losing my sewing room

whaaaa!
I went from having a whole bedroom to the laundry room and now in a
few weeks we will move to a house with an even smaller laundry room.
(That's what happens when you have kids--they get the bedrooms!)
Anyway, my question is how to organize my stuff so that I can still
sew. I was thinking of finding some sort of wheeled cart that I could
put my machine and serger on along with the most often used notions,
iron and such. I'm not sure what to do about the ironing board. I
guess I'll have to haul that out every time. I need this portable
stuff to be easy to put away whether or not I'm done with the project
(small kids around!)
I hope this is only temporary. We'll only be in this house for a year
and then who knows what the Navy will do with us next!
Lisa R

I sympathize with you Lisa, My DH was in the CG for 21 years and 5 months,
and we were married for 18 of those years. We didn't have children, but
moving was a hassle most the time. Now I got me one of those over the door
Iron Boards. It took me a while to get use to it, but am glad that I did
get that, one less thing I have to worry about putting away, I just swing it
up against the door, and it is out of sight until I need it again. And
don't worry, the Navy won't be forever, you will get your time deserved
later.

Maine-iac Rose
@---
remove the thorns to email me

"Lisa" wrote in message
m...
whaaaa!
I went from having a whole bedroom to the laundry room and now in a
few weeks we will move to a house with an even smaller laundry room.
(That's what happens when you have kids--they get the bedrooms!)
Anyway, my question is how to organize my stuff so that I can still
sew. I was thinking of finding some sort of wheeled cart that I could
put my machine and serger on along with the most often used notions,
iron and such. I'm not sure what to do about the ironing board. I
guess I'll have to haul that out every time. I need this portable
stuff to be easy to put away whether or not I'm done with the project
(small kids around!)
I hope this is only temporary. We'll only be in this house for a year
and then who knows what the Navy will do with us next!
Lisa R

It's tough finding space to work in, have you any room for a fold away type
sewing station? www.nancysnotions.com has some and if you do a google search
for sewing armoire you will find others. The good thing about these is they
take up relatively little space,keeps all your stuff organized and can be
closed up to keep little people out of it.
And may I thank you and your family for your service in the Navy, you are
the best.

Elaine
"Lisa" wrote in message
m...
whaaaa!
I went from having a whole bedroom to the laundry room and now in a
few weeks we will move to a house with an even smaller laundry room.
(That's what happens when you have kids--they get the bedrooms!)
Anyway, my question is how to organize my stuff so that I can still
sew. I was thinking of finding some sort of wheeled cart that I could
put my machine and serger on along with the most often used notions,
iron and such. I'm not sure what to do about the ironing board. I
guess I'll have to haul that out every time. I need this portable
stuff to be easy to put away whether or not I'm done with the project
(small kids around!)
I hope this is only temporary. We'll only be in this house for a year
and then who knows what the Navy will do with us next!
Lisa R

Not knowing what your surroundings are, I couldn't guess at organization but
as for the ironing board, a fold down wall mounted board would be ideal. The
commercial ones tend to be a bit small, specially as you really can't use
one end. If you know a woodworker, maybe you could talk them into building
you a custom one. Navy? Know any Seabees?

"Lisa" wrote in message
m...
whaaaa!
I went from having a whole bedroom to the laundry room and now in a
few weeks we will move to a house with an even smaller laundry room.
(That's what happens when you have kids--they get the bedrooms!)
Anyway, my question is how to organize my stuff so that I can still
sew. I was thinking of finding some sort of wheeled cart that I could
put my machine and serger on along with the most often used notions,
iron and such. I'm not sure what to do about the ironing board. I
guess I'll have to haul that out every time. I need this portable
stuff to be easy to put away whether or not I'm done with the project
(small kids around!)
I hope this is only temporary. We'll only be in this house for a year
and then who knows what the Navy will do with us next!
Lisa R

Stack the kids - keep the sewing room! (Get your priorities straight,
girlfriend!!!)
I am assuming that you are on base in provided housing. All of which was, of
course, designed by males....
As for lack of space, I once made an ironing board out of a piece of plywood
cut to shape. I set that over my washer and dryer and it worked a charm.
They do make somewhat self-contained sewing desks (not cheap) that hold both
a sewing machine and a serger - and have fold out 'doors' that hold your
notions and such. I would be inclined to set one of those up in the living
room and cover it with a pretty cloth when not in use.
My heart breaks for you and my brain screams "where is her stash going to
live?"....
Cynthia
"Lisa" wrote in message
m...
whaaaa!
I went from having a whole bedroom to the laundry room and now in a
few weeks we will move to a house with an even smaller laundry room.
(That's what happens when you have kids--they get the bedrooms!)
Anyway, my question is how to organize my stuff so that I can still
sew. I was thinking of finding some sort of wheeled cart that I could
put my machine and serger on along with the most often used notions,
iron and such. I'm not sure what to do about the ironing board. I
guess I'll have to haul that out every time. I need this portable
stuff to be easy to put away whether or not I'm done with the project
(small kids around!)
I hope this is only temporary. We'll only be in this house for a year
and then who knows what the Navy will do with us next!
Lisa R

