is, after I get this project done, I can take it down and fold it up. Only use it when I need it! Cost? Something like $1.99. Half off day at Goodwill and a DH on the look out for me.
What's everyone else doing?
Here are some more ideas....
I use cheap freebee chinese chopsticks for holding down points of fabric as I sew. The point is thick enough it won't go under the needle, but it's small enough that I can hold down seams/pieces that want to flip wrong as I'm sewing. Saves my fingers from getting stitched. I tried bamboo cooking skewers too, but unless I break them in half, I keep poking myself with them. lol
Also use an upright cardboard desk stationary organizer (the pretty kind for stationary - covered in cloth or pretty papers) to hold my small square, triangle, etc. rulers and my mylar press sheet. The rulers then stand up straight on edge, I can see them and pick through them to get just the right one I want to cut with. TJ Max clearance sale... $5.
Scissors? I use a clearance sale/TJ Max leatherette 3 section pen/pencil holder for my scissors and rotary cutters. (Shaped like a 10" long by 4" rectangle, with 3 equal sections. The height of the side walls increases. First compartment, the walls are only 3" high, then it curves up to 4" high, then 5"). The small scissors/rotaries go in the small section, the large 10" sheers, etc. go into the tall section. GREAT find/idea. $4.
How about using a clear lucite 8x10 leaning table picture frame... for putting my patterns/instruction sheets on if I'm using one. That way, I don't have to take my hands off my work while double checking cutting sizes, sewing instructions, etc. I lean the pages up against the lucite... perfect angle to read! If it's a short pattern, I just flip the holder sideways and use it like that. Thrift Store find.... 44 cents. If the paper doesn't stay upright, a wood clothspin easily works.
For a hanging rack, to hang freshly ironed yardage, etc. ... my husband found an old funky shoe rack at a good will store. Not the plastic baggie kind, but the old fashioned kind with rails and wire ovals (the shoe slips onto the wires). We took it apart, slid the shoe wire thingies off the rails. Put it back together... then I hung it over the closet door that I don't use much - on the outside. The four corner 'feet' hold it out about 3" from the closet door surface. It's currently holding about 20 or so pieces of pressed cottons, on 9 rails... Best thing is, after I get this project done, I can take it down and fold it up. Only use it when I need it! Cost? Something like $1.99. Half off day at Goodwill and a DH on the look out for me.
What's everyone else doing?
06-03-2011, 06:24 AM
#25
Super Member
Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: Wine Country-Southern California
Posts: 1,449
I think being organized in your sewing studio is extremely important, so you can find and use all your treasures....After I finish a project, I always try to clean up the room. put everything away, all fabric in their place. so I can start fresh and new again. Have little organizer baskets and bowls everywhere. Really like to reuse odd things from the kitchen. Frozen food bowls, containers from takeout...etc they are the best ones because they are free and you are not adding to the landfill.
06-03-2011, 02:42 PM
#27
Super Member
Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: Wine Country-Southern California
Posts: 1,449
Originally Posted by wildyard
That reminds me of what I do with my spare bobbins when I am using the cone threads, which is most of the time.
06-03-2011, 03:32 PM
#30
Power Poster
Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: PA
Posts: 10,703
What a smarty you are! Thanks for all those great tips! I'll be puting them to good use! I sharpen the chop stick in my pencil sharpener. The point is great for tearing PP and as a stilleto for pushing fabric through the machine. I love them. Cheap as chop sticks!
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