The past year plus has proved challenging when it comes to finding places to sew.

As I mentioned in a previous blog, my husband and I sold our house of 30 years last year, June 2018, and I gave up an enormous sewing studio. This is where I used to sew:

We moved to a rental condo with no sewing room. I adapted. The condo had a huge kitchen island for cutting. You can see pictures of how I managed sewing locations in the kitchen, living room, and even the laundry room in that blog about our new creative shirt pattern—EASY & FUN SHIRT OR ARTIST’S SMOCK.

This summer I faced another challenge. Just before I was ready to begin a “marathon” sewing session to prepare for our summer workshops and for Frocktails (an annual not-for-profit community event for Portland, Oregon, area sewists scheduled on a Saturday night in the middle of workshops) we had to move again! Our condo’s owner decided she wanted to live there herself.

So we bought a different condo nearby and moved in within three weeks. Whew! This time I created sewing space in a loft/office. I converted a simple closet to a sewing closet with shelves to hold baskets of sewing supplies, machines, notions, and fabric.

I put machines on a Parsons table next to the closet, making it easy to grab supplies for my sewing marathons.

No large kitchen island—boohoo! But fortunately, the desk I bought last year is a variable-height motorized one, so VOILA! That desk can now be my cutting table.

There is a bathroom on this same floor for water for the iron. Because I had to put my office items on the floor in order to cut, I decided that since I need my computer daily, I’d cut out five garments at once before putting the desk back to office/computer use.

That’s when I discovered I could use the bed for pinning large pieces together. Maybe I should have put the cutting board on my bed to pin this knit pant together! Looks like a mess! Next time!

I used every surface, even stacking the cut garments along the loft railing.

For light, depending on what I am doing, I get close to either a window or a lamp. On a sunny day, the large, tall windows near the loft edge and the skylight over the stairs provide plenty of natural light. On gray days I need to be more creative finding enough light for certain tasks. I started out sewing black pants. I should have waited for a sunny day (not always predictable in Oregon!).

Watch for next week’s blog to see what else I’ve been sewing!

If you need creative ideas for your own sewing space, turn to our book Dream Sewing Spaces. I’ve used it many times for guidance.