wouldn't the table be better for a few days? while you eat on tv trays, coffee table etc? order pizza...

I haven't had a place for mine in 20 yrs... haven't sewn in over 20 yrs tho. In my new place I'll have a set up in a back bedroom. it'll be my sewing (if I ever do again), craft, gift wrapping, storage room.

with this counter / table piece in it. I don't want it in the kitchen so decided it'd be great in the back room as a work table.

OH That is a pretty set up desertsteph. We just got home and I will need to feed us in a few minutes because I want to go play Bingo tonight. Heheheheh Then I will get pictures of the final sewing space set up. I need to paint the cutting table white and have the paint to do it and not the time right now. But you will be able to get the idea. I do like to sew and have several projects in the works. Wishing winter had been a few months longer. Ducking out of here.

Chris

That is such a lovely area, desertsteph. I'm partial to white furnishings, and to what looks like bevelled glass in the doors? Do they have curtains on the inside of the glass?
Hmmm, such a set up could be used as a room divider with a passage way on either side.

Come on back now, ya heah, Shades! Did you win anything at bingo tonight?

My DH does love to eat at the table, but we could move the meal time up an hour to sit on the deck for dinner. We had pizza tonight already, since we both worked in the garden all day. The winter did not kill everything but it sure knocked my lovely tropicals back a notch! A good cleaning is doing wonders for it though.

gee, I have so much outside work to do. every yr I say I'll get it done - and don't. we had so much rain this winter that the weeds/brush have gone nuts. it'll be a fire hazard in a few months... bummer.

that's the 'counter' in the k*itchen still. I'm gonna have them take it out because I want my table/chairs in the k*itchen. it'll be great moved into the back room tho. I've got a huge storage cab and want to get another one - one for each side of the window with the counter thing up under the window. I'll have storage then on either side of it for crafts, sewing stuff, computer excess stuff, gifts I buy in advance for kids, gkids etc.
the window thingy is a 'divider' between the k*itchen and the DR/LR. the glass stuff will be covered up with one of my 2 southwestern prints. I think there might be enough room on the side wall of the pantry for the 2nd print to hang.

there's a doorway on either side of it into the DR/LR - and the back side of the kitchen is open to the back hall.

the dogs will be able to run around in circles with those doorways - lol!

There's a lot of light in it - I really like that! the k*itchen has a skylight, the DR/LR is half sliding doors on the back.

OK I be home. No I did not win one game tonight but had a great time and lots of laughs and all for a good cause. Lions Club.

The link is to three pictures of the sewing room. There is a corner picture of the little sewing desk and machine on table beside in case. Below there is a shelf on that table behind lace curtain and the iron is there with spray starch and also another small sewing machine.

Then I have it set up with the long sewing table and it all just fits. Sewing table folds up and slides in on the left of the china cabinet. I will be painting it white soon weather permitting. I bought some of that Krylon paint. Just takes a couple of minutes to set the table up. AND when needed it becomes our dinning room table sitting in front of the couch in the dinning room. With table cloth over it and pulling up the captains chairs it becomes a dinning room set. Double duty in small house is a bonus.

Then there is a picture of the room set up for company. We just had Ray so I left the futon against the wall on one side. But there is just barely room to have it out from the wall enough to walk up both sides if two people come to stay. I am eeekkking out every inch in this room.

The lace swag curtains I just bought today yard sale $1.50 a pair and I bought 4 of them. And there are also some short matching ones I am using in the master bath windows. And some for the kitchen. Had a blast today.

Chris

Here is a link that might be useful: Sewing room.

Had to change the links to the pictures. Better in this album. Sorry for the bother.

Here is a link that might be useful: New link

In the past I had a room to sew in. But my office/art room (which is the master bedroom) can't be used. Use chalk pastels for art and fabric just loves to find what hasn't been cleaned up.

So...I sew in the living room and use the coffee table. You would think my back would hurt, but actually it is fine because I can look down at what is being sewn instead of straight ahead.

Have a new Janome after my 30 yr old machine finally gave up. Losing the Bernina was like letting a friend go. I still don't have the nerve to send it away and one of those clean out situations.

you saw it in the other topic ML but I'll pop it in here too.

This is my sewing nook just off the kitchen, with my sewing cabinet

and here is a pic of the cabinet open

just to the right the doors lead to the sunroom (formerly known as the mudroom ;)) so I do all my cutting out on the 3ft x 5ft table out here now instead of the LR floor which is the only area I had before. I can pull the leaves out of the table on each side and have a 3ft x 7 1/2ft area to work on if I need it.