Lisa wrote:

whaaaa!
I went from having a whole bedroom to the laundry room and now in a
few weeks we will move to a house with an even smaller laundry room.
(That's what happens when you have kids--they get the bedrooms!)
Anyway, my question is how to organize my stuff so that I can still
sew. I was thinking of finding some sort of wheeled cart that I could
put my machine and serger on along with the most often used notions,
iron and such. I'm not sure what to do about the ironing board. I
guess I'll have to haul that out every time. I need this portable
stuff to be easy to put away whether or not I'm done with the project
(small kids around!)
I hope this is only temporary. We'll only be in this house for a year
and then who knows what the Navy will do with us next!
Lisa R

Will you have room for something like a Horn cabinet? I know those
things are expensive, but it would mean just closing it up and it could
live somewhere like the dining room or the corner of the living room, so
you could sew where the kids were under you eye.

--
Kate XXXXXX
Lady Catherine, Wardrobe Mistress of the Chocolate Buttons
http://www.diceyhome.free-online.co.uk
Click on Kate's Pages and explore!

(Lisa) wrote:

Anyway, my question is how to organize my stuff so that I can still
sew. I was thinking of finding some sort of wheeled cart that I could
put my machine and serger on along with the most often used notions,
iron and such. I'm not sure what to do about the ironing board.

Put the ironing board away and use it only for stuff that absolutely
has to be ironed. If you take shirts and most other clothes that you'd
normally iron out of the dryer as soon as it's finished, they
shouldn't really be wrinkled... if they are, either you're over-drying
the clothes or your loads have too much clothes in them (or both).

You don't really need to iron when sewing. Really, you don't. I
promise. Finger pressing is plenty good.

There are companies that make portable, fold-up sewing furniture, some
of which is very nice, but it tends to be rather shockingly expensive.
I suggest you contact a local unfinished furniture store and see if
you can talk to them about designing something custom for you: it'd
probably be cheaper.

Tom Farrell
http://www.SewingWithTom.com/

Lisa wrote:

whaaaa!
I went from having a whole bedroom to the laundry room and now in a
few weeks we will move to a house with an even smaller laundry room.
(That's what happens when you have kids--they get the bedrooms!)
Anyway, my question is how to organize my stuff so that I can still
sew. I was thinking of finding some sort of wheeled cart that I could
put my machine and serger on along with the most often used notions,
iron and such. I'm not sure what to do about the ironing board. I
guess I'll have to haul that out every time. I need this portable
stuff to be easy to put away whether or not I'm done with the project
(small kids around!)
I hope this is only temporary. We'll only be in this house for a year
and then who knows what the Navy will do with us next!
Lisa R

My machine and overlocker are on a fold-up sewing table on castors (Horn copy
from K-Mart) in the kitchen. They take up the real estate that butts onto one
side of the breakfast bar. My fabric stash is in a pantry cupboard. I have the
fabric sorted into cottons, synthetics, knits, 'fancy' and upholstery. Each pile
is folded neatly so that the folded edge shows and the piles are stacked in the
lids of photocopying paper cartons (exactly the right size to hold folded
fabric). These lids form removable drawers that I can pull off the shelves and
park on the kitchen table for ease of viewing and selecting my next project.

Haberdashery is in a wheeled tower of drawers (Rubbermaid sort of thing) that
lives a peripatetic life (I *love* that word!) wheeling from place to place,
depending on whom it irritates. At the moment, it's in DD's bedroom. She'll get
put-out about that soon and I'll probably move it into the bathroom for a
while... Paper patterns are stacked neatly according to purpose and size. They
all fit in a single layer in a photocopy paper carton with the lid on. This box
lives underneath my folding table and has to move at Christmas time when we put
Christmas dinner (usually a buffet salad) on it. The table, I mean, not the box.

My lace stash (I *love* lace!) lives in a large transparent plastic crate
(Rubbermaid sort of thing again). This is probably not the best place for it
(I'm the one who lost a few hectares of brand new chambray when the plastic tub
outgassed and stained it), but what else can I do? The laces are wound onto
rectangular pieces of matboard and lined up in serried ranks for ease of
viewing. Elastics have a similar box, ribbons and braids another one and zippers
another. These stack in my craft cupboard and DH is *perpetually* chucking other
stuff on top of them. This is an ongoing nuisance which requires many Adult
Discussions and not a small amount of shrieking on my part...

