My Sewing Room

A few years ago, I enclosed my home's back porch. This 9' x 20' space is now my sewing room, and I Iove it! What looks like a wood floor in the photos is actually sheet vinyl. It was nearly as expensive as real wood. When people first step into the sewing room, they often ask what kind of floor it is. They're pretty sure it's not wood, but they don't know what else it could be. It's a lot more realistic looking than the vinyl flooring of the 70's and 80's. I wouldn't mind having this type of floor in some other parts of the house. It's much easier to care for than tile (hooray--no grout to clean), wood, or wood laminate.


Here are the members of my sewing team:

Cutting table

Cutting Table
I drew up some plans for a cutting table and talked my son into putting it together for me. The top is 3/4" plywood that is 7' x 3.5'. The frame is 2 x 4's with a couple of cross beams to keep the legs sturdy. It is equipped with casters, so it can be rolled around. Initially, I covered the top with thin batting and then stretched and stapled canvas to it. Later, I had a handyman glue a piece of Formica to the top. Formica sheets can be found at home centers for less than $20 for a 4' x 8' sheet.


Stick-on measuring tape

I found some sticky tape that has measurements printed on it and added that to the top. I also put a shorter strip of tape on the top of my sewing machine.


Before the Formica was added, I had attached some small plastic bins just under the edge of the table top. They were great for holding different types of pins, chalk, tracing wheel, and scissors. Unfortunately, the handyman added a new Formica apron to the table to cover the raw edge of the wood, so the bins don't fit anymore. I miss the bins, but the Formica top is much nicer for scooting fabrics around. I probably could attach the bins to the table's legs. 

Bottom shelf of cutting table holds bolts of fabric upright

The cutting table has a shelf that holds most of my dressmaker fabric. Here you can see the shelf unloaded when I was re-arranging my stash.

Tall china cabinet has adjustable shelves, stores books
and magazines on top, trimmings and elastic in
drawers.

Storage Cabinet
I have an outcast china cabinet that got moved to the sewing room for lack of a better place to store it. It has become an asset. It keeps patterns and other loose items neatly tucked away.


Organizing
I have a few wire bookshelves--the kind that can stack or not. They hold plastic bins that contain books, interfacing, etc.

Plastic pegboard and thread rack

Jewelry holder used for buttons

I mounted a pegboard on an end wall for items that can be hung. This is a plastic pegboard, hence the white color. It was more expensive than regular pegboard, but I like the white color. Above the pegboard is a thread holder. I also found a hanging jewelry holder, made to hang in a closet, that holds buttons and other fasteners. Pins, needles, bobbins, etc., live in a small plastic cabinet with tiny drawers. I got the cabinet at Lowe's. It's meant to hold screws and nails. I also got a label maker and labeled the drawers. It's too hard to figure out what's in them otherwise. The cabinet sits on the sewing table next to the sewing machine.

Ironing board on table with tailor's ham, seam roll, sleeve boards

Ironing Board
I made a 2' x 4' piece of plywood into an ironing board. The board was purchased pre-cut at Lowe's. I padded it and stapled ironing board fabric to it. Fabric came from JoAnn's. It sits on a table next to my sewing machine. The blank spot next to it is where the iron usually sits. My beautiful Rowenta iron, mentioned in a previous post, has met with an unfortunate demise (dogs knocked it off the table, and it split open). Guess I'll have to start saving up for a new one.

Half price at $99.  Very comfortable!

Chair
I bought a leather chair from Office Depot. They were having a sale, and it is so much more comfortable than my previous chair.


Windows 
This is a corner room, so I have one window on the short wall, and five windows plus an exterior door with a window in the long wall.


Lighting 
The room has overhead fluorescent lights. I know--that throws off color matching, but it really hasn't been a problem. After all, it's the same type of lighting they use in fabric stores. Besides, there is so much light from the windows that I don't use the overhead lights unless I'm sewing at night.


Heating/Cooling 
The room is connected to the central unit that serves the rest of the house. There is also a ceiling fan, although I only run it when all the pattern pieces are put away, or it'll blow them all over the place!


Roommates
The sewing room is also the bedroom for my shelties. There's a dog door next to the exterior door leading to the back yard, and they run in and out all day long. The door that once led to the back porch from the living room now leads to the sewing room, so I can close it and keep the dogs in the sewing room and out of the main house when I have guests who aren't dog lovers (perish the thought!).