WSBN Tour #22 - My Sewing Space

Well, have I got a story for you. I joined the WSBN sewing room tour mid way through, as it just was so much fun looking at the others', I got FOMO and jumped in. With a week to go, I took lots of photos of my incredibly messy space, and wrote a post. But you know what? I kept qualifying and justifying the mess, and after reading Joy's post on Acharmofmagpies (see below) and her ponderings on messiness vs creativity vs productivity in the face of messiness, or lack of it, I realised that I wasn't content to leave it that way, let alone show it that way.
So, today MrC and I got stuck in and transformed it.. It only took us a couple of hours, which given how bad things were was quite amazing. Plenty of trips to the skip to chuck out things we had been hanging onto for years, sorting a pile for donating, things to go to the shop or downstairs, a really thorough vacuum and a cursory dust and here we are.
Presenting my work room. It is 24sqm (about 250 sqft) which is pretty big eh! Spesh since our whole floor space is only about 85sqm. It IS the reason we bought the apartment though. It triples as an office, a work studio and a guest bedroom. Yay!

First up, the costume rack. It is to the right by the top of the stairs as you come up (so the stairs are on the right of the pic, see?) Usually it is draped in a sheet and a quilt, to keep dust and light off it.

And now, turning around and facing into the room from the top of the stairs, we have the office station. My quilt design wall is to the left. The stereo by the printer is essential, for listening to National Radio or books on CD while I am sewing.

Moving into the room, tall stash cupboards - the futon couch for guests in the corner. Up top are patterns, boxes of projects and felt, trims and laces. A pile of books I collated today from various spots around the room. My threads in several boxes. I am tall and it is really easy to hook things down from up there!

The dressmaker's dummy, and a pile of things to go to the Sallies. The alcove formed by the big shelf and this second bank of tall stash cupboards holds a bookcase and a tall laundry basket of rolls of buckram, Vilene, paper, etc. etc. The big shelf holds board games, quilt batting, bedding, books, fabric, tools - so much stuff. Up top of the cupboards is interfacing, more tools and notions and projects.

And here we are, at the business area! Yesterday you couldn't see the wood of that table top for stuff. The tables are arranged like this to make best use of space - the area by the stairs has angled beam coming into the room. It works.

My Bernina 1230 - replacing the 1120 I bought in 1991 that died three years ago. I was so lucky to find this honey on trademe (NZ's ebay) for under $1000 - yup even a 25 year old machine is worth that much. I am looking after this honey, she is going to see me out! Behind are baskets of tools, machine parts, needles etc etc. I love baskets. My angle poise lamp is essential for night work as the overhead lights are not great. Looking past the desk is the costume rack and the stairs

My work table. I use it for cutting small projects but big ones I take to work, or use the kitchen bench. It's  big enough table, just quite low. It's awesome to have it cleared! The lower photo is of the same table yesterday.

The stacker tray behind my chair - my brown frock coat and some mending jobs piled on top. It also got a workover today and now has paper craft things, small gifts and UFOs in it.

And now, stash cupboards. RED things - this cupboard is about heavy fabrics and synthetics. Except the top shelf which holds the most gorgeous cotton voiles I bought recently for this summer.

Another blurry one, sorry! Silks, cottons and other glorious stuff.

The other cupboards - notions in the drawers, fat quarters in boxes, random fabrics in the bottom. The right cupboard is all quilting fabrics.

Under the table is my box and basket of shirt fabrics. And a green container of costume jewelry from my grandmother. The box on the left is for cotton offcuts. This was a mess and a half until this afternoon.

See? A mess.

I am just so happy to have a tidy space. It is a big space and gets messy fast, but now it is set to rights it won't take much to restore it. Nothing we threw out today was sewing related, either.
It's particularly useful as I have TWO big shows coming up to costume, so I need the mental space of a tidy space. I am happy with a lot of stuff and some clutter, I prefer it. But when I can't find things it drives me nuts.
Tomorrow I will do a short post of my other work area, at the shop. In the meantime, here is the list of other posts in the tour. I hope you find or found it as inspiring and motivating as I did!
1st: Gemma at 66 Stitches
2nd: Laura at Laulipopnz
4th: Nikki at NikkiStitches
5th: Juliet at Crazy Gypsy Chronicles
6th: Sandra at SewistStitch
7th: Sophie-Lee at Two Random Words
8th: Kat at Macskakat
9th: Holly at Polycraftual
10th: MaryLouise at Thanks I made this myself
11th: Nina at Ninavirgo
12th: Sandra at FlossieFT
13th: Melissa at The Curous Kiwi
14th: Zara at Off-Grid Chic
15th: Crafty Mermaid
16th: Gillian at Sewing Down Under
17th: Leimomi at The Dreamstress
18th: Teresa at Adventures of a Girl from the Naki
19th: Joy at Acharmofmagpies
20th: Nicola at Silvern Swan
21st: Jenna at Ruby Dust
22nd: Moi!
25th: Elisabeth at The Sewphist

Happy blog hopping everyone! And if we have inspired any of you to get into your pace and sew - be it a tiny corner of your bedroom or a huge mezzanine floor, (I have had both and it never changes my output!) then it was all worth it. And if it makes you feel better about your space, that's good too:)