Oceans of Notions

This is a reposting of a guest post I did on Pink Castle Fabrics as part of their "Oceans of Notions" series back in February. I thought it might be good to post it over here too.

Oceans of Notions

When Megan first asked me to share some of my studio for her Oceans of Notions feature here I was a little nervous. My sewing room is far from what I would expect to see in an inspirational storage and studio feature. Megan assured me they are looking for inspirational ideas that anyone can use so I agreed to share. 

First, I need to tell you that I don't have a finished sewing room. We have been renovating our house for the last 25 years. Yes, you read that right twenty five YEARS. I no longer even notice that half of my sewing room doesn't have a ceiling. A few years ago, we removed the wood wall surface from one corner of my sewing room. In doing so, we discovered a hidden space under the stairs.  

We turned that space into a "queenly place" for my daughter. I let her decorate her room with some of my vintage linens and "tapestries".  She has spent many hours playing in there while I sew.  

I'm sharing this with you to illustrate that my studio is constantly changing. We are moving things and rearranging as the need arises. Now that my daughter is in second grade she doesn't use her queenly place as much but spends a lot of time at her desk which is also in my sewing room. She does homework, artwork, or sews while I work at my computer or on the sewing machine.

With our needs constantly changing I need storage for my sewing notions that can adapt to each incarnation of the room. I like using old items that I may already have to store things in. My collection of ribbons, trims, and rick rack are arranged in an old suitcase.

I keep my threads in an old wooden two drawer thread cabinet that belonged to my mother. Floss and perle cotton are stored in a more modern thread cabinet.

I keep this pin cushion jar right next to my sewing machine. The bottom holds the small safety pins that I use to baste the layers of a quilt together. I drop the open pins in the jar as I quilt and they are ready to use on the next quilt. The top has a pin cushion that holds a couple of "self threading" needles for burying threads as I quilt. The large flower head pins are the ones that my daughter uses when she sews. I like that the weight of the jar holds the cushion in place while I pull out the needles. 

Much of my old sewing notion collection is stored in jars. I have jars and jars of old buttons.

Not all of the sewing notions are housed in my sewing room. This cabinet is in our entry but someday I hope to have a place to hang it in my sewing room. It has some antique sewing items and other goodies behind the glass. The drawers on the right are filled with elastic, beads, buttons, vintage lace, silk ribbon, and special embroidery threads. (Please note the additional jars of buttons and ignore the cracked plaster and old woodstove holes in the wall).

Some of my old sewing items are just for show and are kept in the livingroom in a glass cabinet. Here, you might be able to see a basket of antique needle books and another of antique buttons. The old basket on the left is filled with old wooden spools. Yeah, I have a real weakness for old sewing stuff. Is there a twelve step program for that?

I hope some of these storage ideas can help you keep your sewing notions tamed and easy to find.

edit - With the additon of the Gammill to the sewing room I have made a few changes. The "queenly place" is now a craft storage area. Most of the non quilting craft supplies are housed there and P can get to them easily.

My new design wall is a bit harder to access with the Gammill table in front of it. I did get castors for the Gammill so if I need full access to the design wall, I can roll the table out of the way.

I'm also getting used to the sewing machine facing the wall. I don't really like sewing with my back to the door.