Last Updated on October 27, 2022
Organizing a Sewing Room on a Budget: Do you want to set up or reorganize your sewing room? In this article, I will explain what you should pay attention to when organizing your sewing room.
How to Organize Sewing Supplies in Small Space
Why don’t people fly like birds? Yes, because they lack wings. So it is in sewing. The flight of fantasy of a home seamstress can be interrupted as soon as it begins. The scarcity of a perfect workstation sometimes ends your sewing journey too soon.
Moreover, you can’t deny the relation between the sewing with the sewing place at your home. Sewing place affects your conveniences of sewing work greatly. Therefore, organizing your sewing place according to your ease is essential. So, today we’re going to share some information about organizing your sewing place at home.
Organizing a Sewing Room on a Budget – How to Do it?
- Your sewing room is a place where you want to spend happy and creative hours with your favorite hobby
- It is even more essential for you to sensibly and well organize your creative space.
- A sturdy table, good lighting, an easy-to-use sewing machine, good organization of accessories, and a comfortable chair are part of an environment that is good for you to work in
Why is a well-equipped sewing area so important? And what do you need for that? What should you be careful when configuring?
When I restructured my sewing room, I recently asked myself these questions. Of course, I didn’t buy anything new. But in advance, I thought about how I can organize my sewing area sensibly and well. What I need and can do without, is important to me.
1. Setting Up the Sewing Room: the Most Important Elements
Of course, everyone has a different amount of space to devote themselves to the most beautiful hobby in the world. Many sew on the kitchen table or in the living room.
Some hobby sewers set up a small sewing corner in the bedroom. Everything okay. You don’t need a separate room to be happy while sewing. But it needs a few elements so that everything is well structured and you have a good sewing flow.
2. The Right Table for Sewing
A stable table is essential when sewing. Why? Because we have a hobby with vibration. Sewing machines and overlocks make tabletops swing and vibrate. This can be very annoying and quickly spoil your desire to sew.
If you are sewing on a sturdy kitchen or living room table: Everything is good. But if you want to buy an extra table for sewing, then you should pay attention to several things.
Material: Wherever possible, you should use natural materials. That is sustainable and protects the environment. Solid wood is ideal for a table. The good thing about a natural and possibly only lightly oiled tabletop: You can sand it down if it is damaged or scratched, re-oil the tabletop, and it is like new again.
In addition, solid wood is pretty heavy and can absorb vibrations well, thanks to its natural structure. I bought this dining table weighing around 46 pounds as a sewing and cutting table. And I can tell you this much: It’s the best table I’ve ever sewn on. At first, I was concerned that I could move the table away for cleaning because it is so massive.
3. Felt Gliders
With felt gliders under the feet, even the heaviest table can easily move. The felt pads also dampen vibrations. Win-win situation
Height: Find a table high enough that you can work on it well.
4. Height-adjustable desk
If you are cutting on the same table that you are sewing on, I recommend an electrically height-adjustable desk with the largest possible tabletop. So you can always adjust the table to your respective working height. It’s back-friendly and a lot more fun!
Size: Whatever you are trying to convince you – size matters! At least at the sewing table.
My Tip: Buy a table that is big enough to just fit into the room. Why? Because if you also like to sew clothes, you need a lot of space to glue, trace, cut, and layout your projects. The work becomes imprecise by constantly moving the fabric blanks back and forth. And over time, that robs you of sewing. I have two tables. One is 70 x 180 cm, and I only use it for sewing, filming, and photography.
I’ve had the table for ages; it’s an old Ikea table made of pine wood, which I occasionally spruce up with chalk paint.
5. Table Plate
The plate is made with a surrounding frame to be nicely stable and does not vibrate. The frame is cut out where I’m sitting.
Note: The greater the distance between the table legs, the more likely it is that the table will vibrate. A-frame glued all-around can significantly reduce this vibration.
My second sewing table is a bit bigger: 200 x 100 cm. I cut it to size, glue patterns, and organize pattern pieces while sewing.
I move the sewing machine or the cutting mat as required. I like working with daylight, making it all the more beautiful that my sewing room has two windows on different sides.
6. Light for Sewing Area: This Is How You Put Your Hobby in the Right Light
Daylight is great – when you have it! In addition, you should illuminate your sewing area well, as your eyes do with some good sewing machine light. I recommend a combination of 3 different light sources.
- Ceiling Light: A normal ceiling light is ideal as an all-purpose light. Look for something quickly, suck it up briefly or clean it up. For this you don’t necessitate a special light. A standard light from the hardware store does the trick here, also as spots that you can align as required.
