lyndsea-learns

[lyndsea-learns]

Sewing Room Organization

I still have that weird burst of energy for reorganizing my sewing room (I have my theories about it being an effect of the cocoa- enriched diet I'm trying out—apparently cocoa has some effects on neurotransmitters involved in migraines, ADHD, and depression so I figured why not), so I've been researching what people do with their sewing rooms, organization-wise, because I have to fight for every bit of organization in my life—it doesn't come naturally to me, so I have to study it.

But you know what's annoying about all of the "how to organize your sewing room" articles and blog posts I've seen? They're basically just listed of things you can do, without any exploration of why you would prefer one over another, or any exploration of what makes one system work and another fail, which means you're more likely to buy a bunch of organizational stuff and end up in the same position in the future. So here: an exploration of those things which may be applicable to other workspaces but which is targeted towards sewing.

For context: I primarily sew apparel. Although I've done a number of fiber arts, embroidery and quilting are not among them; if the organizational requirements are significantly different, my information might not be applicable. However, I do think that a lot of this is applicable even outside of sewing. I have ADHD and depression, which impair my ability to organize and stay organized. I live alone, without pets 😿, and don't invite anybody over to my apartment, so I'm free to use all of my rooms however I want.

Hidden Vs. in the Open: Furniture

A lot of furniture which is targeted towards sewists—especially the high-end stuff—folds neatly away (at least in theory) and looks like just a generic cabinet when closed. That certainly has its place, looks really neat, and has a long tradition behind it, but I think that for a lot of sewists it ends up being a feature that you pay money for because it looks cool/because the furniture is branded as sewing furniture, and then you never end up using it.

If your sewing furniture is in a public area of the house where you might want to hide it from the guests, or you think that it'll keep your equipment safe from children, animals, and anyone else who might wreak havoc on it (and you think you'll actually use it consistently), hide-away sewing furniture might be a good option for you, but do be aware that if you're not building it yourself you are paying extra for that feature.

If you have the luxury of an actual sewing room, made all pretty for your use, do you really want to hide away your machine, sewing table, and other accessories that would be in the hide-away sewing furniture, or do you just want it because it looks fancy? If you sew frequently, do you really think you're going to stow everything away when you're done working for the day and take it out again when you're ready to start working again, or will you end up leaving everything out so you can get back to work as quickly as possible?

Hide-away furniture might be a good solution in certain types of limited-space situations. Of course, at the extreme end of the limited-space spectrum, having actual furniture dedicated to sewing is completely out of the question, but there's a lot of space between that and having all the space you could need for your personal sewing studio. If you have enough space to buy furniture but have to share space between various activities, especially in an area shared with others, hide-away furniture will make it faster and easier to switch the space between activities . . . but that comes at the cost of being unable to use the furniture for other purposes. Because of the trade-off, it might be a better solution for a space shared with other people than for a single-user, multi-activity space. However, everyone's workflow is different and I'm sure that there are people in both situations who hide-away furniture will help, and people in both situations who it will hinder.

The main reasons to choose hide-away furniture are aesthetics and protection, but it's important to remember that for the most part those benefits only apply when it's closed—and it's not going to be closed while you're using it. You also may or may not have the discipline to close it after every session (I know I don't).

A non-hide-away table or desk will obviously display everything that's on it, at all times. For some people, that's unacceptable because they want to hide it when it's not in use. For some people, it's asking for trouble—cats, kids, other people, even the sewist themself is a hazard to their tools and supplies. For others, showing off their sewing tools and supplies is desirable and they don't want to hide them away (as long as the mess can be tamed enough).

For those who don't have a strong opinion either way, the fancy hide-away furniture can be tempting just because it's fancy, especially if you don't think it through. And if you use the space for multiple purposes, being able to easily switch from one activity to another sounds really nice. But a multipurpose table(s) and dedicated storage space for supplies when they're not in use might be a better idea. It will take more time to switch activities, but the space will be more versatile. You'll be able to use all of your tables for whichever activity you're currently doing. I'm not gonna lie, at least in theory this is more likely to result in massive mess than the hide-away furniture, but theory and practice are two very different things. Which brings us to the next part, which is

Active Use, Active Storage, Short-term Storage, Normal Storage, Deep Storage

Yes, it's true, there are multiple types of storage. I'm willing to bet that you already have your storage categorized the same way with only some minor variations.

