Building or Remodeling your quilting/sewing room

[Myra U.]

I know that not all of us are lucky enough to have a dedicated room for quilting or sewing, but there are some of us who are actually getting to design our own room from the very start. I would like to hear from you as to what you have done that pleases you in your room. Also, what you did that turned into a bad choice.
I have a wonderful DH who is having two new rooms built onto our home; one will be our new bedroom, the other (12 feet by 20 feet) will be mine to do with what I please. It is wonderful, but scary! I don't want to mess it up! Please help!

[Alex A.]

When I built mine - I visited lot's of others sew spaces and took what I liked from each one. THEN - I went to an architect. I LOVE my sky lights..........

[Alex A.]

My DH built me a great space several years ago, giving me exactly what I wanted - at the time. And now we're remodeling the space. Lessons that I learned about how I work, and things I'm now doing differently include (1) any horizontal surface will just be an excuse for me to fill it up, rather than put things away where they belong and (2) you can't have too much storage. The solution will be to take out two base cabinets and one short wall cabinet, along with the countertop, and replace them with 2 large, floor-to-ceiling cabinets with doors and shelves. Another lesson learned: having a cutting table (at the proper height for YOU) is crucial, but you might as well design something into the space underneath, or it will be wasted. The new table is built over what used to be a desk (that I no longer used) and has the two side 3-drawer banks and a large, flat center drawer for ruler storage. It also houses a 2-drawer file for pattern storage and a 3-drawer chest for scrap storage. And two final lessons: I really need a design wall, now that I have moved into larger quilts, so I will have one in the new space. And enough lighting (natural and artificial, ambient and task) will make or break a space. Please check my blog from earlier this week for some pictures.

[Alex A.]

Lighting, definitely lighting. When my space was first created I only had one pot-light installed over my sewing table, now I am trying to figure how to add lighting in my basement sewing space.

[Myra U.]

Does anyone know what the best color for the walls is? I think I want a vibrant yellow, but am afraid that it will "influence" all the other colors when I audition them on my design wall. This is only my first question -- as you can see, I'm not far along in my design process! Also, I read somewhere to put wheels with locks on everything you can, so that you can move stuff to fit what you are doing at the time. This is a huge challenge to me; I want to get it right and not have to re-do it!

[Hannelore N.]

The publisher 'Interweave' has a magazine dedicated to studios. You can order back issues from their webside for inspiration and ideas.

And let me add two points to your list:

Flooring that is easy to clean (sweep).

Storage for fabric that is behind doors, in drawers, or behind curtains. Several years ago I visited a quilter who had a beautiful, large, airy studio, and all the fabrics stacked on open shelves looked ver colourful. But a lot of them had faded along the folded edge that was exposed to the light. And they were not in direct sunlight.

The risk of fading may be reduced (or even eliminated) by having semi-transparent blinds on the windows that let through (diffused) light, but not any of the harmful rays. TQS must have members who work in museums and can advise on this.

Personally I would not paint the walls in a bright (or very distinctive) colour, but go gor a light and neutral colour. You can always bring extra life to the room by displaying your quilts on the walls.

Lorchen

[Hannelore N.]

I just finished my 8' x 20' room recently and here are some things I am happy with....

* Lots of lighting - natural if possible but good artificial lighting is helpful too. I have four windows, the door has a window, a long set of track lighting over my design wall, a lighted ceiling fan, and separate lamps where needed.

* Storage - I bought wire drawers to keep my fabric in and keep them underneath my 8' work table hidden by a table skirt to protect them from the sun.

* A sitting area where I can relax and read a magazine or enjoy a cup of tea.

* Lots of outlets - you never know when or where you're going to need to plug something in.

* A large design wall - Mine is behind my work table but is still accessible. My "guys" attached wooden legs to an 8' counter top and then put locking wheels on the bottom.

I have photos available here....

http://www.flickr.com/photos/1098230...7623196081773/

And definitely get "Studios" magazine -- there are some wonderful ideas in there! Good luck to you! Keep us posted!

[Myra U.]

Thanks to Alex, Bridget473, Lorchen, liiddz and MaryRNWI for you replies. They have helped a lot! I looked at the links that Bridget473 posted. Wow! you have a lovely room! I hope that I can do as well. Thanks to those who said that the color needs to be somewhat neutral. I'm sure that I agree. Vibrant colors energize me, but I don't want to make a room that 'disagrees' with the colors in my quilts. Lighting and outlets are no problem; my husband is an electrical engineer and has the 'outlet deficit' problem handled. We have many outlets throughout our home and have never been sorry about any one of them being put in. I don't think I can afford an architect, but would love to consult one. Thanks for the suggestion about the magazine that has studios in it; I will definitely look into finding copies. This will be an adventure! I really am looking forward to being able to design a great space. Thanks to all, once again.

[Myra U.]