- Sewing Station Light: A suitable light for working that does not tire your eyes is very important when sewing.
- Good daylight lamp: We recommend a good daylight lamp, which in the best-case scenario, is also energy-saving. For example, an LED-based luminaire. I installed it over both tables so that the whole work area is evenly lightened.
I installed two smaller daylight lamps on the ceiling above my second sewing table. This also ensures uniform lighting here.
Finally, an adjustable lamp is important with which you can illuminate specific areas of the work table.
Great if it’s a daylight lamp with a magnifying glass. When you open it, it’s worth your weight in gold!
“For decoration” I chose a picture and framed it with a fairy light chain. That’s good for you, and I think it looks great.
7. Sewing Chair: This Is the Right Place to Sit!
A comfortable chair that goes well with your table is also important. It is most beneficial if you can modify the seat height. Many sewing fans swear by chairs with armrests; others prefer to work with roller stools with a saddle seat.
Whatever you choose: Make sure that the chair has a firm footing. If it is equipped with castors, make sure that they run smoothly. Everything else annoys me over time.
I have a swivel stool on the cutting table and a swiveling office chair on the sewing table, both from Ikea. My next chair, however, will be a saddle stool with a synthetic leather seat and castors because I find it practical when fabric dust and threads don’t stick to the chair.
8. The Right Sewing Machine for Your Purposes
Of course, the right sewing machine plays a crucial role in setting up your sewing room. If you are setting yourself up, you can think about where to place them most skillfully. And whether you buy an accessory such as a nice, large extension table. I find it extremely practical, especially when the machine is facing the wall.
If you also want to buy such an extension table, make sure to get the model that fits your sewing machine.
Here on the blog, some blog posts are already about buying a sewing machine or finding the right sewing machine for intermediate and advance sewers. You should read it through before you set off and buy a machine.
I did not install the extension table supplied as standard on the Juki to quickly use the free arm function for hemming sleeves.
9. Anti-slip Carpet
To prevent the starter from slipping, I put a small piece of anti-slip carpet underlay. By the way, I do the same with the cutting mats.
If the underlay looks fluffy or nasty, it is simply exchanged for a new blank.
10. Cable organization
One more word about cable organization. The more devices are in use, the more annoying the mess of cables.
You can relax the situation considerably by attaching multiple sockets to a table leg, for example, with adhesive tape or (like me) with a nice gift ribbon. Then you can simply attach an extension cable to the socket, and you will be well supplied with power without constantly tripping over cables.
Important: Ensure that the cables are laid loosely and not kinked; this can lead to short circuits and fires.
#TSS Team
Set Up Sewing Room: Are You Fully Organized?
One aspect that worries many sewing fans is the order in the sewing room. This does not only mean the order on the table but also sufficient storage space. Because one thing is clear: sewing and buying fabrics are two different passions. And mountains of fabric grow faster than you can sew them up.
So stay relaxed; it’s the same for me.
11. Cabinets
Let’s take a look at the topic of storage space first: Here, the whole height of the room is beneficial, and cabinets are installed, which are just about fairly low. So you can put the important things in the front and those you need less often in labeled boxes behind.
12. Boxes
Boxes are your best friends. Organize your accessories thematically, for example, pocket fasteners, decorations, zippers, ribbons, buttons, etc. You just have to keep the right box in your hands.
You can also organize fabrics in boxes. I stack mine by color. And after projects. I also have a box for scraps of cloth. I sort them out once or twice a year, iron them and dispose of what I no longer feel like doing (or what has become too small and fiddly). Iron principle: There is never more than one scrap box.
Everything I always need to have on hand, for example, pins, sewing machine needles to swap, pens, thread, or presser feet, is stored in a small roll container under the cutting table.
13. Magnetic Pincushion
I use the fact that the container is made of metal. This is perfect for my magnetic pincushion. The metal base is especially perfect for my magnetic bowls. So I have everything at hand and don’t have to search long.
- Also, at the start: A few small magnets for picking up needles in between and a large box with fabric clips in different sizes.
- Fabrics and materials that should not be kinked, such as Releda, cork, tetraether, or SnapPap, I store rolled up and tied with jersey noodles or fixed in a basket with elastic bands.
- I have only a few things on the table itself. I think it’s important to have a lot of free space to work. If everything is delivered, it can be very disruptive to the flow. But I still want to have some things at hand, so there is a beautiful brick shape with containers on every table. Inside there are brushes, tweezers, pins, seam rippers, fabric markers, and a piece of Theraband for quick cleaning of the cutting mat.
