I don’t know about you, but my sewing room is pretty much a mess right now and, whether we like it or not, there are roughly 16 weeks until Christmas! With that said, I need to get things in order and organized. Why? It is so much easier to create in an environment where you can access and find everything you need. If not, it becomes a chore and why stitch if it isn’t fun anymore.

What a cool hoop holder!

So, how do you achieve this monumental task? Ten minutes at a time.

“Ten minutes?” you scoff. “It will take days!” Precisely. But 10 minutes once or twice a day seems so much more manageable. And, it often turns into 20 minutes or a half-hour that, over time, makes up the two days that are nearly impossible for you to completely block out of your schedule.

How about this bobbin keeper?

How to get your sewing room ready for the season of making:

·      Bins are in:

Use several empty boxes to sort out everything that is not in its proper place: thread, fabric, stabilizer, etc. You may want to use bins routinely so that if not properly put away, at least recently utilized items are confined to one area.

·      Empty the room:
If it is really bad, remove everything in question from the room and then put it where it belongs. You know, the fabric from your summer excursions, stacks of magazines, bags of notions. Fill in the blank.

·      Sort fabrics:
I generally sort fabric by type – Flannel, fleece, fall, Christmas, etc., and label it. That way, I don’t have to go through the entire collection to find what I need.

·      Box projects:
We all have a number of projects in various stages of finish. Keep components of a project together so that you don’t have to dig to find everything when you get the urge to work on it again.

·      Weed out:
Have items that you know you will probably not use? Give them to a friend, quilt guild, classroom, or charity.

·      Make a list:
This is a good time to inventory your supplies so that you know exactly what needles, threads, stabilizers that you need to replenish. That way you can take advantage of great sales that typically run through the season of making.

What tips to you have for getting your sewing room back on track?

Debbie SewBlest