The Sewing Studio

I'm not quite as frazzled as this doll looks although I still have lots of work ahead of me to get truly organized. Work on organizing my Sewing Studio is progressing slowly. I seem to be working so slowly because I get sidetracked with other tasks. I did some straightening and organizing of other parts of our home the last few days. Those areas needed it, and I'm glad to have made so much progress elsewhere, but want to continue downstairs now. So this is my task today.

By the way, the doll is from an on-line class I took some time ago from Judi Ward. It is her "Whatever, Whatever" doll. She still needs a face. I have only pinned the head in place for now until I finish the face (in case I mess it up it will be easier to replace). The hair is from one of those scrunchies that was made up of synthetic 'hair' we used to sell at Claire's Boutique years ago when I used to manage one of those stores. I kind of like the 'all over' look of the hair like that. It looks like bed-head when I wake up in the morning. Right now she is just tucked away behind this older Compaq computer watching me as I compute and sew here in my studio. One day I want to set up a better display area for some of my dolls where they can be showcased with more flair. For now she's just a bit shy.

She's holding a stuffed heart filled with sewn-on glass buttons from my old button collection. Years ago I had a sewing machine that stitched out alphabet letters and I sewed up a bunch of fabric strips that said, "I Love Buttons." At that time I made up a lot of these hearts with old buttons and sold them through a craft sale (years ago when the kids were little).

I purchased some of those stiff boards to wrap fabric around similar to like it comes on boards at a fabric shop. The purchased fabric storage boards worked nicely, but seemed a bit expensive selling at $1.69 for each piece. It occurred to me to cut some foam core I had sitting around my studio to the same dimensions to use for this purpose. The foam core might not be acid free because foam core is made of paper card stock mounted to a rigid plastic foam core, but they are sturdy and serve the purpose well. I had a few pieces sitting around, then went out and got more at a discount store. I decided to wrap some of the larger cuts of yardage like a mini fabric store. It is easy to unwrap to cut off chunks of fabric when needed, and makes it super easy to store fabric while being able to see it all on the shelf. In typing this up and looking for links I see there is foam core available that is acid free. I'm sure the kind available at my local discount store is not this variety, but I'm still okay with it. They look so nice lined up on the shelf this way!

I still have quite a bit of fabric folded and stacked on my shelf, but the larger yardages of fabric are easier to work with when they are wrapped around these foam core boards.

In order to wrap the fabric around the boards (which measure 10" x 14") I took the 45" wide yardage that comes already folded in half, folded it in half again along its entire length. This way it fits the 10" x 14" board better for wrapping and is a manageable size to fit the shelf I store it on. This means there is an additional crease the length of the fabric, but I usually press my fabric as I cut and sew my quilts anyway. So far the additional crease has not posed a problem. I would love to have the big, long fabric boards from the fabric store, but do not have the proper space on my shelves to store fabric that way.

A close up of these fabric boards reveals the first in this row is one of the original corrugated plastic boards I purchased (with nice rounded corners). These are entirely made of plastic. The rest of the boards in this row are made of foam core that I cut to size myself. I am completely pleased with my own boards as a slightly less-expensive alternative to the purchased ones. I was able to cut four fabric boards from one large piece of foam core. I considered just using a couple layers of cardboard from salvaged boxes. The cardboard idea would have been cheaper, but it doesn't look as pretty as the white foam core boards, and cardboard is not acid-free either.

While sorting through my stuff I came across this box of strips I started sewing for a strip quilt. These were started before all the rage of the jelly roll quilts and all the new patterns and books we currently see available. I really like those jelly rolls that have 2 1/2" fabric pre-cut for quilts. It makes it so much easier to just get right to the sewing process.

These are some 2 1/2" fabric strips I currently have sitting on my cutting table. I decided I would cut up all my smaller scraps of fabric into this 2 1/2" jelly roll size strip. I love having pre-cut strips ready to sew when I want to just sit down for some sewing relaxation, some sewing therapy!

Studio Re-Organization Progress So Far

I have been busy with the reorganization of the Sewing Studio this week. Here are a few photos showing some of the progress on that front. So far I am pleased with what has been accomplished, but I still have a huge stack of stuff to go through in the other room. The goal for this coming week is to try to get that stack of stuff whittled down to manageable groupings. I originally thought I would put a bunch of stuff in a yard sale, but I am dragging my feet on that idea. I don't really look forward to sitting around out in a yard sale. It just doesn't appeal to me. Maybe I'll divide what I don't want any longer into groups and sell it on-line.