However, I digress...

I reckon the folding table (usually with some kind of cupboard included in it)
is a great way to keep your machine and overlocker. That way, you can leave them
set up somewhere and even leave your current project folded neatly on or in the
cupboard. It takes up a tiny amount of real estate, especially considering its
importance to your lifestyle and can be 'imploded' on itself if need be.

Storage of stash items depend on how much you have, what it consists of and how
picky you are about keeping it out of harm's way.

HTH,
--
Trish {|:-}
Newcastle, NSW, Australia

Tom Farrell wrote:

Put the ironing board away and use it only for stuff that absolutely
has to be ironed. If you take shirts and most other clothes that you'd
normally iron out of the dryer as soon as it's finished, they
shouldn't really be wrinkled... if they are, either you're over-drying
the clothes or your loads have too much clothes in them (or both).

For ages, I ironed on a pile of nappies on the kitchen table! Last year, DH
found me a table-mounted ironing board, though, and it's been a life-saver! It's
a miniature replica of a 'real' ironing board, only it's about two foot six
inches long, a foot wide and has short little dicky legs for sitting on my
tabletop! It would be *so* easy to make this thing out of some craftwood and
brackets!

You don't really need to iron when sewing. Really, you don't. I
promise. Finger pressing is plenty good.

Thomas! Slap yourself on the hand for saying that! You *can't* finger press a
bust dart! There's no other way to make it lie flat except by ironing it!
(We-e-ell... Maybe I could persuade DH to sit on it for a few hours, but I have
ma doots...) I'm with you: day to day wearing clothes *don't* need ironing, but
setting up a garment in construction *does*. Even if you just press on a towel
on the table, it's enough.

There are companies that make portable, fold-up sewing furniture, some
of which is very nice, but it tends to be rather shockingly expensive.
I suggest you contact a local unfinished furniture store and see if
you can talk to them about designing something custom for you: it'd
probably be cheaper.

Check out K-Marts home furnishing department. My little sewing table cost
$159AUS and was a great birthday present!

--
Trish {|:-}
Newcastle, NSW, Australia

Hi Lisa,

Here goes my two cents...

We lived in a small house when our kids were growing up. Like you, a sewing
room was not an option, so here is what I did. First, I bought a cheap
"student" desk that I ended up dragging with me through two more moves. It
was too small to hold two sewing machines at a time, but it worked. The
serger and basic machine were stored underneath pushed up against the wall
to keep soccer balls from smashing into them. I made a floor length table
cover to hide everything. To this mix I added a folding cardboard cutting
matt that Dritz makes (stored behind the sofa). Next I made a shoe type
caddy for sewing notions. It hung from the strongest plastic hanger I could
find with a moving hook. The caddy was very simple. I just used a piece of
fabric from my stash cut to fit the hanger. Rows of clear plastic vinyl (on
both sides of the fabric) were stitched across, then vertical stitches made
separations for tools and basic supplies. I used two rows of Velcro to hold
the thing on the hanger. When I started sewing, the notions hanger would
hang from an open kitchen cabinet door. Not the prettiest solution, but it
worked. A cardboard box on the top of my closet shelf held patterns. It
took a bit of planning before I could start a project. I only had three
things that really couldn't be done until after the kids went to bed. That
would be cutting out the pattern tissue, reading over the directions, and
cutting the fabric. The cardboard cutting matt had to be put on the kitchen
table. My "kids" are now 30 and 35 but I do remember there was no way I
could use that table during the day. Too many meals, snacks, homework space
etc. Since we ironed everything back in those days, the ironing board and
iron were stashed in a closet and dragged out when needed, including
pressing seams.

The hanger caddy for notions was the best idea I came up with. Time was
important when trying to squeeze in some sewing during naps. It just seemed
to take forever to find what I needed before I made the caddy and it didn't
take up much space in my closet. Hope these ideas help you. Good luck in
your new home.

Liz

"Lisa" wrote in message
m...
whaaaa!
I went from having a whole bedroom to the laundry room and now in a
few weeks we will move to a house with an even smaller laundry room.
(That's what happens when you have kids--they get the bedrooms!)
Anyway, my question is how to organize my stuff so that I can still
sew. I was thinking of finding some sort of wheeled cart that I could
put my machine and serger on along with the most often used notions,
iron and such. I'm not sure what to do about the ironing board. I
guess I'll have to haul that out every time. I need this portable
stuff to be easy to put away whether or not I'm done with the project
(small kids around!)
I hope this is only temporary. We'll only be in this house for a year
and then who knows what the Navy will do with us next!
Lisa R