Sharing Our Sewing Spaces – Judith of Judith Stitches

Welcome to the 11th post in our series of “Sharing Our Sewing Spaces”. In this series members of our Facebook Group will be sharing their sewing spaces with us!

Today we have Judith of Judith Stitches, sharing her space with us…….Over to you Judith:

—————————————————————————————————

Hello all! This is my sewing area. Still working on the optimum use of my space, but it is pretty functional right now. Storage is always an issue and I have large rubber totes of fabric all over the house.

First photo shows the top of a china cabinet that I found a few months ago at our church yard sale. Someone else wanted the bottom (that I couldn’t use) and the top was perfect to slide in the closet in my sewing room. I got a fair amount of fabric in it (emptied a couple of totes).

Second photo is just to the right of the closet and shows my ironing area (in front of a bookcase that primarily has sewing books and patterns). I desperately need to find and purchase a sturdier ironing board; one that doesn’t try to tip every time I look at it.

On to the right, under a lovely window, is my cutting table (an old dining table that my sister was getting rid of about 10 years ago). I found some risers that lift it up about 6 inches, making it a great height for cutting. I really want to get a shelf that goes above the cutting table that I can use to store the mess (err, important stuff) that now sits on the end of the table and creeps along the table if I don’t corral it!!

Okay, now you need to turn all the way around and skip over the white cabinet on the left side of the closet and move all the way up to the doorway on the opposite end of the room. You will see a plastic rolling cart (not my favorite, but it works) that keeps bobbins, stablizers and other items that go with my big 6-needle (Brother PR 600 II) embroidery machine. She has millions of stitches on her and has been a workhorse.  I use her a lot around Christmas time and  make lots of free-standing lace ornaments and decorations. I occasionally accept an embroidery job, but use her mostly for just things I want to do.

Still standing the same way and just to the right of the embroidery machine is another fabric storage cabinet. I am sure that I am not the only one who loves to stand and look at all the pretty fabrics, only to realize that what I need for the project right now isn’t in there!!! I found this cabinet years ago, but only recently learned to do these neat folds using a 6” wide ruler (I actually use a narrow cutting). I got twice as much fabric in the same space by folding it all properly, now I am almost OCD about folding my fabrics. I keep fat quarters and other smaller pieces in the plastic boxes.

Now turn your body slightly to the righht and you will see the Brother QC-1000 that I use for most everything. I just got an older Kenmore Model 1304 all metal machine made in 1970 that doesn’t show in these photos. It now sits right behind the Brother QC-1000. I just  got in the bobbin holder that was broken and hope to keep the Kenmore set up to sew vinyl and other heavier fabrics (or any really thick sections of my bags that my Brother complains about).

I designed the set up of cabinets that the Brother sewing machine and computer and serger sit on. They are okay, but never were properly finished so a lot of dust gets in the drawers. They also should have had a wider opening that would allow my chair to slide in closer. A elderly carpenter agreed to make them for me if I came and worked every Saturday. It was a fun process, but our cross-crountry move messed things up a bit. They are all solid cherry and did not like moving from a wet climate to the desert and so they all cracked. All together they create a nice u-shaped working area that is quite efficient if I could ever find the drawer fairy who is supposed to help keep the drawers organized (obviously, that is the next big re-organizing that needs to be done). Over time, strange things crawl in the drawers and with my bag making, I have to rethink what I need where. When I first set it up, the embroidery stuff was my primary focus.

Finally, here is the wonderful cabinet that hangs above my computer area and holds the majority of my embroidery threads. We found it at a sewing convention and few years ago and I love it. It closes neatly to keep all these threads clean and organized.

Well, that’s all for now. Turning on toward the right is the last section of my cabinets that hold a serger (Elna 945) who is ill and needs to go to the doctor, unless I can figure it out. And another drawer cabinet that holds serger thread cones. (The last section is still a disaster zone and was not photographed. She needs to clean clean up her act before getting in the pictures). In all, I designed 7 pieces that make up the u-shaped work area. Three are drawer-only cabinet, three have the space for sitting and one is just a table that completes the corner of the u-shape and holds my printer.

I am blessed to have this nice bedroom with windows on two walls that I can claim for my sewing space. Thanks to Christine for letting me share where I spend the majority of my time.

——————————————————————————————————

Thank you for sharing your space with us Judith. LOVE your space! (I happen to have one of those same ironing boards! LOL) …..Now I can picture not only YOU but where you are sewing when you are busy testing for me in the wee small hours of the morning! 🙂

DO stop by Judith’s blog and see some of Judith’s AWESOME work!

Would YOU like to share your space with us? Please email me christine@chriswdesigns.com for more info.  Anyone sharing their spaces will receive a FREE pattern of choice from my website shop for their trouble! Come on….be BRAVE! 🙂