I guess for most people it wouldnt be ideal but the sewing nook is hidden from the LR so it doesnt look messy, but if Im not going to be starting another sewing project straight away it's nice to close everything up and hide it away while Im working on other things so it allows me to sew even though I dont have a sewing room and all my things are right where I need them when Im ready to sew again.

Trance I totally have sewing cabinet envy. I think this is such a great use of space. someone put a lot of thought into creating that cabinet.

Good Golly Miss Molly. I am going to be using my sEwing r00m BIG TIME!! Look what I just bought.See link. Going to have to decide to make it just the top part of my white curt@ins and remake them or make the whole curtain deal in the shade cloth. I asked him if he can send black and white instead of yellow and white but since I did bid on the yellow and white that will work too.

Now I will have enough to do curt@ins all the way around the front porch AND on the ends. I think I will do it almost down to the deck too. Need to get out my measuring tape and see how much I really have to work with.

OH Boy going to be busy when it arrives. Will put the sewing room to the test!!

Chris

Here is a link that might be useful: Shade Cloth

hi, May I ask why you changed the spelling in the word curt@ins?

Just to keep it from making an annoying link. Notice the underlined links create popups. Seems intrusive to many so many are changing the spelling of words slightly to keep that from happening. There are many trigger words like curtains and kitchen house. Will not change these and see what happens.

Off to work.

Chris

Wow Chris, that is a great price on the shade cloth, and such a pretty color too instead of the boring dark gray I have.

wow shades that's a lot of shade cloth! I cant wait to see what you do with this, you ARE going to be busy hehe

good buy on the shade cloth!

yrs ago I used the LR floor to cut out patterns. that was a bummer with kids and dogs around. usually did it while they were napping or in school - or both!

now IF I ever decide to make something again, the cutting board will go on top of that counter/table thingy I'll be moving from the kitchen into my 'work' room.

Trance, I love your statement, "the sunroom formerly known as the mudroom" ....I cracked up laughing! True enough, things have a way of changing when our attitudes toward them change. So now you have a sunroom. hehehehe....
And your sewing room is very well put together.

Shades, I'm pleased that you found such a good deal on shade cloth. I'd been mentioning making roman shades from the shade cloth that I bought. So far, too much going on to get it done. Now I'm thinking of putting a big strip of it (probably 6 feet wide like yours)on the outside of my two bedroom windows which face west. That area really bakes in the summer. I think inserting a small PVC pipe which is fairly flexible and which can then be skewered with a hurricane tiedown and some bungee cord might give enough that it won't rip the eaves right off the house. Just a seasonal shade, and it would be in the front yard, so I would not want to make it too odd looking from the street.

But I agree, shade cloth is a fantastic product. Mine came from Home Depot, 100 foot roll, and it is 90% shade cloth. I think the 60% would be perfect unlined or lined, some visibility from inside but still not much can be seen from the outside. And boy is it durable!!

"I think this is such a great use of space. someone put a lot of thought into creating that cabinet."

the little cabinet is a great design shades, I really dont know if I could sew in this house without it, the mess would just drive me nuts.

"So now you have a sunroom. hehehehe.... "

haha that was all your doing ML, once I saw your pics I realised this room did have potential, I just never saw it before. when we had that storm it got flooded in there and the ceiling has some fantastic water stains now but we haven't heard boo from the insurance assessor so I dont know what's going to happen with it. Hopefully we might get a new ceiling in there

I was in the antique shop today and came across something that was new to me. Maybe some of you have seen it before. It was called "spool storage". It was about 2' tall and 18" wide.
{{gwi:1382440}}

The sides had a a rolltop doors and more thread was behind them.
{{gwi:1382442}}

The wood was dry and cracked in places, but it still was listed for several hundred dollars (can't remember the price, just that it was a lot).

wow, that's an awesome thread cabinet! I wouldn't pay that much for it tho. but then, I'm poor, don't even sew anymore anyway!

OH that is darling. Out of my price range. Thanks for sending the picture. Never have seen anything like this.

We went to look at a bot to buy today for DH and the lady graciously showed me how she made roman shades for her house. Looked so easy. I am considering doing this with the shade cloth. So excited about this.

Steph I am afraid I will be down on the floor cutting these pieces out too. Oh my aching back.

Need to boogie out of here we are having a HUGE storm. Wind rain lightening. Dogs are freaked kitties freaked.