14. Cloth bag
A little tip for UFOs – that’s what they call unfinished objects. Of course, it also happens to me that I start something and don’t finish sewing. For such occasions, I have a cloth bag in which my UFO can wander. Until I either complete it or reject it.
15. Storing Scissors and Rulers
This point in the setup has been a headache for me for a long time. The solution is very simple! I simply attached chipboard to the wall next to the sewing machine, painted it with chalk paint, and fitted it with nails as needed. My rulers and scissors are now hanging on it neatly and waiting within reach for their grand entrance.
- So nothing fancy and not expensive at all. But therefore, the maximum overview. And you can organize everything just the way you like it. And between us: I just find perforated panels abhorrent.
- However, I recently discovered something in Amazon that could change my opinion about perforated panels: Small organizational aids that can be plugged into the Ikea perforated panel. I think it’s a really good idea. Why didn’t anyone think of it before?
- I find the closable boxes for needles or inserts for bobbins super practical. Or hook-on magnets that are strong enough to hold scissors. Incidentally, this benefits the scissors because the blades of different scissors do not rub against each other and thus become blunt.
- The ruler holders are also very cool. Rulers are often the sewing accessories that are the most annoying when they are flying around.
By the way, you can buy the whole thing individually or as a complete package, according to your own needs. That I didn’t think of it earlier! And when the board is mostly, I just paint it in a new favorite chalk color!
16. Ironing Board
What to do with the ironing board? The ironing board lying around annoys you? Me too! Then I hanged it in an closet on a hook. So it is not only not in the way but also at hand at lightning speed!
17. Keeping Your all Patterns
that is a topic that I have already discussed sufficiently here. I thought. Still, a word about it: Glued garments are often the greatest challenge when storing patterns. My recommendation: get yourself paper patterns. You can fold them up on A4 and archive them in folders.
18. Cutting Mat
We have already talked about tables. Unfortunately, I discovered quite late that there are cutting mats larger than the standard 60 x 90 cm.
That’s why I got myself a 120 x 90 cm XL cutting mat from Amazon for my new sewing table. At just under 72 dollars, it is cheaper than two cutting mats lying next to each other and so much better when cutting the fabrics because there are no annoying cracks.
The second sewing table is a 60 x 90 Snaply cutting mat, which I already recommended in the article on self-healing cutting mats.
Read Also – Best Sewing Machine for Advanced Sewers
I placed cuts of thin anti-slip carpet underlay under both cutting mats so that they are bombproof and secure. This pays off a lot, especially when cutting large pieces of fabric.
A Little Bit Decoration Makes Beautiful the Sewing Area Sensibly
19. Poster or a motivating sewing slogan
Your new sewing station is almost ready; now, only a little something is missing for the eye! For example, a nice poster or a motivating sewing slogan. I already tell you my great Cavallini posters in the bottle gardening instructions, right?
20. Bottle garden
Incidentally, such a bottle garden is also perfect for the sewing room. Feel free to jump over to the instructions with which you can make your bottle garden yourself in no time at all.
21. Plants on the sewing room
A few green plants on the windowsill shouldn’t be missing – at least not for me.
22. Fairy lights
A few fairy lights complete the whole thing and make the sewing room a place where you can not only be creative: in the best case, you feel so comfortable here that you don’t just want to be here to sew.
How to Organize a Personal Sewing Workshop?
For the wrong design of the working corner, sewing can become a constant torment. Deciding to take on a sewing project is a severe step. Well, if the home allows you to do this because there is an unused room. But it requires some preliminary measures.
Again, if you use a sewing machine more than once every half a year for hemming trousers and consider yourself a craftswoman, you must carry out several preparatory works. These actions will increase the level of comfort for the upcoming creativity.
- Perhaps in the room where you are going to cut and then create fashionable clothes, there are hefty wardrobes and sofas. They must be moved, freeing the most illuminated area in the room.
- Set up a table with a sewing machine here. Place a small cabinet of medium size next to it. It will have an overlock. Including another table for cutting fabric would be nice, on which you can iron sewn clothes. Also, take care of the nearest electrical outlet or a good extension cord for several positions.
- Somewhere else, it would be best to stick a lighting lamp, an organizer with threads, and accessories. Taking an office chair on wheels will be useful so you can move from one piece of equipment to another without getting up. Who has a mid-20th century kitchen sideboard?
