The Little Things

You may find dust in my house, but you will not find the things I love thrown about willy nilly.  I do not love to clean house.  Now once I get started, I love the smell of lemon, pine and almond.  (The key is once I get started.)  What I will do, with my OCD self, is organize and catalog the hell out of stuff.  You should know by because of my swatch cards.  I have spreadsheets that track the contents of my sewing magazines, completed projects and WIP.  My SWAPs are PDF documents; you get the picture.
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What I had been struggling with was a way to organize the small stuff you use frequently in your sewing room.  I looked at sewing baskets and I wasn't happy with what I saw.  I'm so glad I found this tote; it's almost perfect. Because of it's height, it can sit right behind my sewing machine and still be easily accessible.

What I like most, aside from the obvious portability, is the size. The three trays allow for organizing a lot of things. Mine hold sewing machine presser feet, buttons organized by color and fasteners. (My gripe is that although you can divide the trays into 36 compartments each, they don't give you enough dividers to do so.)

The slots on the side hold all of the tools I need easy access to -- five scissors, a seam ripper, thread nippers and sewing gauge. The handles of the scissors tend to turn in ways that keep the lid from closing easily. It takes a little adjusting, but it does close. Because of this, I keep it open during my sewing weekends. I close it during the week.

 

I thought the top compartment could have been organized a bit better, but I'm making do. I added the Sew-Lutions Bobbin & Supply Box. It fits nicely and rounds out the tote's functionality. It sits on top of randomly thrown in pin boxes, a rotary cutter and other misc. items. I'm glad I bought the Bobbin and Supply Box because it gave me the extra dividers I needed for the tote's three trays.

The box is constructed of durable hard plastic. What surprised me was the cheap, flimsy plastic used to for the bobbin tray. It's the same type of plastic used in packaging curling irons and some toys -- the stuff that's hard to cut open and usually scratches you at least twice.

The bobbin tray is poorly designed. The wells that hold the bobbins aren't deep enough. You can easily tip all of the bobbins over. Although the bobbin try sits flush on its own, when you put it in the box, it only sits evenly when the pin strip is toward the back of the box. The tray tilts when you put the pin strip toward the front. This means that you have to reach over bobbins to use the pin strip. Not a good proposition when it's so easy to knock the bobbins over. 

I'm glad I purchased this bobbin box because I needed it to increase the functionality of the tote. Together, it's a great combo. If I didn't have the tote, I would have purchased the plain bobbin box and some type of cup to hold things like marking pens and tracing wheels.

Organizing

I can't do anything that requires a lot of skill when I come home from work; my capacity to concentrate is shot.  Since I couldn't sew tonight (okay morning now), I reorganized and catalogued my fabric stash. Organizing the fabric was no big deal. I kept things in bins by garment. I just reordered the fabric according to sewing priority.

The cataloging was the meaningful part. I've been worried about how I was going to keep track of the fabric care info after a garment was finished. Enter spiral-bound index cards!  When I first saw these, I thought they were so cool.  I'm such a nerd.  Hey, it's been about 20 years since I used an index card. I was impressed by the improvement.

Each side of the cards should have a swatch and some key info.  When adding swatches, make sure you alternate them so that the book won't lopsided.  My first swatch was a pretty 2x2 square. It was cut from scrap fabric.  I was a little stingy when cutting swatches from my real fabric.

I used Deepika's handy form as a guide to know what info needed to be on the card.  I also wrote down any patterns I was considering for the fabric, if the fabric was pre-washed and any notions I needed to complete a particular project. I also noted if the fabric was a favorite.  Things like fiber content I wrote in ink. If I needed thread, I wrote that in pencil.

To make things easier while shopping, I flagged swatches that needed notions with those Post-It tabs.

I love this because the 3x5 cards fit perfectly into my purse.  (And this book helps me work that obsessive thing out.) Here it is with my stash all nicely, and sort of neatly catalogued.

This works for me because my stash has fewer than 100 pieces. If your collection is bigger, you'll need a binder for your cards or you can make multiple books. A great tip on Pattern Review suggested using a CD case. I can't seem to find the link to that post again.

Enjoi.

My Sewing Space

My sewing space is a combined office and sewing room. It's a bit cozy now because I moved into a smaller place last year. What I love is that I can sew while facing a window. My space consists of two glass desks. Not entirely practical, but it works.


I mainly use the desk on the left to make pattern adjustments. I'm learning to cut patterns on it because cutting on the floor is killing my bad knees. It also holds the work in progress while I sew.

The desk on the right is where I sew. It's also where I keep my books and my "To Sew" patterns.

This is Virginia. (I have a habit of naming appliances. My KitchenAid stand mixer is Old Faithful.)

On to the fabric stash and notions. I have five matching storage bins. I'll get more soon. Underneath the left desk are patterns in one bin, fabric for desses in the bottom bin and top/jacket fabric in the top bin.

I got scissor-happy one Saturday a couple of months ago and cut three summer projects. I keep the cut stuff on top of the patterns. Muslin and pattern paper hang out on the floor.

Under the right desk, I have a bin for pants fabric and one for skirt fabric. I'm a big fan of Art Bin Super Satchels. I would like to add one more, the deep model, to the mix. Actually, I think I need two of those. Okay, three.

My rule has kinda sorta been not to buy any more fabric if it wouldn't fit in the appropriate bin. Unless I sew soon, I can't do any more fabric shopping :-( I got caught up Sunday at Hancock. The $1 off value fabrics was a great deal. I picked up some fall plaids and a couple of things for next summer. The chocolate brown I got for pants was $2 a yard. I went into the store to return stuff and get the last Vogue patterns on my wish list. $60 later, I had fabric for five projects and three patterns. And how could I leave without thread? I always get the thread when I buy the fabric.