100 Backer Boards

Last week I stumbled across a few blogs that dealt with organizing your sewing / craft space. It's almost impossible NOT to get walloped with motivation when you do silly things like that so I put on my thinking cap and made the leap.

Today is day one!  My first step is to get a grip on fabric organization. I bought an IKEA Billy bookcase (the price went down recently!) and some comic book backer boards to wrap my fabric around. The shelves below show 100 boards with pieces of fabric wrapped around each backer board (size 10.5 by 7 inches).  I have already made another run to the comic book store to buy another pack of 100 backer boards.  I should have bought 2 packs while I was there because I still have a ton more fabric left to wrap.

Four large tote bins used to sit where the bookshelf is now and they were cram packed full of fabric and very heavy.  It wasn't fun to try to find what I was looking for so mostly I didn't even try.

I really hesitated to post the following pictures as it's just too embarrassing to showcase all the clutter.  I did want to document befores and afters in the hopes to keep me motivated though. I'm usually a great starter and a horrid finisher.  My room has become unbearable though and I'm hoping to do a thorough job this time.

The next two shots show the area right behind my serger and the little sewing machine that is the cutting table, small shelving unit and lots of crud shoved under the cutting table including lots more bins of fabric.  I buy the .99 cent clear shoe bins that you can get at Target etc. and each bin holds something separate.  I've got bins for batik scraps that I use for crazy quilts and applique, hot fix tool and crystals, felt pieces, lots for fat quarters. You get the picture.  Lots of bins.  Big zip lock bags hold zippers, bias binding, piping and ric rac.  Not fun to sort through those either.  In short, it has been a real hassle to find anything.

The notebooks above the cutting table are filled with color charts for machine embroidery.  They are stuffed to overflowing and right above them is a folder that is bursting with pages that need to be sorted and put into a binder.

There is a twin bed on the far side of the table that is a remnant from when this was a guest room. Snort, guffaw! I like to relax while my embroidery machine is doing it's thing and I also read through patterns and stuff like that here too.  The wooden shelves above the bed are going to be put to better use and I've already started moving the antique books and other things off of them.  It's all a mess at this point.

This week I am going to purchase another bookcase from IKEA to replace that little unit to the right of my serger.  It will JUST fit there but it will hold probably 3 times more and will allow me to cut back on the clutter in this area. Hopefully.

Below is the "always ready" sewing station. I bought this smaller Brother machine to be my secondary machine that is always ready for regular sewing.  For under $200 it is an awesome machine and is loaded with features that you usually don't find on a machine under $500. I am a big fan of Brother machines.  Here also is my Baby Lock Evolve serger.  I have only used the serger feature on this.  It can use 8 threads, threads the loopers with a "puff" of air and does all kinds of fancy things.  It also discolored badly.  I wish machine companies would get a handle on the discoloration thing.  Anyway, this area gets out of hand too.  The shelf above the machines is only about 4 inches wide and will probably get replaced for something more functional.

Below is my Brother 2800 which is a really awesome sewing/embroidery machine. It has a 6x10 max hoop size and lots of neat onscreen editing and sewing and quilting features. Another bonus, it came loaded with cool presser feet.  In the next few months I am buying a small white Arrow sewing table that will fit this big machine so it can be flush with the top of the table when I switch the machine over to regular sewing.  My Stump chair is pulled up to the desk.  The chair is expensive but boy howdy is it comfortable.  The Stump company claims that you will never bottom out when sitting on this chair.  So far so good.

 

Today was day one. I wrapped A LOT of fabric and made a big mess.  As things progress I will post a few more pictures and maybe some links to sites I found that were helpful with my organization.  Till then!