- Consider yourself lucky – all small accessories will be placed in drawers/compartments, as they were there. Install it close to the main workplace.
- So, gradually in time and killing more than one hour, you have prepared a sewing work corner for yourself.
How to Organize a Sewing Place as a Permanent Sewing Room?
What to do, who has little free space and no opportunity to arrange a permanent sewing room. And what to do, who has little free space and no opportunity to arrange a permanent sewing room?
In this case, after sewing, you will have to arrange all the furniture in its place back. From this, it’s not like sewing – you won’t even want to think about sewing! If you can put up tables and cabinets with the new location of wardrobes and sideboards, there is no possibility of stumbling over them.
Many homemakers adapt transformable furniture for this. A huge table at the end of the session is compactly folded into a small cabinet, and inside there will be shelves for boxes with small things. Here you can store a sewing machine and other equipment for needlework.
An example of this approach is a folding table book. Its tabletop has enough space to work comfortably. In other cases, vertically hinged panels to the wall provide greater freedom. They are a convenient alternative to an ordinary table in the open position, supported from below by a metal leg.
What Equipment are needed for household sewing
Sewing equipment, actively used by home craftswomen, directly affects the configuration of the location of objects in the work area. If one machine is enough for simple sewing, you will require an overlocker and a sewing machine to execute serious orders. These are two additional jobs. The purchase of a carpet lock will help reduce their number. Its functionality supports the possibility of overcasting the edge of the fabric and a flat cover seam in one body.
Electric cutting knives are not particularly in demand. Mechanical disks or ordinary scissors are enough. Processing finished products with a steam generator are good, but there are plenty of classic irons.
Thus, everything you need for a home sewing corner has been collected. The most important thing is missing – a specialized, proprietary universal transformer table for sewing on a sewing machine or overlocker. We add that most of the above can easily fit inside this wonderful design, which is worth talking about in more detail.
The Best Corner Furniture for Household Sewing
By creating a sewing place in the corner of the room, you will conclude that corner furniture is also needed.
- The industry today produces several modifications to sewing tables. Structurally, the product is made as a folding cabinet.
- A bedside table with medium dimensions, in its usual form, takes up a place of 65x45x80 cm and does not betray its purpose in any way.
- A lace napkin can lie on it. And on top of a flower in a vase. But when you want to sew something, the cabinet unfolds up to four times its original size.
- Inside there are already departments for boxes with small things. There are drawers, and plastic pockets are installed on the vertical walls.
- There are larger compartments for the sewing machine and overlocker. A special adjustable mechanism allows you to set the working level of the sewing machine at one level with the table’s surface. The remaining free gaps on the side of the machine are covered with a white plastic overlay.
- On top of the second half of the table, you can install an overlock. If the configuration of the sewing place is a corner, moving from one place to another is unnecessary. First, sewing on a table and then turning around in a chair, you immediately start overlocking. All the little things you need are at arm’s length. Agree. Well, isn’t that convenient?
- In the case of a rectilinear location (elongated along the wall), it is more convenient to use two independent sewing tables, arranged like a bedside table for Chaika sewing machines. You use one with a sewing machine and the other for cutting, overcasting, and ironing. At a price, this furniture is much cheaper than a multifunctional corner. And two separate modules, after finishing the sewing work, are easier to shove in the corners. Fortunately, the wheels under the bottom of the bedside table make this task easier.
Ready to go: your new sewing station is ready!
Did you ready set up? Congratulation! Then you can finally inaugurate your new sewing area. For example, with one of my countless sewing instructions. Or one of the many sewing patterns from The Sewing Stuffs.
Conclusion
A nicely furnished, well-organized sewing area can make such a huge difference. With a well-thought-out facility, you not only do something good for your eyes, your back, and your nerves – you also ensure a relaxed workflow and a creative flow.
However, the catalog of various online stores offers transformable furniture for home creativity at a price slightly higher than the cost of an ordinary folding. But it is easily adjusted to the room’s configuration, functional, and easy to use.
Buying a sewing corner is not a waste of money. It is a long-term investment aimed at facilitating creative work, saving effort, and time and, as a result, creating a good mood from perfectly embodied ideas.
Even if you don’t implement all of the ideas straight away: If a useful helper can move in with you, you will achieve a great improvement, I promise.
Read Also – Mechanical Vs. Electronic Sewing Machine
“I like to turn a piece of string into something that I can wear.” I am dedicated to sharing knowledge on the necessary sewing equipment in The Sewing Stuffs.