Active use is not in any type of storage at all. You're using it right this very second. The scissors in your hand, the fabric currently under the presser foot. The only time something is in active use is if it is being actively manipulated. The moment you set it down, even if it's only for a second, it goes into

Active storage. This is a much-neglected part of the storage hierarchy, because it doesn't feel like storage at all. You've only put it down for a second! You need it to be accessible in the next minute! But if you neglect to consider your active storage, you'll end up with the scissors lost beneath the sewing machine manual, pins swept off the table and stepped on, things getting lost forever or damaged . . . and a cluttered workspace which eventually becomes hard to work at. Sure, you can periodically pause and clean up, but if you put some thought into your active storage you won't have to do it nearly as much. The goal for active storage is to reduce your obstacles (both physical and mental) to keeping things organized. Because you're taking things in and out of active storage so frequently, even tiny obstacles can get in the way of staying organized. Especially at the beginning of trying to keep your active storage organized, you may have to reevaluate your methods several times before you find a setup that works for you.

The most important aspects to think about for active storage are accessibility and organization. You need to be able to access the right item as soon as possible, without digging around or going any further than absolutely necessary. Because quick access is the entire purpose of active storage, you don't need large amounts of storage, and most of the time you don't need for the storage to be very differentiated: it's fine if the scissors and the thread are in the same place, because it's a small place and there isn't a lot in it. Ideally, each workstation will have certain items that live in the active storage within arm's reach of that workstation. You're almost always going to use scissors when you're at the cutting table, and unless you put everything into deep storage you'll visit the cutting table on a regular basis. It just doesn't make sense to put your fabric scissors into normal storage.

I know that "lives there full time" sounds like normal storage to most people, but this is not a spatial hierarchy of organization even if it has some crossover, it is a hierarchy based on groupings of how things need to be stored. Items that are accessed very frequently should be treated the same way for immediate-term storage and long-term storage. When you put down your scissors, you should have no more than a handful of places you allow yourself to set them down, regardless of whether you're just stretching your hand or don't plan to be back for a while. If there are some items in this category that need to be protected while you're not present (e.g. there are people in your family who would use fabric scissors on paper) you may have to modify my guidelines, but ideally those items would have a place to live (tray, cup, etc.) that would be easily accessible while you're there and that place can be easily moved into a safe spot when you're not. That way you're always storing them in the same place no matter how long you put them down for—it's just that the storage place his its own storage place. I find that it's easy to be consistent when each item has one place to be stored, and nesting the storage.

What kinds of storage would be both easily accessible and organized enough? (This is not a comprehensive list) Pegboards. Shallow trays. Pencil cups. Pincushions. Magnetic trays. For some items, such as pattern pieces or fabric that's about to be used (whether cut or uncut), the only workable solution may be to lay it out or stack it up. Hangers. On the dress form. They should each be ideally within easy arm's reach (or, if used when standing, 2 steps) of where they'll be used—don't store the thread snips with the fabric cutting tools, store them near the sewing machine. Store the pins near where you'll pin fabric together, and have a pincushion near the sewing machine, where you'll be taking them out. If you use one item in more than one location and it's not too expensive for your budget, get one for each location you'll use it at.

For active storage, scalability and long-term protection are not high priorities; regardless of how much space you have available, active storage should be kept small in scope. If you won't use it for this particular project and it's not one of the items that lives in active storage, it should go back to its home. After every project, your active storage should be purged of everything that doesn't live in active storage. In the same vein, most of the items that are in active storage won't be there for long, so you don't have to worry much about whether the light is going to fade the fabric or if the pattern pieces pinned to it are acid-free.

Whenever items are moved between types of storage, you should do at least a minimal inspection and perform any necessary maintenance, upkeep, or preventative maintenance. Because items that live in active storage are rarely, if ever, moved between types of storage, the end of a project or the beginning of one (whichever works better for you) can be used as a cue to do an inspection and maintenance of those items. That's not to say that it can't be done at other times; I just think they're good cues to act.

