A Day of RE -- Studio Organization Tips

Yesterday was my annual  'RE' day in the studio....as in REorganizing, REarranging, REvising, REviewing, REevaluating, REfolding, REsearching, REviving, REthinking, REflecting (you get the point). It's something I like to do when I clear out the Christmas decorations and start putting back the regular things I had packed away to make room for Christmas.



My tip for successful organization is to take the time to evaluate how you work/live/play and what you need to do so and then arrange your space and materials in the most productive and pleasing manner for your own personal needs.  A good mantra to adopt when doing this is 'cluttered space = cluttered mind'.

Don't be afraid to remove what you don't use on a regular basis. I'm not saying throw it out (though if you haven't used it for a couple of years you really need to seriously ask yourself if you will ever use this item), just clear it out of your space. Put it all in a box in the attic/basement--and write today's date on that box. After a year (or two),  realize that what's in that box clearly isn't something you need taking up space in your life. Get rid of it! (Donate it, have a yard sale, take the box to your next Guild meeting and write 'Freebies' on it--someone, somewhere wants, and will use and will appreciate what's in that box. Everyone wins.)

What's the worst that happens? You suddenly decide that now you have an immediate and urgent need for that safety pin closer that sat in your studio for 5 years and in the box in the basement for 2? Go buy a new one (and on your way to JoAnn, do yourself a huge favor, and ask yourself if you really do need to buy this item again.)


Face it, we all buy notions that purport to be the next best quilting tool, only to get them home, and try them out and find that they just don't work for our needs. Maybe we prefer to make our HST's the old-fashioned way and not with Thangles....or we're perfectly happy folding our squares in half and stitching and don't need those special tools we bought that are used to draw the fold line and then draw the stitching lines.  It's okay to let them go. Really.

But sometimes, we need/want/collect multiples of notions that we just can't see letting go of...buttons, pins, scissors. Obviously, I have an affinity for marking pencils (among other items). Clearly, I could evaluate this collection gathered from various drawers, tool caddies, baskets throughout the studio and toss out a few, but rather than 'sweat the small stuff', I've repurposed a small storage box and tossed them all together in one place. 

They all fit into my container of choice, so it's okay that I didn't spend an hour testing them out and 'culling the herd'. The next time I'm marking something and find that one of these pencils doesn't erase, or has dried up, or just doesn't show up on fabric, I'll toss it out. In the meantime, when I need to mark something I need to check one space for all of my options. And most importantly, when I'm finished marking, I will put that marker back where I found it.

(While we're on the subject of marking pencils, let me give you a helpful tip regarding the type that contain a liquid ink. Leave them in their original packaging until you are ready to use them. And once you do use them, store them in an air-tight zip storage bag. It will prolong the ink from drying up.)

As you look around your space and think that organizing it would be an overwhelming and impossible task, remember that small steps will get you where you need to go. Empty a drawer, or clear off a closet shelf. 'Cull the herd', so to speak. (Place an empty box in the corner for what's not going back into the studio, along with a trash can for what's not short-term storage/donation worthy) Now evaluate that empty space and decide what will be the best use for it. If it's a drawer in your sewing table, you'll want to use it to store the items you use regularly. If it's a shelf in a dark closet it's a perfect place for fabric--shielding it from light and dust. Gather those items, 'cull the herd', containerize them (a must if they are small and numerous), and place them in their new home. One small step for you to undertake, and a giant leap toward studio organization. 

Stand back and admire your efforts. Tomorrow is another day. Check back for more tips.

Some Inexpensive Studio Furniture Ideas / Necessity is the Mother of Invention

Since Ginny asked about this in a comment to my last post, I'm going to share with you my inexpensive do-it-yourself cutting table.

The base of my table is made up of two shoe cubbies that I purchased at Lowes in their closet organizing department. Turned on end they are the perfect height to set a tabletop on for a cutting table--or an ironing table, or both..

My tabletop is 1/2" plywood that I had cut to approx 30x48 (to accommodate a 24x36 self healing cutting mat and the available space in my own small studio). The wood has been finished with a high gloss white baked on paint (it came from a company that builds convention exhibit booths). The guys at the shop painted the edges for me, but my plan originally was to purchase iron on veneer edging (also available at Lowes) to finish the edges. They used a thick high gloss paint, so the veneering wasn't necessary. Saved me some time and $$$$.

I fold my fabric to fit in the cubbies. Each cubbie holds about 30 stacked  fat quarters, or three folded 4-yard pieces. I've got yardage, FQs, jelly rolls in my cubbies. The cubbies are 12" deep, so you fold your fabric long and narrow for optimum storage. The fabrics aren't in the path of any direct light, and I do cycle through the fabric so it's not in any real danger of fading. When I vacuum my studio, I just vacuum along the stacks as well to keep them dust-free.

My original idea was to make a custom sewing table, with a cut out (suspended on L brackets) for my sewing machine, but the shoe cubbies were too short or too tall, depending on how you placed them, so I bought a lovely white trestle desk for the sewing machine and reworked my cubby idea into the cutting table.

Now, I had to purchase a 4'x8' piece of plywood, so the guys also cut me a shelf, and a desktop (so I can still make my suspended machine shelf desk), and I've squirrelled these away in my closet for future use.

On a quest for thread storage that allowed me to separate my threads out by content and color, and keep them protected from light and dust, I picked up these super inexpensive scrapbook drawers half price at Michaels, with an eye on dual purpose.

What you see are 4 3-drawer units that I've stacked two up. And to my surprise, they are the exact height of the base on my trestle desk, so at some point they will become the 'legs' for that desk-size piece of plywood.

The drawers are spacious and hold quite a bit of thread, and I've labeled them by content. As you can see, the spools lie on their sides (though they could stand), and the cone-type spools of embroidery polyester easily stand.

This shot gives you an idea of how much thread you can fit in a single drawer. You can lie 7 large spools, 11 small spools, or 6 Gutermann spools end to end. And you can lay at least 12 rows across the drawer. That's 72 spools of Gutermann per drawer. Totally out of the light, dust free, and multi-functional storage if you use the units as 'legs' for a flat surface on which to iron, sew, Accucut, embroider......you get the point.

Cost for these multi-purpose storage solutions...totally reasonable. I paid around $50 for all four 3-drawer units. They're sturdy, wood laminate, and they stack securely (pegs hold sets together).

The shoe cubbies were a bit more. They are 25 cube Closet Maid laminate organizers, and they sell for $40 each. The 4x8 sheet of finished plywood cost me about $28, so I got 50 cubes of fabric storage and a cutting table for just over $100. (and that also included a desktop; and a shelf for future use).

Don't be afraid to step outside the box and design things that work for you. There's a ton of inexpensive storage and work solutions that will work great in any studio, large or small. You just need to look at existing storage solutions with an eye at repurposing them to fit your own needs.