Welcome to where the chaos magic happens.... the sewing room.
This room is considered a "bonus room" because it does not have a window or a closet. It certainly is a bonus to have a room dedicated to my sewing and creating.... it is convenient to leave projects in-process there and not have to clean up after myself, as I used to do when I would sew in my dining room years ago. I also kind of feel like its my girlie room.... the rest of my home decor is an attempt to balance feminine with masculine, but here in the sewing room, its all feminine. Let me show you a few deets....
Here is the view of the door way. And, actually, there is no door. I don't know if that is because its a bonus room or what, but there wasn't a door there when we moved in and that works for me. Sometimes I set up a baby gate in the door way to ensure Calvin doesn't wander in there and start snap-pressing his fingers.
The closed door in the background leads to the guest room, and there is a small bathroom in between them. More on that in a future post.
Above the couch is an inspiration board. Its less inspiration and more a memory holder. Anyone see something that is from you?!
Also, a pair of Susan Sargent scissors hangs above the couch for easy access.
In this room, I am going to move counter clockwise with my photos.... so if you're facing the couch above, turn to the left and you'll see my storage cabinets, ironing surface, various tools and a gallery wall.
The gallery wall is the real reason I did a deep clean and subsequent house tour post for the sewing room... my good friend Jen was visiting last week and did the wall for me. It was a bit hodge podge before, so she took every piece, laid it out on the floor and in probably 15 minutes, had this pretty creation. All of a sudden, the gallery wall made sense. And then Jen hung it all by herself! I love it.
All the pieces are meaningful in some way (nothing is there just for decoration)... the four white-framed cross-stitchings were Christmas gifts, made by my mother-in-law.
Jen pointed out that everything worked together, even though that was relatively unplanned. There were similar color themes throughout all the pieces.
Did you catch some of my favorite tools on the work surface?
I use the typewriter for personal notes or address labels. The greenish-grey industrial-revolution-looking tool to the left of the typewriter is a snap press, for affixing grommets or snaps to garments. It is very gratifying to whack the handle to power the grommets through layers of fabric.
Somehow I didn't get a close up shot of the tall storage unit, but you can see it (with the lamp on top) in the overall shot. It consists of the same units as the others, just stacked three high instead of two. They are from Ikea.
The lamp is from a garage sale years ago. There were two lamps there and, like an idiot, I only bought one.
Some of the random stuff lying next to the lamp ::
Various snaps for the snap press.... I have a small selection of colors, but they work for just about everything I need them for.
Moving on to the sewing table, another garage sale find from my own neighborhood about a year ago. (Again, didn't get a great close up shot, but check out the first photo of this post, and you can see her beautiful curvy legs.)
Machines on the table....(left to right) Janome cover stitch, Brother serger, Bernina sewing machine.
"Hi, Bernina!"
Next to the machine, I keep a magnetic pin cushion and small thread nippers, a gift from my friend Lori.
My sewing chair, yet another garage sale find in Delmar, New York... it belonged to a woman who worked for the state of NY for over forty years. This was her work chair.
Oh also, note the floor.... it is stained concrete. I don't recall the actual color, but the photo above is pretty true to life. We had a basement flood last year, and consequently we ripped all the carpet out and vowed to make the basement less ruin-able if it were to flood again. We like the stained concrete, though it might not be for everyone. Flaws in the concrete are visible, which, to me, gives the floor tons of character. And, it hardly ever looks dirty. :)
In the corner of the room stands a multi-level tower, from Pier One. This was one of many fabulous purchases that my friend Aimee picked out while staging my previous home for sale (which, by the way, sold in the first week... nice work, Aimee). I keep magazines, photos, knick knacks, and sewing machine accessories on the tower.
Close ups of the shelves ::
Hey, see that vertical ruler above? It is an old-fashioned hem ruler, and I bought it at Layla's garage sale last year.
I forgot to mention the art work above the sewing table. I painted it, inspired by a quilt, while participating in a Susan Sargent color class in Vermont in 2007.
Did you notice the garland of clothes pins and photos in the background of this shot?
Nothing spectacular, just wanted a way to display a few special photos that were sort of floating around the sewing room. It is a piece of twine-wrapped wire (I think it might be a type of floral wire) suspended between two nails.
Isn't that sweet little girl in the black and white polka dots so cute?! That's Abby. She is he daughter of Jen, my gallery wall friend. :)
I'll do a post on the insides of the storage cabinets so you can see how I organize the sewing gear. It might not be what you think. Hint: its contained, I know where everything is, but it doesn't look amazing. Ha!
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