Making the best of my space - The Mom Cave 2021

Over the past 11 years, I've set my quilting space up in various configurations and bounced from room to room. I've learned a bit about myself along the way. We have a modest sized house and no plans to move until retirement or later - so I've become very creative in terms of utilizing space. The gecko is now 9 years old, and watches me while I work. When Gus moved out, she moved in to my space. I recently raised her tank to make better use of that corner.

I started off in the corner of our bedroom (Old Space) with my back to the bed (and windows) and an ironing board behind me. I decided early on that it is important to me to have a sewing table that the machine can drop down in - and I scoured Craigslist and found this one. While I used it for over 10 years, I was continually bugged by the angle. The machine sits in a corner. The good thing about the design is all the space to the left of the needle, the not so good is that even though I could line myself up directly with the needle, it just bugged me.

After a few years, I moved out of the bedroom into the spare room (New Space). My son and I spent a weekend clearing the back bedroom and moving his room to the back of the house, so that I could have the front bedroom for my sewing/crafting space. He has not forgiven me for this... The sewing space stayed this tidy for about as long as it took to take the picture. Along the way, I upgraded my chair, which provided great lumbar support, and which also drove me nuts because I couldn't adjust the arms and they bumped into both this sewing desk and Molly's desk. Initially, the small bedroom worked - until I added my fabric hutch and Molly (Sweet Sixteen). 

Then the cutting table ended up behind me, which combined with the shelves looming above my left side made me mildly claustrophobic. This table serves as cutting, pressing and basting space. And somehow the guys got in the habit of dumping stuff they didn't know where to put in MY space.

In 2017 or 2018 (time is all running together for me) I enlisted the help of my son to move rooms again. This time, I moved our bedroom to the front room and took over the master suite for my craft space. At last! Breathing room! Nothing looming over me.  Not pictured, against the front wall are Molly and the fabric hutch - and a desk which was supposed to be the technology center which instead became a dumping ground of unsorted fabric and other debris.  The view from my sewing desk included the hall, and for Christmas a few years ago, I asked the guys to set up a media corner for me (Mike funded it and Gus enlisted a friend to install the wall mount for my TV). Gradually stuff built up in corners and along shelves again as items with no other logical home would be dumped in here. During each move I've purged and donated and stored and in spite of it all, I'm still stepping over boxes.

In 2019 I decided it was time to get over my fear of free-motion quilting. So I started to spend 15-20 minutes daily practicing motifs. Also in 2019, we discovered some pretty substantial structural damage due to a slow leak in the hall bath which made our bedroom uninhabitable - a future blog post will tell this story. The short story is that I moved an air mattress into the Mom Cave and essentially blocked my access to ALL sewing spaces for way longer than anticipated. So I spent the remainder of 2019 and much of 2020 focusing on cross stitch and knitting and, as it turns out, building my fabric stash.

2020, as we all know, is when many of us moved to work at home. The sewing desk that drove me crazy while sewing, which I nearly sold during the home renovations, has turned out to be a great corner piece for my home office set-up (which has also bounced from room to room - but that was due to things like tearing out bathrooms and redoing floors). It looks like I'm in this corner for the long haul and the cutting space I envisioned for this area won't happen any time soon - so I still have a cutting/pressing table in the middle of a room - but at least it isn't behind me anymore. Also, in June 2020, Gus moved back home - so instead of being able to set up a corner for scrapbooking and paper crafting in his room - which was to become Mike's office - those supplies are tucked away and taking up valuable fabric real estate.

In order to sew again, I set Bernadette up in the portable sewing table that her previous owners threw in as part of the bargain. It is great for piecing - or for teaching on Zoom as Mike determined while they redid the living room floors. But there is not enough space to the left of the needle to handle the bulk of a quilt. When I was assembling the rows of the Seminole Rag Quilt over the holidays it kept getting caught on the lower part of the table. A neat feature of this particular table is that the table top can flatten out. When it is lifted up to the machine, there is a tongue that sticks out - and apparently likes to grab quilts. I tried setting up a chair to my left to support the weight of the quilt, but that was a decidedly clunky solution.

Also, for a few weeks, there were so many boxes waiting to be unboxed and put away from our renovation, that I was practically sitting in the alcove with our sink while sewing. Thankfully I've tamed some of that beast and can now close the door behind me. I'm still purging, donating, and storing items. And I'm still stepping over boxes! I've resigned myself to moving the big board back and forth on my cutting station, depending on which machine I'm using.

While looking for a small folding table that could be placed in (limited) space, I found an alternative solution.

Thankfully, I have an affinity for IKEA style directions. This company does a better job in terms of packaging and clearly labeling the hardware so there is no guesswork. Given the condition of the outer box, I opened it with some trepidation. 

Within an hour, I assembled the bulk of it with the included Allen wrench and one screw driver.

Gus came home just in time for me to turn it right side up!

And Bernadette nestles happily inside it.  I will need to find my super slider before I start piecing in earnest again so that I don't lose blocks in the gap behind the needle. The placement of the motor prevents me from pushing the machine all the way back to the table.

Sewing the borders onto the Marvel Quilt this weekend affirmed my decision to invest in a new sewing desk. I had some concern about the space to the left of the needle, but it is great. To the right I can now place leader ender bits ready to sew and the shelves below allow me to better organize supplies that I need nearby but not underfoot. Thankfully it slides easily on the new floor as I do need to move the desk out so that I'm not feeling claustrophobic while sewing - but back closer to the shelves when I'm not sewing so that I can easily access the bathroom.

I've blogged about my pressing board in the past (August 2010). I'm still using the board, though I took off the reflective fabric years ago and press directly on a cotton drop cloth over the wool. Years ago it killed my ironing board, so the framing Gus and I built is a bit unnecessary. We may need to brace it a bit though as there is a bit of a warp now that shows up while cutting. Due to the weight of the board, I generally toss a cutting board on top of it rather than remove it from my folding table to cut.

I use this space for a variety of tasks (and try to minimize random items being stacked). While it is 24 inches wide, most work takes place in the first 8 to 10 inches to reduce back strain. That does leave space behind to either stack blocks or to move fabric behind if I'm pressing large lengths. The folding table sits on a double set of bed risers, also to reduce back strain.  I do remove the pressing board when I'm pin basting a large quilt (August 2011). I still use the tabletop method taught by Harriet Hargrave.

So, what is the take home from my rambles? Listen to your body and understand how you react to the furnishings, clutter, and other items around you. I know that I need to not have things loom over me or behind me to be more comfortable. I finally have Bernadette set up to where I'm enjoying sewing on her, without feeling frustrated about quilts dragging over an edge or being stuffed up against a corner. Also, you can create a very functional sewing space in a small place. You just might have to be flexible (and spend some time moving piles of stuff and tools around) to find your groove.

Happy Sewing.