Short-term storage is the next category. It's actually a pretty small category, because it's very close to active storage. The difference is that short-term storage is basically when you're stepping away from the workstation for a while. If you need to protect items from other people or animals, you move those items into a protected area. You make sure the iron is off. You put the dust cover over your sewing machine, because every little bit helps keep it clean. If you don't have a dedicated sewing area and need to pack up, you pack it all up. Everything is almost ready for you to start, but it'll take a little bit of time to get started again rather than the no time at all. The emphasis with this category is added safety while you're away.

If you work on multiple projects at a time, you might want to move the current project into a storage container in short-term storage as soon as you're done with a session. If you do, it will make it easier to work on whichever project you're inspired to do next time, and if this project goes dormant it's already packed up and ready to move to normal or deep storage. If you tend to be laser-focused on a project until you get it done, this is probably unnecessary for you.

Normal storage is, well, normal. It's accessible, but you're not worried about keeping it in arm's reach. It's for stuff that you're likely to use on a project, but not on every project. Most notions and fabric will probably live here, and tools that don't take up too much space.

Projects that you're still working on, but are not the one you're working on right this instant, should each have their own designated storage area. What that storage area should be will vary depending on the project, but it should keep all of the pieces and notes (you do take notes, don't you? Future you will hate you if you don't—take it from someone who knows.) contained together and not mingled with anything else.

At this point in the storage hierarchy, it starts to become important to worry about scalability and long-term protection. You might start out with only a few fabrics and end up with a lot; you might start out with only a few fasteners or buttons and have your collection expand exponentially. Obviously, if you only have 5 of them further organization is unnecessary, but if you have thousands it's probably better to have some sort of classification system so that it's easier to find what you want when you're shopping your stash. The sooner you set up a scalable system, the easier it will be to deal with: you'll be able to put all of the #2 hooks into the #2 hook storage container as soon as you get them, rather than having to figure out what size your hooks are after the card is too chewed up to read. Also, not to be morbid, but sewing notions tend to get inherited by the next generation (I've literally inherited hooks and eyes that are old enough to have a "patented 1905" notice on them) and having them sorted is much-appreciated by the next generation.

As for long-term protection, I don't know much about it yet, but factors to remember are that acid and light are the enemies of long-term storage. If you wrap your fabric around something, it's best if you make sure it's acid-free (comic book boards, which many people recommend, are acid-free—comic book collectors are also worried about acid damage over time. There are other solutions that are also acid-free if you look, but if it doesn't specifically say it's acid-free you should assume it will eventually degrade your fabric). Unless you're the type to only keep enough fabric and thread for the current projects (and thus are not concerned about long-term storage), consider storing them in dark areas rather than on display. I know thread racks and neatly-folded fabric are very pretty, but the dye and thread are slowly degrading. You also want to make sure that everything is clean (not just from an "ew" perspective; dirty fabric attracts moths) and in good condition when you put it into normal storage, so that when you pull it out to use it'll be ready to go.

As for how to organize within particular categories, consider how you'll go through them. Will you need to look at all of your fabric at once to decide what to use, or will you be looking at only one color or material? If you need a button, will you be looking for a particular size, or a particular color? You'll have to consider your own workflow to decide. If you'll be looking for a button of a particular size, you should group by size, not by color. If you look by color, that's how they should be grouped. As much as possible, things that you'll be looking at together (e.g. red fabric) should be kept together, though it's all right if categories of the same type of object that you won't be looking at together are stored separately (e.g. red fabric is stored in the sewing room, blue fabric is stored in the closet).

In normal storage, items don't need to be kept as accessible as possible. It's okay if you have to do a little bit of digging or go to a different room to access things in normal storage. For the most part, you'll be accessing normal storage when you're preparing for a new project: figuring out what fabric, thread, notions and tools you'll need for it. What you don't want for normal storage is for things to be hidden. Huge totes of fabric that you have to dig through? Not for normal storage. That's for

Deep storage. If you have a large stash, you probably have some of it in deep storage already. Accessibility is not an important consideration for deep storage, because you don't expect to access it frequently if at all. Huge plastic totes stuffed full, piled 6 deep, at a storage unit? That's deep storage.

The number one consideration with deep storage is preservation. Keep it dark, keep it dry, keep it acid-free, keep it climate-controlled (I'm not 100% sure on the climate control being necessary, so please do extra reading on the topic—again, I'm not well-versed in preservation). Make certain that it's clean and maintained before you store it away.

