For some reason for the last year I've done basically no sewing. I'm not really sure why, I moved house and then as I wasn't sewing much all of my fabric and paraphernalia went into really hard to reach underbed storage which I was really reluctant to access even if I did feel the call of the needle (...wow that sounds a lot less innocent than I thought). I dunno, for whatever reason I didn't really sew anything for a year.
And then! A couple of months ago BAM! I hit sewing hard again. At my peak I was sewing everyday and even after that initial buzz wore off I was still finding multiple times a week to make something. Because my awkward sewing boxes were way too hard to access easily I then got lazy and started leaving projects around the place; whoops. Cue a new storage solution.
When we moved to our new place we suddenly had a bright shiny room to fill. For the first time I have a space which I can dedicate solely to sewing and it has made such a difference. I just find it so inviting to look at; and having everything all laid out and easy to access makes it so much easier to begin a project.
I keep all my fabric in some stacked vegetable crates. Originally I was going to buy some wooden apple crates but was pretty gutted to find that they are mega expensive. Seriously, to get three of this sort of size I was looking at paying upwards of £40 which seemed like a lot to me. I was just starting to look for other storage solutions when I saw a greengrocer dumping a load of these in the bin outside his shop. I went to ask if I could have them and he gave me that "I don't understand you, why do you want my rubbish?" look that you often get when picking things out of people's bins. Any way I took them and they're great. A tiny bit flimsy for really heavy stuff but they suit me just fine and allow me to leaf through my stash fairly easily.
Above my stash I have a little row of hooks where I keep my most used patterns. This has been another move which has made sewing incredibly easy for me; I only really sew one of three patterns regularly and so it made perfect sense to transfer these onto card so I always had quick access to them. If you're doing this make sure to copy how many to cut and what the seam allowance of each piece is. It's all very good to try and make your patterns accessible but that doesn't quite work if you have to go back to the pattern to check a seam allowance every time you want to sew something.
And this baby is my pride and joy; my homemade spool holder. To be honest it makes me smile just looking at it in the day. The colours, the order, the potential; bliss. Under my spools I have some baskets where I keep my needles, extra machine feet and various closures I use.
I somehow managed to contain my excitement while making the holder and so I should hopefully be uploading a tutorial on how to make your own very soon. Stay tuned!
