I think we are all curious about how and where other people work.
When we first built our house in 1982, I had been quilting for two or three years but did not yet have a lot of “stuff.” My sewing was relegated to the dining room table when it was not in use or whatever corner that I could appropriate. I mostly had to take the sewing projects out and put them up out of the way. We were in a much different stage of our lives at that point, and had three bedrooms upstairs filled with kids… four in all. Within the first couple of years of living here, the oldest child left home. Naturally, I quickly appropriated that room even though it did have to double as a guest room. Luckily, that only happened a few times a year. As kids departed for their own homes, I took over the other rooms. Now, I have all three rooms, with one of them still doubling as a guest room but then … it doesn’t get used much. That room has primarily become a storage area for some of my fabric. I also put up my quilt frame in there when hand quilting something.
The smallest of the three rooms is my office and houses my art/quilt book library, computer, desk, files and drafting table. The closet in that room is small walk-in that houses fabrics that I plan to use for dyeing. All of the dyeing and painting is done in my garage, which conveniently connects to my laundry room, complete with a sink right by the door.
It would be nice to have a large studio with contiguous space. For many years my space has been evolving and I am a true believer in the old adage that “necessity is the mother of invention”. Every year or two, I reconfigure the space to conform to my needs and that seems to be working. My husband, Bob, and I have talked about moving into a smaller house with a large studio and if we ever do move, that’s what will happen. For the time being, however, since my three-room configuration is working, I do not feel any pressure to make that leap.
Here is my world, warts and all.
You can see that while there is some order to my space, it is certainly not pristine. I see pictures of other studios and they are so perfect and orderly. That just doesn’t happen with me.
The first two pictures are what you see when you enter the studio.
You will note my cutting table in the center, my sewing machines beyond that and a large design wall. On the far wall I have shelf units sitting on a table that hold my thread and other odds and ends. Also on that table is my Big Board ironing board. The area under all of the tables is used for extra storage. The size of this room is approximately 12’ x 14’.
The next picture is what I see when sitting at my machine.
Shelves hold fabric and the all-important TV. Note the door to the right of the shelves with fabric. That is a 4’ x 6’ walk-in closet that is filled with fabric.
Following that is a picture taken while standing at the first design wall across the room to the second design wall.
I just recently moved shelving units from that wall into the guest room to give myself an extra foot of floor space in the room as well as the additional design wall.
Now, let’s go into the next room to see the fabric that was recently moved into the guest room.
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