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Major Reorganization

A few days ago, I just got so frustrated with the major mess that is my bedroom. No, I refuse to show before pictures. Let's just say it was bad.

I sorted almost everything out. It was then that I realized that the current space I had for sewing stuff was simply inadequate. I had this:

On the other side of the room, where I had heaped all my sewing stuff I had found while tidying that didn't fit into the shelves or the drawers, I had this:

So much stuff that didn't fit. I knew it was hopeless, so I went to my mother's pile of extra storage boxes (I didn't know she had one, but apparently she does!) and pulled out a bunch of boxes. Then I set myself to the daunting task of sorting that enormous pile of stuff out and deciding what to keep, what to toss, and how to sort out the stuff I was keeping.

Of course, once you spread a giant pile like this out, it looks horrible. Especially since I hadn't vaccumed! But here are the results of my labor:

I am super pleased to say that I got everything sorted into boxes and stored on that shelf you can see in the background of the 3rd picture. But I think there are enough pictures in this post already, so for the final finished project you'll have to wait until tomorrow!

Labor day weekend work!

Well, my sewing table has gotten to be such a disaster I can hardly sew. It's also in the dining room right now, which my mother doesn't like. This weekend, my goal is to fix up my sewing area, including moving it upstairs into my bedroom. And also clean out that hermit crab tank, because my brief stint of hermit crab keeping has taught me that perhaps I am not meant to be a hermit crab keeper!
This is what my sewing table looks like right now. Note the giant pile of stuff stuffed behind the hermit crab tank. That has to go too.

Well!

That was a successful purge! Two days ago I had 55 patterns. Now I have 26.

I had two boxes of fabric. Now I have one. (Ok, all you people with "real" stashes, stop laughing!)

Moreover, almost every piece of fabric I own (I think there are four exceptions) has a specific project attached to it now. Not "this would make a cute dress," but "I'll make this up with X pattern for Y person." This should help me to actually do projects, because the decision making has all been made already.

Now, where to get rid of these supplies? Obviously I could just freecycle them, along with instructions to take the whole box, but I'm hoping to find a way to get them to someone who's likely to use them. Some of the larger fabric pieces are going to a college friend, and some of the scraps are going to a mother I know who will use them to make sachets with her daughters. The other fabric I'll offer to a local children's theater company. As for the patterns, I haven't yet made a decision. Most of them are from the 50s-70s, in fairly bad shape, although complete, with a bust size between 31-34 inches.

Quality over Quantity

When it comes to clothes, I definitely subscribe to the "less is more" camp. I don't believe that that is what's best for everybody, but it's what works for me. I just moved home from college yesterday, and I spent most of Saturday afternoon packing. I could not believe how much stuff I had! I had, for example, 62 books.

On the clothes front, I realized that it was time to be a little more ruthless in clothes purging. I tend to have T-shirts that I don't want to wear, but don't want to toss. In the interests of reducing clothes, I got rid of all my pajama T-shirts, and replaced them with the T-shirts I don't wear. This way I can keep the T-shirts that have sentimental value, but they won't be lying around doing nothing.

The problem with me and clothes is that if I can't see it, I won't wear it. I need to have a small enough wardrobe that I can have a pretty good idea of what's in it, and be easily able to find everything. I would love to hang most of my clothes for better visibility, but as I have no closet at home and only a small one in college, that's not happening any time soon. I see the appeal of having a giant wardrobe to mix and match with, but I can't handle that much clothing. I really can't.

Do you have lots of clothing, or a small amount? Any good organization tips for when storage is extremely limited?

My fabric organization scheme

I told you I would tell you how I keep track of my fabric, and now I will. I have a somewhat odd way to organize my fabric, but I think it is quite practical. Nearly every piece of fabric I own has its own index card. (Exceptions are small scraps and my quilting cottons.)


On this index card is written information I think I will find useful--the type of fabric, how much I have of it, where it came from and when I got it, and pattern ideas I have for it. (You may notice that this fabric, did, in fact, turn into NL 6807.) I also cut out a little bit of the fabric, from the selvage where possible, and glue that to the card.


I have many of these cards. Actually, I'm a bit behind on creating them for my more recent fabric acquisitions--I should really get on that.

Now, why do I have these cards? Why don't I just put my fabric in see-through boxes? It's because I am going to be living on a college campus next year. I don't forsee having space to bring all my fabric, nor do I necessarily want to make a trip back home every time I want a new piece of fabric. This simplifies my life a lot--I can look at my cards, decide what fabric I want, and (here comes the really cool part) give the card to my father, who works at Catholic University. He can take it home with him, and bring me the fabric the next day he comes in! This saves me time and money, as he would travel home and back to work anyway. But it also saves him time, because I don't have to explain to him what piece of fabric I want exactly. He can just match and grab. (My father is hardly clueless when it comes to sewing, but I still doubt that "the checked shirting" would be enough information for him. It certainly wouldn't be for me!)

I have all my cards in a box specially designed for holding index cards. I have little dividers in there, which divide my cards into the three divisions of fancy fabrics, knits, and wovens. In other words, they match the divisions of the actual fabrics.

Fabric storage

Or, finally she posts a picture or two!

I'll admit it--my fabric storage is a mess. In theory, it's organized, but in practice, it's sort of shoved into boxes. I have my fabric separated into four categories. One is wovens suitable for clothes, one is knits, one is quilting cottons, and one is "fancy" fabrics--velvet, lace, and so on.

