Sewing Space

To start the new year off in the right way, I've had a bit of a reorganising session in my sewing room and I thought I would share it with you. First of all, I know I am incredibly lucky to have a designated craft room/sewing room. I really appreciate having this little corner of our house just for me. It allows me to leave a project halfway through and come back to it later without having to pack everything away. It's also good to have all the sharp pins and needles in one safe place as I have a toddler running around all day! But most importantly, it's a little sanctuary for me to relax and create and I surround myself with things that make me happy such as photos of loved ones and other lovely items that 'Spark Joy' for me.

If you are thinking of creating a little sewing space in your house or if you are just starting out with sewing and are wondering what you will need, here are a few ideas that won't cost the earth but will make your sewing life a bit easier.
1. A decent table. This could be your dining room table or an additional table. I have this one and it is big enough to fit my sewing machine and overlocker. If I need to do some cutting out, I can use our dining room table downstairs but for years and years I did all of my large cutting out on the floor and even now, if I am basting a quilt I do it on the floor.
2. Lighting. You will see I have three lamps! Two of them are daylight lamps from The Daylight Company. My sewing room can be quite dark as the window is small but the main reason I need so many lamps is I do most of my sewing at night. Now I'm not suggesting you need three lamps! But I think one daylight lamp is essential, particularly for hand sewing. You can find them in Hobbycraft but also on Amazon for a reasonable price. ​​

3. Shelves and storage. No doubt that if the sewing bug gets hold of you, you will begin to amass a significant amount of 'stuff'. In my case that's a large fabric stash, plenty of reels of cotton, skeins of embroidery thread, sewing books... the list goes on! You will definitely need a decent organising system for all of your things so you can find them easily. I could talk about organisation all day, so perhaps I will save that for another post! But as you can see, I have a mixture of shelves and drawers and I also use little storage and sewing boxes to store individual projects.
4. Make use of wall space. My sewing room is small so I like to have reels of cotton and the tools I use often to hand by storing them on racks and pegs on the walls. This is a good space saving tip if your area is small and I think it looks pretty too!
5. A comfy chair. If you do a lot of hand sewing, a comfy chair is important. I only just bought mine and previous to getting it I had been sitting on the upright chair I use to sit at my machine. I was finding that sitting this way to do hand sewing was giving me backache and some chest pain so I invested in a comfy chair to alleviate this. If you don't have a comfy chair for hand sewing, sit on your couch or on your bed and make sure your back is supported. Most importantly, take breaks! It is crucial you get up and move around frequently to avoid repetitive strain injuries, cramps and other aches and pains.​​

If you are just at the very beginning of your sewing journey, you really don't need many things to begin. If you want to start with embroidery then all you need is some fabric, a needle, embroidery threads and a pair of scissors. It really is that simple and inexpensive. If you want to begin with English Paper Piecing, all you need is some fabric scraps, a needle, thread, scissors and some paper templates which you can print off for free here. I hope you liked looking around my sewing space, what does yours look like?
Happy Sewing!​