Sewing Table {DIY}

On a whim, a few weeks ago, I decided I needed to build a new sewing table.

I think I've lived in my house long enough to live in it as it was unpacked, but now I'm seeing where I'd like the changes to happen. This was one of those areas...

I had three sewing machines, all on different surfaces. It was was NOT working. {First world problems!?} It was challenging to find a place to quilt, especially because my dining room table was taken by the moving company to repair damage from our last move and they had it for two months. 

My husband had to go out of town for work and we had some unseasonably warm weather...perfect for building a new table! 

After doing some research, I ended up deciding to construct the Narrow Farmhouse Table by Ana White. It only took a few hours to build...I used my kreg jig + some hidden screws, but it definitely could be constructed other ways. I made my table 1' shorter and my 1x8 boards on the top only measured 7.25" wide, so the table was 29" wide, the height of the table was not changed.

It was unbelievable how quickly this table came together. I dropped by son off at Pre-School at 1pm, headed directly to Lowes, picked up the materials + had some of the wood cut to size (so it would fit inside my Prius!) and was on my way home by 1:40pm. By the time I had to pick up my son at 3:45pm, I had the entire lower portion of the table cut, sanded, and constructed. I put my tools away and worked for maybe an hour assembling the table top supports. I called it a night and the following 

day I constructed the table top, and joined it to the base.

Did I mention it only cost $90, including stain + screws, which I have a TON leftover!

Here is my assistant showing our handy work of just two days!!!

And after some staining on the 3rd day, I was seriously in shock how quickly this table came together. {I can't imagine buying a table ever again knowing how cheap and easy it was to build this!}

Here is the table immediately after my husband and I brought it into the house:

**I should warn you, be certain to wipe the excess stain off the bottom of the table legs {womp-wah!} AND GooGone takes off wet stain from hardwood floors! 

Now, all three sewing machines can fit on one table. While quilting, I can easily store the other machines underneath the table. I would still like to do something with these wires, possibly mount the power strip under the table...

And here is a terrible iPhone picture, but you can at least see the entire table. 

Hard to believe this only took three afternoons to make and for only $90!

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Sewing Room {Organization}

I'm extremely lucky to have a designated sewing/craft area. In general, I'm very messy when it comes to crafts because I hate to clean as I go. Any organization in my sewing room was the way I unpacked the boxes when we moved into the house last May...and things needed some changing.

When I decided to start fresh, the room basically looked like this. {For full disclosure, at this point I had already started to move things around and start stacking and rearranging...}

One thing that I think always needs attention when you work on a room is wires. In general: I HATE WIRES. 

When I started organizing and cleaning in here, the first thing I did was start in a corner, and find a container that would fit everything. This corner happens to be the home of all the wires that come into our house for a modem/router. My sweet friend had given make a gift in this fun basket...now it is the home of all our wires/router and modem!

I love those tiny little electrical zip ties.

I also love shoe organizers. Particularly clear ones {from Walmart} like this:

They aren't just for shoes! I also have a shoe organizer in my pantry, in my son's room and in my hall closet!

I picked up some plastic bins {at Dollar Tree} and created a mailing station for when I send out packages. I hate not having what I need when I need it. Now everything is all together. I love being able to print mailing labels on the Postal Service website, because I hate waiting in long lines at the post office with two children!

I also picked up two additional three-drawer plastic rolling carts. Now all my yarn + knitting supplies have a home...when I'm organizing I like to find a home for all "like" items. So all of my twine is on the top of the hanging shoe organizer, all of the shipping supplies are in the red stacking bins. All of the interfacing and odd sewing items are in the rolling cart on the bottom right. The only thing you cannot see in this picture is that I added labels. Because I hate searching for things. Labels are perfect little reminders of what "like" items are together...no need for searching!

Here are the bins with labels. I also keep baby gifts on hand in plastic bins. I try to keep these very accessible so that I actually give away these items!!

This desk was my Dad's as a child. I now store a paper cutter and cutting supplies here. {My old Silhouette machine is also living in that box on the ground, if you know anyone looking for a used Silhouette machine?!}

The black plastic bin is items I plan on selling at a tag sale...or donating to charity if I never pull the tag sale together.


These black shelves are under $40 each at Target. They are NOT pieces of furniture that hold up well when moving. The one on the left actually separated in the middle and I may replace.

I store all of my fabric on these bins. Plus the craft items I like having easy access to.

I added an additional short shelf and moved the tv into the corner nearest my sewing machines. Now I can easily watch TV and sew. Win!

I keep needles, thread, cutting rules, etc all right there on the floating shelves for easy access while I sew.

And next time I'll show you the new sewing table that I made to fit under the window...so all my sewing machines can live in one place!

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Spring Cleaning: Sewing Room

Although I know I'm jumping the gun on spring cleaning, since it is still winter and all, but I've been on an organization frenzy. Clutter is not my friend...

My sewing room ended up being the catch-all for anything craft/sewing/gift related, as well as being our guest room. It was working, sort of...the closet was out of control. Seriously, I should have taken a picture, no joke it was like a jenga puzzle about to collapse. I started by removing everything from the closet, and then piece by piece putting everything back. It's nice to know where everything is...and to know that I do not need to purchase ANY stationary any time soon.

Starting from scratch always helps me to start organizing. It's amazing what a clean canvas does...my organizing is finished for now, I just need to make a few labels...

I had already labelled my sewing room shelving...I added the green IKEA boxes recently, and still need to finish those labels, but for the most part, I can find everything and think the room has come a looong way.

Fabric storage has always been an issue for me. For a long time I stored my fabric in plastic bins, but there was just never enough space...and it was impossible to actually FIND the fabric...so usually I'd just go buy new...

I ended up using cardstock paper and folding each piece of fabric around the paper...if the fabric was too small to fit on a piece of paper, the fabric ended up in a canvas bin, sorted by color. After I folded all of my fabric (this below picture is before I added all of the fabric from the plastic bins!) I sorted the fabric by color. I swear I found fabric I haven't seen in 5 years!

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