Boxes of pattern pieces, half finished things I had started for myself (nightgown, bra…), boxes of fabric, boxes of knotted elastic, I kept losing things under the pile of nightmare. Finally on Saturday I said enough is enough and I got down to organizing my “studio.”
I got all of my patterns assembled in sleeves into a binder, so now I can actually easily find all of my pattern pieces! No more spending an hour looking for the back pieces to a pair of panties, or a missing bra band.
This is what my elastic supply looked like pre-clean:
And this is how it looks now:
I put all of my sample garments in one drawer, all of my packing supplies in another. All of current collection’s fabrics live in these bins, so I no longer have to run around like crazy looking for “That piece of pink satin that I’m SURE I bought last week…”
And now that my sewing supplies actually have a home, it is so much easier to tidy up after a 3 day long marathon of sewing…
It’s hard when you are juggling a pay-the-bills job + life + a small business. It’s hard to prioritize around birthday parties, bbq’s, and gardening… I sewed until 10:30pm for the last few nights, and have been starting my days at 6:30am, but I’m loving it and I feel so much better having an organized space to work it!
It was totally worth it though to spend most of Saturday morning cleaning through my sewing stuff. Have you ever let your space get this bad? I have to admit, I’m a bit of a free-spirit, live-in-the-moment, carpe-diem sort of person, and when I get going I hate to have to stop to put things away, so I often find my space is filled with half finished projects… I am going to really try from here on out to keep it organized!
11 Comments
Megan
June 5, 2012 at 12:07 pmWhat a mammoth effort! Though it looks absolutely lovely now, and I'm sure it's a much nicer space to spend time in now 🙂
Second Hand Rose
June 5, 2012 at 12:12 pmWow what an amazing transformation! Mine is such a mess too, I think all sewer's go through this! Well done for sorting it! XxxX http://thesecondhandrose.blogspot.co.uk
Natasha
June 5, 2012 at 1:51 pmOh my gosh, this is exactly what my sewing room looked like until last week. We've been living here for nine months already and things just got stacked up in that room to sort out later. I finally got it all organized last week and there's so much more space now. I've gotten so little work done the last few months, because ever time I had a chance, it would take so long just to find everything and clear a space that there wouldn't be much time left to do any work. I decided not to take any photos of how it looked before since it was just too embarrassing.
sarah.e.norwood@gmail.com
June 6, 2012 at 12:25 pmI'm glad I'm not the only one!
Teaka
June 5, 2012 at 2:37 pmHaha wow what a great undertaking and you seemed to have done an awesome job on organizing all your stuff! I have such a small sewing studio and it fills up with stuff so quickly. I have to organize things every night before I go to bed if I want to sew the next day and not trip over things.
I'm having a give away on my blog for a cute tank top. This could be an excellent new addition to your summer wardrobe.
http://www.lifelikehoney.ca/2012/06/honey-line-giveaway.html
Have a lovely Tuesday!
Nic
June 5, 2012 at 5:06 pmI see your messy studio and raise you mine -lol! My husband once commented that it looked like a frat party had taken place in there! :))
Vintage Hippo
June 5, 2012 at 6:27 pmI recently had to do the same thing! My bedroom is my workroom so when I found a stray pin in one of my sheets while I was sleeping, I knew a good organizing spree would have to be done! Great job on yours, everything looks so fantastic. 🙂
Geena Rose
June 5, 2012 at 7:55 pmwhen my space starts to look like this I just convince myself I don't mind because it shows I'm keeping busy! But it definitely is soo much better when you take the time to organize 🙂
http://www.geenarose.blogspot.com
ladykatza
June 6, 2012 at 12:48 amThis is why I'm working on the new shelves/table project with my Dad! My house is smaller than yours and I have FIVE people. Its insane. In fact, my desk pretty much looks like the before picture on a regular basis. And the rest of my house. With two kids and two men its kinda like shoveling the driveway while its still snowing anytime I clean. So mostly I just try to make sure the kitchen/bathrooms are scrubbed good once a week and the floors vacuumed.
fotomarieke
June 6, 2012 at 9:39 amI have an organisation most like yours, but still have days when ik looks like your first picture in this post…………. terrible! Yet it is easier to make things tidy after á period of rage and madness.
Marieke
Marie
June 6, 2012 at 12:19 pmI undertook a similar sort-out this weekend as my sewing space was gettin gout of control! It took forever and I hated doing it, but I feel much more at ease now…hope I can keep it tidy!