This is another view of the organizing that is done so far. I labeled and sorted small bins with my ribbons, trims and various embellishments. I know I have more of this kind of stuff to sort through this next week. We'll see how much more shortly. Perhaps I'll have to part with some if I don't get it to fit where I want it to go. This shelf is essentially filled.

I love the look of those Aunt Gracie 20s-30s reproduction fabric prints. I purchased this stack of this type of fabric to create a quilt. I want to start working on my idea for this quilt soon. It's been on my mind lately. So once all the sorting and organizing are complete I'll have that move higher up on my list of priorities. The folded fabric below the ribbon-tied stack is in this fabric category. That means there is quite a bit of fabric to work with. My idea involves digitizing some 20s-30s type applique designs using this fabric. I have not started digitizing any of the applique shapes that are in my head yet. I know there will be a butterfly, a flower, a Scottie dog among the designs. These are typical applique shapes for the period. I may have to do a little research to see what else was the rage at that time. I want my designs to fit the period, but be unique from other designs already being used for this type of quilt.

Rested again

I took the time to sleep a little longer today with a nice long afternoon nap. I have not done that in a long time. What a difference if makes to get some extra sleep!

It has been overcast and rainy throughout the day, so this was a good day for a nap. There is a chance of snow in our forecast for tonight, but so far it's just been cool and rainy. The grass has really greened up lately. It still feels too cold to put geraniums in my front step flowerpots. Whenever I come and go I think it won't be long now. I love the look of geraniums in pots on my steps. I'm hoping another week will make enough of a difference for some warmer weather to come in. Those pots sure look vacant without flowers.

Between getting my nap for those extra Zs and the cool rainy weather I haven't taken the dogs out on a walk now for two days. They've had to settle for just spending time outside in our fenced backyard. They don't seem to relish the cool windy, rainy weather very much either. It's just in and out, real quick! The two little ones seem content with staying curled up in their kennels on days like this. But I can tell Ginger is a bit antsy to do something different. She probably wouldn't mind the cold and rain so much if it meant getting out for a walk. We'll see if there's a break in this weather tomorrow; maybe she and I can just get out regardless of the weather.


My Sewing Therapy will have to include getting back to organizing my stash. I still have some sorting and purging to do. This pile is definitely staying.

This is a quick peek at just a tiny portion of my fabric stash. These fat quarters, charm packs (a collection of five-inch squares) and jelly roll are a few of my more recent acquisitions. I just love looking at fabric! All the different colors and patterns available are wonderful. The embroidery sewout tucked underneath the charm packs will be turned into a pillow at some point. It is one of the last things I embroidered before I completely dismantled my sewing studio to re-configure the furniture for more room and to get re-organized.
Here's a look at my new Pfaff Creative Vision. I bought it earlier this year, but have not taken very much time to sew on it yet. It's somewhat annoying actually that I'm not making as much use of it as I would like. It seems my time is stretched among so many things. So I try to sneek in a little time here and there.



I satisfied my need for a tiny bit of Sewing Therapy last night before I went to bed by sewing about a dozen seams on a few quilt blocks. It's a scrap quilt. I've got some scraps sorted by color in a few pull-out drawers. That combined with a tremendous urge to "just sew" lead me to sew for a very short bit. Even if it's 15 minutes a day, I think I'll continue working on this scrap quilt a little each day.


The pattern is from this year's March/April issue of Quiltmaker magazine. There are only three size blocks to cut so it's a pretty simple pattern. I like the scrappy look of it.

Free-Motion can be alot of fun to play around with. This was a test sample for a tote bag. It was something I worked of for a class project I was developing. I thought it was a fairly easy project as a basic totebag. The creative fun was in the free-motion for the front side of the bag.

I did this project a short while back. The flower is hand drawn with Fabrico permanent fabric markers onto plain fabric. It was heat-set with an iron then layered with quilt batting and a piece of backing fabric. The black thread is free-motion stitched to set off features of the flower and other elements in the piece. I left the back side plain as a black and white rendition in reverse. This was actually a fun, freeing sort of thing to do.
To do free motion sewing, put on a darning foot and drop your feed dogs. You are moving the fabric manually since the feed dogs are lowered they cannot move the fabric. This means you can move it in any direction, not just forward and back under the needle. I've done other thread painting pieces that are more fully filled with thread in a variety of colors to create the image. This is much easier with just the black thread. In thread painting you use multiple colors of thread to give depth, details and interest to the work.