Laters

I saw these links a while back and am fascinated how they came up with making Roman Shades from Mini blinds. Complete how to for interest.

http://littlegreennotebook.blogspot.com/2009/02/make-shades-out-of-mini-blinds.html

Here is a link that might be useful: Roman shades from Mini blinds

I used to use one of our extra bedrooms as sewing room, but when I got another bedroom set, I had to move my desk and machine. It's in the living room but isn't working out there at all. I'm looking for ideas too.

Emagineer, I checked out your roman blinds using miniblinds links. Gee, I am surprised. I thought they would be using the slats from the blinds, not the skeleton which contains the slats. It is one way to skin a cat I guess.

I was hanging on to a lot of miniblinds whole thing, never realized I could have gotten rid of the slats, kept just the small amount of the cord and header and footers. But now, we've cleaned all that out of the attic and they are gone gone gone. Would you believe that someone snatched them off our trash pile within an hour of putting them out? I usually sort out the metal stuff and the possibly interesting stuff so someone can take them w/o trashing my trash pile. That way, the city will pick it all up without complaining. Boy, there was a lot of yard waste to go this time because we were getting rid of our winter kill plants.

Idie, that antique piece is fascinating. I can almost smell the drawer of my grandma's sewing machine when I look at it. There was a particularly musty smell, and it is still with me after all these years.

I won't be buying anything extra for my sewing station. It will have to be a multipurposed surface for my machine. Especially with us going back and forth north/south, having my machine in a rolling softsided case is best for that. My DH said that this time when we drive north, the car will NOT be filled up with ANYTHING. Hmmmm, I wonder what he means.

Great link Emagineer. Still have not decided what to do with the shade cloth. Roman or just curtains. Use it with the white curtains as an addition or do it all in the stripe. Sigh.

Mini Blinds
Actually on the one how-to they used some slats for "falls" so there would be folds when closed. I'd probably go with this idea....if I ever got to the point sewing Roman Blinds. Which I do love, making one's own is a far better choice. From what is offered now and the cost, most do not have a fold and for me it looks like just a flat blind.

On the other side of using this method, I have an image of my being tied up in string trying to lay the darn stuff out.

"On the other side of using this method, I have an image of my being tied up in string trying to lay the darn stuff out."

My nightmare too and also will they work once I get them done. My biggest problem is deciding if I want to just add the striped shade cloth to the top of the white curtains I made last year so I can still use them as there is lots of good left in them. And this would give me more left over shade cloth for other projects. Hummmmmmmmmmmm One option is to cut those white curtains about in half across and use say 3/4 shade cloth and the last the white as a wide band on bottom. Would give me enough white this way to do curtains all the way around the porch and not just the front as I had them last year. Decisions Decisions. Sigh

Need to start measuring and working it out in my head. I think the white curtains are close to the same width as the shade cloth. Might be rather dreamy with long porch curtains. Than it would not be roman shades as way too much to lift.

Chris

Hi, I'm fortunate enough to have a room to sew in (currently not accessible due to our renos) but I wanted to thank those that have posted for some wonderful ideas! It is so neat that we have this kind of a place to gather ideas that individually we might never have thought of. :)

I have saved the links for the mini blinds - will have to have a go at them at a later date.

Even though I have a 'room' I still cut things out on my kitchen table as the room isn't big enough for that. I have my machine on a very old desk that I sanded and refinished a few years ago. A friend was tired of hauling it around; lucky for us :o), and it looked pretty awful when we got it. It turned out to be quarter sawn oak - really very beautiful now. When I can get in there again, I'll try to take some pics.
~Missy

Since I have been using my sewing room quite a bit and this porch curtain project consists of working with such large pieces. I think I totally lucked out with the way this room came together and the added sewing table really works next to the machine. Also nice to be able to put it away when I do not need it.

Chris

Chris, did you mean to add a LINK?
You are sewing away turning fabric into curtains, like Rumplestilsken making gold out of straw.

DH was covering all his nail holes on the crown molding he built in the bedroom, so I could get back to the curtain project. Maybe I can do a trial hang tomorrow. But I can see that another coat of paint on the crown molding WILL BE NEEDED. So much for prepainting.

ML Not really meant to add a link. Was just commenting on the use of my new sewing room.I posted the curtains on the spring come on thread but will also post it here. One pair is done and moving along. Was gone most of the day today.

Here is a link that might be useful: This picture and next four and I will also add the picture from this morning.