This is my box of wovens:


Yes, it's a cardboard box. Actually, it's my serger's box! Since I took this picture, I have improved things a little bit. My dressmaker's dummy no longer lives on top of the box. However, I still have everything jammed in the box where I can't see it. (This is not quite as bad as it sounds, and a future post on how I keep track of what fabric I have will explain why.) And yes, it's ugly and impractical.

Here you can see my fancy fabrics, which are the three piles on the left, and my knits, which is the one small pile on the right (with the blue striped fabric on top). This may have to be changed, as I bought 7 more yards of thickish knits (which I still have to photograph and blog about) a few days ago. The striped box on the shelf above is full of my serger cones. And some spare elastic.
This is the box I keep my quilting cottons in. I actually like this storage idea. This is a shoe rack that my mother didn't want. The cottons are roughly sorted by color, and I have some notions in there too, in those purple boxes. I have a jar of empty spools and a jar of buttons there too, as well as a bag of scraps and my sister's knitting needle binder. And my other sister's Mardi Gras beads.
So yes, this is a mess. It's not that well organized, and it really really unattractive. However, I have two severely limiting factors. One is money. The shelves I have are the shelves I've got to work with. The other is space. I forget if I have posted a picture of my bedroom/sewing room, but it is small. Think college dorm room size. I simple haven't room for another shelf or some super-organizer.

That said, if anyone has any ideas, send them my way! These disheveled piles of fabric (because honestly, that's what these are) are starting to weigh down on me.

Threadrot?

Hmm. Over in this post at Like Mother, Like Daughter, Mrs. Lawler mentions that it's not a good idea to keep thread out in the air and light. This is a problem for me! This is my thread storage:


(Don't worry, I actually do have more thread than this. The rack is pretty much full.) I love my thread rack. It's convenient, tidy, and I also think it's adorable!

I have experimented with many different ways of storing thread. I tried the keeping-it-in-a-box thing, and that didn't work. I have a lazy personality. The best way for my stuff to be tidy is if it's easier (or at least not harder) to put things away properly as it is to dump them someplace random. When my thread belonged in a box, it spent all its time on my sewing table. It's truly terrible that I won't get up and walk across my (tiny!) bedroom to put my thread away, but I won't. So the thread rack stays--thread which isn't put away is still being exposed to the air, and this way it looks tidy at least.

Really I suppose what I'm wondering is how much of a problem this even is. After something is finished, it doesn't get kept in a box. I'm torn between thinking that this is a bit of paranoia designed by the Rubbermaid company (ok, just kidding) and thinking that I'm just trying to rationalize my thread rack. I guess it doesn't really matter, since I love my thread rack so much. I've never had any major thread problems, so I'll stick with what I've got. But now I'm curious--how do you store your thread? Had you heard of this problem?

I feel like a ditz

Today I decided to cut out the pattern pieces for New Look 6699. I have waay more fabric than I need, due to the fact that this is a mix and match pattern. Also, when I bought the fabric, there was an extra 8 inches on the bolt, and the lady at the cutting counter asked me if I wanted the end of the bolt for half off. I said sure, figuring it was such lovely fabric I could think of something to do with it. Much to my surprise, this turned out to be a frugal decision--since I bought the end of the bolt, it was all 50% off! And it was already 50% off, since it was on sale. So I got over 3 yards of fabric for about $6.50. Good deal? I think so.

Anyway, I laid out all my pieces and pinned them, only to discover I couldn't find my sewing scissors. I lost the pair that is technically mine a few days ago, so I borrowed my mother's. [If I were my mother, I would not lend things to me.] Somehow, though, I managed to lose those too. I used them Friday night! Where could they have gone in a weekend?! I also don't understand how I lost my own pair in the first place. My room is so small, there's not much place it could have gone. I'm currently cutting out my dress with pinking shears, which has the advantage that I won't have to finish any seams. The disadvantage, of course, is that these shears are old and stiff, and cutting with them makes my hands hurt.

I think this may be a sign from Heaven that it's time to clean my room. Too bad I have gardening, sewing, Bible study, baking, and a possible shopping trip to do today.

Tidy Tuesday

Wow, is it Tuesday already? I think my sewing table is looking a bit better than it was last week:I didn't clean up much at all. I've had a cold this week, so there were some tissues, which I removed, along with some bits of trash. But I didn't do any real cleaning up. (For the record, the water bottle and my cell phone actually do belong there. My sewing table doubles as a bedside table--you can see my bedsheet in the upper left hand corner.)

In the bottom left and bottom right, you can see B's pajamas, patiently waiting for their new thread. Do they sell machine thread at ACMoore?

Tidy Tuesday

I have a terrible time keeping my sewing area tidy. I tend to put things down wherever it is most convenient to put them. Add this to the fact that I have little storage and a small room, and things get crowded and messy quickly. I have decided to post a photo of my sewing table once a week in an effort to motivate me to keep it tidy.

I did not really tidy anything up before I took this picture. Usually, though, my current project is sitting on top of my serger. Since this one is the secret prom dress, I took that off and put it on my bed.

If I feel like tidying my sewing area up before taking a picture, I will do so. After all, the point of this is to motivate me to keep my area clean. I wanted today's photo as a default setting, so to speak.

So, without further ado, my sewing table:


Pretty bad, isn't it? You can see, among other things, my water bottle, my hair brush, a tube of mascara, my mp3 player, a pair of work gloves, a bottle of bubble solution, and a ton of other stuff that even I'm not sure what it is. *sigh* My sewing area really is my weakest point.