Lucky girl! The best thing you can do (and I do this even when I want to rearrange furniture in any room) is to draw your floor plan on gridded paper, to scale. Show where the windows, doors, outlets, overhead lights are. Then draw on gridded paper, to scale, all the furniture you plan to put in the sewing room. Everything you have, and want to have, including your design wall, bulletin board, ironing board, as well as the cat's basket (which you may or not have Cut out the pieces.

Arrange the furniture on the gridded room layout. Rearrange them. You'll see the best lighting (and shadowed) areas, where to put furniture in relation to each other, etc. When you move your stuff into the room, you'll probably change some things around. But doing this method will hopefully keep you from having to change the big things.

Windows are lovely, but you don't want to be looking into the sun while trying to work.

I would draw in a large walk-in closet, lined with wire shelves, to store fabrics, batting, UFOs, etc., so they wouldn't be in the sun, and out where it would look messy.

I currently have two ruler holders on the wall behind my cutting table. I have wire shelves over the cutting table where I can put odds and ends that I need every day, such as odd rulers, wireless speakers, pencil holder, a turning thingie (made to be used in the kitchen for cooking utensils) where I keep my rotary cutters, measuring tape, protractor, q-tips, etc. I have a tiny drawer unit in which I keep large and small safety pins, paper clips, rubber bands).

I have bookshelves for books (!), quilting videos and my tiny TV, one contains baskets that contain tops to be quilted, semi-finished projects, magazines, and those little pretty decorating objects you simply have to display.

Since I can't fit any shelves or drawers under my folding cutting table, I just have baskets and a cute laundry hamper in which I store rolled fusible, freezer paper, interfacing. The large square-up rulers are under there, also.

Along one wall is a small desk that has my computer and printer, that I can reach by just turning my chair from my sewing table, which is in the middle of the room.

Hope all this helps! Brita

[Myra U.]

Cute name! I really like that. Are you a blues fan? I have no particular music that I admire. I'm kind of eclectic. Now back to quilting! . Thank you for those suggestions. The one that my DH gave me, acutally. Then, he is an engineer, so he tends to plan EVERYTHING in detail before he starts. I have drawn the shape on gridded paper -- at least I've got that far The suggestion that I be careful to keep my fabric protected from the light, whether it be the sun or artifical light was especially welcome, as my current room is in the basement and I never had to contend with the sun's harmful rays in relation to fabric before. There are so many things to consider -- that why I said it's scary! I appreciate your answer.

[Myra U.]

You've already received many great suggestions that I would ditto. However, no one mentioned a large cutting table covered with a large cutting mat ( approx. 3' x 8'). This will come in very handy for cutting large pieces of fabric and for sandwiching/basting large quilts. It would be great if you can place your cutting table in the room centered such that you can work from all four sides.

Depending on your personality and family situation, you may prefer to have a private quilting hideaway to be undisturbed while you quilt OR you may prefer to have your space separate without being isolated from the rest of your family. I think this is important to consider when designing your sewing room. In either case, you may want enough separation to be able to keep things out while you have a work in progress, rather than having to pick up the room each time you stop working.

In my sewing room, I like the convenience of having my ironing board hidden and up at all times.

[Diane F.]

I like YELLOW! Most of my walls in my sewing room are yellow and I find it to be cheery. I do have a white ceiling and multiple full spectrum light bulbs in the room (plus two windows).

If your design wall is large and a neutral color that should help to keep from distorting your color perception. If not, you can always repaint the room, right?

[Diane F.]

hurray for you mema1!!

when i set my studio space up my husband custom made my shelving. we took my tallest quilt book (Art Quilts no longer published) and that space became the shelf for all my tall books etc...other shelving is deep enough for the way i fold my fabric....BUT i am still searching for a proper light for over my ironing board; i find it hard to press acurately at night, so yes! lighting is so important
good luck

[Diane F.]

Hi, mema, have you considered having enough space to set up more than one machine ALA Rami Kim? space for a quilter friend to work with you? How about your reference library?

[Myra U.]

I have thought about that, liiddz. I have also thought about a designing desk and spaces for reference books, my computer and even a small 'knook' where I can entertain a friend on a small table with comfy chairs and serve coffee, tea or soft drinks; whatever they desire. I have also thought about how I'm going to have enough room for my husband to work along side me, as he does many times. As I said earlier, I'm going to put casters on everything I can, in order to re-configure my workspace as I need to. The casters will be lockable. I also think I will use 3 banks of flourescent light across the 12 foot width, running all for about 4 feet from both ends. In that space, I will put moveable track lighting, especially over the sewing machines, serger and the long-arm machine and over the design wall. See what I mean about scary?? -- I hope I have room for all the myriad things I already have!! I do know that some of it will have to go on shelves at the bottom of my stairs, just outside my sewing room. We have almost 60 feet (not continuous!) of shelf space there and have recently cleared non-essential off and gave it away or sold it, or threw away those things that were no longer useful (believe me they weren't useful in ANY way! :P ). Thanks to all you have had suggestions for me. You can't know how much I appreciate it. I now have a direction in which to head, thanks to you. You all are the greatest! Quilters are special people, Ive discovered once again.
MEMA1