Sewing Room Makeover: The Bad Before

Sooner or later it comes: the day when your sewing room is so crowded and so messy that you can no longer sew in it. My sewing room has reached that stage, and I have been working to reorganize it. Here are the "before" pictures.

My stash is housed in stacking baskets in an alcove which used to be a closet. (The previous owner of this house removed the sliding doors.) It doesn't look that bad because you can't see the bags of fabric on the floor in front of the baskets.

As I step backwards you can see the other stuff that is in front.

Here is its true awfulness revealed. The plastic drawers have casters and can be rolled about. Theoretically, I should be able to move them for easy access to what's behind them. But it doesn't work out that way because there is so much other stuff on the floor.

Now I begin to pan the camera around the room. As you can see, this is also my library annex. The bookcases fill the entire north wall. Most of these books are children's literature, but you'll also find hardcover science fiction, some science books that didn't fit in the library proper, tall picture books, and a few homeschooling materials. On the top of the bookcase is a bolt of batting, some packaged batting and poly fiber-fill, a pillowcase filled with felted wool, and a box of photos. You can also see two of my sewing machines and my serger.

Here's the east wall. There's a six foot banquet table set up in front of the blinds. My Bernina 1530 is in a SewEzi table set at right angles to it, and there's a four foot table behind the SewEzi. I've got some short Ikea bookshelves on the south wall with a bunch of random stuff on them.

The bottom shelves of those bookcases are firmly anchored by the Encyclopedia Britannica and the Catholic Encyclopedia. The other shelves hold my sewing notions, patterns, boxes with works in progress, and some bolts of fabric I got at an amazing sale.

Here's the edge of that bookcase with my hoop, quilting templates, and rulers hanging on the wall. More stuff is piled in the corner. The French doors lead into the living room. (Why is that random chair here?)

Believe it or not, my sewing room spills over into the next room. But this is enough mess for one post, so I'll show you that tomorrow.