Organizing the sewing room

Sewing room mess

My sewing room is a mess.  To be honest it's a very small area with lots of sewing supplies shoved in there and very little to no storage space, so stuff gets piled wherever I can find room.  I've been wanting to organize it for a long time, but every effort I made just seemed to make things worse.

For some time, I've been perusing Pinterest; longing for a bigger sewing room, but that won't happen for a few more years, so I needed to look into craft room organization.  I ran across this great pin about storing fabrics on mini bolts. 

I started by cutting down some cardboard boxes, but decided it would be kind of pain to have to hunt down cardboard every time I bought more fabric. There are items out there made just for this purpose but they can be kind of pricy. After some research I found these acid free boards in packs of 100 for under $20 on Amazon. I bought the magazine size for cuts larger than 1 yard and the 6.75" x 10.5" for cuts under a yard. The smaller ones (I haven't received yet) I'll cut in half for minibolts and they'll be perfect for fat quarters.

Tagged and serged.  This fabric is ready to use

I also needed a way to identify the fabric content, since I buy fabric and might not use it for months or even years; it's imposable to remember if it was cotton, a cotton/poly blend or something else entirely and the percentages of blends. I solved this problem with those DIY business cards you can buy at any office supply store. Each bolt has an attached card that has the fiber content, yardage, and fabric width written on it. And since I can't remember if I pre-washed a fabric I have a system for that too. Before pre-washing, I serge the raw edges to keep them from raveling in the washing machine. So now when I look at my fabric stash, if I see the raw edges are serged, I know it's been washed and ready to use.

I'm still stuck in a tiny space, but once I get my fabrics organized it shouldn't feel so small. Next I need to work on finding a place to store full bolts. Hubby's working on some sort of system to hang them from the ceiling.

Fabric cabinet organized with lots of room to add more, and I still have fabric in bins that need to be organized

The Leprechaun Tree

I was going through some old photos looking for something and I ran across this photo of what we call The Leprechaun Tree.

The Leprechaun Tree on my parents farm

My parents have this tree in the woods behind their house. 

They went for a walk in the woods with my kids when they were little and my dad convinced them that a leprechaun lived in the hole at the base of the tree.  There was even a little fire pit, table made of stone, a bed,  and some treasures inside the hole of the tree. 

Every time the kids went to Grandma's they would ask to go out to the leprechaun tree and see what treasures he had for them.  Sometimes it was little trinkets, sometimes it was chocolate coins.  This went on for a few years until they were old enough to realize it was Grandma & Grandpa who were leaving the leprechaun's gifts for them to find. 

My kids are teenagers now, and don't go out to the leprechaun tree any more, but he's still there.

Sneek peak at what's coming to the shop

This week has been a busy one.  I spend all day Tues taking photos, and working on descriptions for new items coming to the shop.  I'm adding the listings a few at a time so I don't completely flood out the other sellers on Zibbet.

Here's a sneak peak.  Some of these are already in the shop.  Others will be listed soon.  Stop by and take a look and be sure to check out the other great shops at Zibbet while you're there..  zibbet.com/stitch1stitch2 

 

My first craft show; Lessons learned

So I had my first craft show yesterday, and I'm a little disappointed but I'm not looking at it as a failure.  Lets call it a dress rehearsal.

First of all, it wasn't very well advertised.  The show was in conjunction with a school competition and wasn't advertised to the public, but I thought for a $10 entry fee what do I have to lose. The organization of the event wasn't the greatest.  From what I understand the event planer wasn't even sure if the craft show portion was going to happen at all due to all the rules from the school and liability laws.  Also, my booth and about 7 others were put in a room out of the main traffic areas, which cut our visibility in half.  We did get some traffic but there was never a steady stream of people, and I'm not sure if the booths in the main areas did any better because they were packing up early.  Lesson one: Research the event

Stitch 1 Stitch 2 booth

Secondly, it was me.  Although I think my stuff is pretty darn cute, it seems I was targeting the wrong audience.  The show was during a dance competition, so the things that were selling were very girly girl things.  Sequenced headbands & mittens, jewelry, Scentsy and of course any booth that sold food.  I took baby clothes, mittens, totebags, and some key-chain wallets.  I got a lot of "cute stuff, but I don't have babies to buy for anymore" comments.  Lesson two: Target the expected audience.

