New Sewing Area

I really love the studio that Dave and I created in our home.  There are three large working tables plus a corner unit for baking.  No matter how much space one might have, however, there just never seems to be enough which is a good reason to keeping it tidy and organized.

The only thing missing in our studio was a sewing area.  My sewing machine and serger were basically stored away, under one of the work tables and then pulled out as needed.  I really wanted to use them more so I came up with a plan.  First I had both machines serviced as it had been a while.  Bill at Heather's Fabric Shelf did an awesome job of cleaning and tuning them up and now they just hum and purr.

Next was to create my own sewing area space and so started my search using Pinterest.  If you aren't hooked on Pinterest yet, you do not know what you are missing!  It is such a great way to get all sorts of fun ideas.  If you are looking for some cool ideas to fine tune your studio, you can check out some of my Pinterest boards and follow them if you wish.  I have a board on "Studios" and another on "Getting Organized".  Some of the ideas may not be for a polymer clay type studio but many of the ideas could still be applied.

And so this is where my new sewing area is ...  Taa daa!

That's right ...  believe it or not, it is hidden away in the closet.  And since it is the closet in the studio, it is even handier.  I never thought about it before until I came across a few on Pinterest so started searching closet studios or closet sewing areas further and found so many cool ideas.  So I thought, why not make more use of the space we already have and I love how it turned out and everything just seemed to fit!

Here is my sewing area that fits nicely on the one side.  The desk we had fit perfectly in that space.  We happened to have a piece of pegboard that Dave hung on the wall for me.  My large thread spools for the serger fit on a shelf at the top.  The other important factor with having an area like this is proper lighting.  I managed to easily hook up two Ott lights so the area is nice and bright.  The one Ott light clips onto the corner shelving so it is out of the way.  I've had this light for several years but never liked the way it clipped and always felt it was so awkward but it has finally found a suitable spot.

The other Ott light hangs right on the pegboard!  

The drawer in the desk holds all of my thread so I can easily see all the colors.

Besides all the work area,  I still have the shelves on the side and above for storage. 

So that was just half of the closet and this is what I did with the other side: 

Our photo light box fits inside on some shelving.  I love how it is out of the way and frees up more counter space.  And because I have a power bar in the closet for the lights and sewing machines already, the light box can plug in as well.  Above are fabrics for sewing hung on skirt/pant hangers -- another idea I picked up on Pinterest.  The hanging closet shoe shelf just fits down the one side for storing other items such as more fabric and odds and ends.

So now I not only feel the studio is more organized I have a lot more counter space freed up and I can sew when I want without the hassle of pulling my machines out and setting them up every time.

How to Make a Bracelet Display

One of our stores in town went out of business.  We were sad to see them shut down but on the upside, we managed to purchase their jewelry stand.  It is about 5 feet high with 4 slat wall type panels that revolves.    It will be used to display all our jewelry pieces at the Fireweed Art Studio in Scotch Creek this summer.

    

The slat wall type panels takes the type of pegs used on pegboard.  These work really well for hanging most of our jewelry pieces but we were looking for a way to show off our bracelets on the same stand.  After some serious brainstorming I came up with this bracelet display and I will show you how I did it.

I started with this double hook that is used for pegboard.  You can find them in most hardware stores.

I then found a heavy cardboard tube that I saved from aluminum foil.  It was a little long, so I cut it.

I then marked the center of the tube and where each of the points of the pegboard hook would fit.

Using a hand drill bit (or you could use an electric drill), I made a hole in each of the outside marks, drilling all the way through the opposite side.

I then checked the fit and had to make the holes a little bigger (but not too much) so the hook would fit nice and snug.

I then removed the tube from the hook and wrapped it in some quilt batting.  I glued the batting on marking  where the holes are.

I cut some velvet-like fabric so that it fit around the tube plus a 1/2 inch seam allowance and  about 4 inches wider than the tube (do not cut it as you will see later on why I did this).

With the right side of the fabric inside, I marked where the holes were on the tube and then stitched a 1/2" seam leaving openings where the holes were marked.  On the opposite side, I made little slits with my scissors.  Because this type of fabric will not fray I didn't have to worry about making the holes.  I then turned the fabric so it was right side out.

This is a little trick I came up with to easily insert the batting covered tube into the fabric piece and keeping the holes all lined up.

First wrap the cardboard tube up in a piece of paper.  I just used plain computer paper and folded over one of the edges.  I then lined the folded edge up with the holes on the tube.

The paper makes it easier to slip into the sewn fabric tube and I lined the fold in the paper with the seam so the holes will match up.

Once the tube was inserted and centered inside the fabric, I easily slipped the piece of paper out from between.  I then inserted the hook into the tube through the seam side first.  I still had to wiggle the hook around a bit to find the holes in the cardboard tube but it wasn't too hard as they were lined up fairly close.

 Once the hook was inserted it was easier to poke it out the opposite side.

I just tucked the fabric at each end inside the tube to finish it off.

And now our bracelet display is ready and fits nicely on our display stand.  The bracelets fit fairly snug so they will not fall off when the stand is rotated.  This display could also be used on regular pegboard.  I plan to make another one using different hooks that will fit on our grid wall next.  I will show how that turns out when it is finished.