Strict organization isn't necessary, or even always possible, with deep storage, but it's highly recommended to make a list of what's in each deep storage container and store the list with the container, like a shipping manifest. You're probably going to forget what's in which container by the time you open them next, so why not make it easier for yourself to find what you're looking for?

Garbage isn't really storage in the usual sense, but you do store it until you get rid of it, and it has its own requirements. You don't have to worry about preservation or special storage—everything can be thrown into the trash together. But one special requirement of garbage is that you need access to it at multiple locations. You don't necessarily need a large trash can at all locations; for instance, you're probably mostly going to have to deal with thread snips at your sewing machine. However, each location should have its own appropriately-sized receptacle within easy reach.

Items for sale or donation may be another category you have. They should be separated from the items you're keeping, but should be stored neatly. I don't use this category much so I haven't given it much thought.

But How Do You Actually Organize?

There are literally millions of storage containers out there, and you shouldn't limit yourself to looking at only ones marketed towards sewists; many activities have similar storage requirements. What you should worry about is whether your storage solutions will make it easier to access and store away the items they'll hold (because that's one of the keys to maintaining a method of organization), and whether they'll cause problems for items held within them for a long time (especially in the case of items that you intend to store for long periods of time). The best organizational method is the one that is easier to use and maintain than it is to not use or maintain.

I can't tell you "store this category of item divided up into one container for each size" or "store this category of item all together" because we're all different. For some people, it's stressful to have to sort everything into its own tiny container; for others, it's stressful to have everything thrown together. You'll probably find that for some items you prefer for them to be very sorted, and for others you prefer to do less sorting. The key, I think, is to imagine how you'll approach that category when you're planning to use it, and imagine what it would be like to retrieve it from various storage solutions, and to store away new items in that category. Does that storage solution energize you or do you feel a bit of resistance to the idea of doing things that way?

[lyndsea-learns]

I had a migraine the other day, and the postdrome gave me this whacky burst of energy/lack of impulse control mood (yeah idk, brains are whacky), so I went out and bought a new shelf for my sewing room . . . and some fabric organizers. And the feeling persisted for quite some time, so I actually got shit done instead of bringing the shelving unit home and then leaving it down in the car. No, I actually got it assembled, and that success has gotten me to do further work for the past week (yay!). The sewing room is much improved.

Before:

Current:

The shelving unit has string lights zip tied to most of the shelves for lighting (ran out before the top shelf, so I guess I'll get that one done after Christmas next year--it's not urgent enough to pay more than the 90% off price lol. They actually give decent lighting--I wouldn't want to craft with only string lights as my light source, but for looking on shelves it's good.

I'm still debating on if I can actually put a table (or my treadle sewing machine) into the corner where I have a chair right now. There's definitely *technically* enough room, but I like to have a lot of space around my sewing machine so I'm not sure if it'll work for me. I might be able to fold down the one leaf of the cutting table and move my ironing board in where the leaf is now, and that might give me enough room, with the shelving providing me with the space to store stuff I use while sewing. I won't know until I give it a try, I guess. It's so nice to be an adult and able to rearrange everything however I want whenever I want, with only my ability to move furniture by myself in the way.

The other side of the cutting table looks like this:

(that's not a laundry basket, it's a laundry basket repurposed to be storage for long things). It gives me a nice little triangle of everything I need while folding fabric: cutting (currently folding) table; table with unused boards, clips, label maker, and scissors; and trash can. That's more or less what I need while cutting fabric (except for the items on the table), so I might stick with this layout here.

The fabric organizers are nifty. You can definitely do the same thing for cheaper--the popular option seems to be comic book boards--but I wanted mine to be plastic. The particular ones I got (mini-bolts by Polar Notions) only came as a 50-pack, so now I have a lifetime supply I guess? They're good quality, though the tabs don't do much good and, again, you can achieve the same for cheaper (making sure your solution is acid-free is always recommended, though). I can't recommend the Bolt Buddies from the same company highly enough, though--I love them. I've currently gotten 15 fabrics folded, and have 10-ish to go (I think some of the fabrics are likely too small . . . and knowing me, it's likely that there are more fabrics hidden somewhere). Look how nice they look all folded up! It almost makes me feel like I have an organizational gene somewhere in me.