But it wasn't all a total waste of time.  I did get to make a few new connections, see some people I haven't seen in awhile, and practice setting up and tearing down my booth.  I'm already thinking of what I can do to make improvements for next time.  Being able to accept credit cards would be one, although it wouldn't of done me much good yesterday because those who did; had trouble getting a cell signal.  A tv tray would of made a nice little table to put the cash box behind the display table or even as an extension of the display table to put business cards and my portfolio.  A framed sign with my name and business info would be nice too, so I don't have to print a new one each time and looks more professional than a handwritten one.  And the last thing, when bringing a mannequin for display purposes, don't forget the stand.  I had a baby mannequin I was going to use, but forgot the stand at home so the mannequin was pretty much useless.

Poor Kitty

My poor cat, Puddle, had to have half her tail amputated on Friday, and I feel just awful about it.  I went to start my car, Friday morning and didn't realize she had crawled up under the hood.  When I started the car, she got her tail caught in something, and lets just say it wasn't good. I rushed her to the vet and they confirmed my concern that yes she did have to have an amputation. 

I brought her home after the surgery Friday afternoon, and we gave her lots of cuddles and attention.  Normally she's an outside cat, so the kids (especially my son) are enjoying having her in the house, where she'll need to stay for 2 weeks, while she heals. I'm supprized that for an outside cat, she's doing very well being indoors.  Saturday and Sunday, she seemed content to stay in her carrier, normally we have to force her in there.  We would take her out to feed her and give her meds and when she was done she would go right back to the carrier.  Even with the door open, she choose to stay in there.

By Monday she was a little more social, and came out of the carrier by herself to cuddle, and we let her visit with the dogs out on the porch for a while.  Our other cat, who refuses to come inside no matter what temperature is, is worried about her; she keeps meowing/calling for her.   She's getting little better everyday, and looks kind of funny with that short little tail, but she'll come out of this just fine.

A few new listings

I have 2 new listing in the shop, and I'm working on more.

First one is this Infinity Scarf.  Made from lightweight cotton, it's the perfect accessory for dressing up a t-shirt, and light enough to be worn in warmer temps.

Infinity Scarf by Stitch 1 Stitch 2

The next one is a lightweight, wool scarf.  This scarf is great for staying warm in the winter, but not so bulky that you get overheated.

Wool Scarf by Stitch 1 Stitch 2

You can check out both scarves and my other great handmade items at www.zibbet.com/stitch1stitch2

Getting ready for a craft show

Mittens by Stitch 1 Stitch 2

I'm getting ready to do my first craft show in a few weeks.  I started looking at my shop and noticed I didn't have very much winter stuff.  This is Minnesota after all, where winter lasts for 6 months (or so it seems).  So I got to thinking, what could I make for winter wear that I could make several of in a short time.  The answer, fleece mittens.  I attempted mittens a few years ago, but the pattern and instructions were so confusing and resulted in lots of tears, frustration and only 2 pairs that didn't turn out all that great.  This time I went looking for a much simpler pattern and I found it at FleeceFun.com.  She offers free downloadable patterns in different sizes and easy to follow instructions.


I made a test pair out of some old fleece I had and was a little disappointed that it didn't seem true to size, but that was my mistake because I forgot to change the scale to 100% instead of scaled to fit.  I went back and downloaded the pattern again, this time correctly, and I figure I can use the first pattern for kid's mittens.  I've been very busy the last week and a half cutting, pinning and sewing mittens.

Chicken wire frame from knack.org

Also as I'm getting ready for the craft show, I started reading about craft show tips.  One thing that stuck out for me was displaying things at eye level to draw people in.  I started to think about how I could do that.  I have a table to set thing out on, but how was I going to be able to hang things so people could seem them from a distance?  Then I started looking on pintrest for display ideas and really liked these chicken wire frames.  I started to think about how I could put something like that together.  First I thought about a couple large picture frames hinged together, but I didn't think that would be big enough.  Then I thought about building something out of lumber, but (a) I'm not very mechanically inclined and neither is Hubby and (b) I really didn't want to spend a lot of money on it.

Repurposed closet door

Then one morning as I brainstorming ideas, I remembered the bi-fold closet door that used to be in my daughters room.  The hardware that held it in place broke and the door sat in the basement hallway for years waiting to be thrown out, but the basic frame was still in pretty good shape.  I removed the shutter slats and sanded it down.  I was going to paint it but I liked the distressed look the sanding gave it.  My daughter helped staple the chicken wire to the back of the frame and now I have what I think is a pretty cool looking free standing display all for under $5.

If I ever get my own sewing room this will be a permanent fixture, because I can think of so many other uses for it.