Working at Home

Here I am in my work at home pajamas. I don't often wear pj's all day but I could. I was keeping these a secret until after my sister's birthday because I made her a silky rayon set with shorts. Next time I work with delicate easily frayed fabrics, I must remember to add extra seam allowance to make french seams or Hong Kong finish. When I do release this it will be the set, pants, shorts and top. I may have to include a tee shirt as an option since the shirt is so bare.
That puts my patterns in process count at 12, I think.  I did get an intern to learn the Cameo digital pattern making software. Unfortunately she is having as hard a time as I did with it. That means my patterns may be hand drawn for a while yet. I would love to find someone who has a real passion for starting a sewing pattern digitizing business and help them get started. Let me know if you know of someone. My intern is still in high school and I could do other things with her. She is not as motivated as I need for the pattern digitizing.
As you can imagine, the process of working up a dozen different patterns has worked me into a standstill in my studio. I just have never been organized enough spatially to keep up will all of the work I can actually juggle. When my cutting table is covered, it is time to stop and regroup.
This Summer has been all about taking time to regroup. My divorce was final on July 2nd. Before you say "I'm sorry," don't. I am happy. It is something I needed and have wanted for a very long time.
I had a great appointment with a professional organizer, and we have a plan. I am looking forward to showing you my newly organized space. The goal is to make it worthy of the cover of Where Women Create. Hopefully, the work we do here getting me organized will inspire you to tweak your space if you need it. I will post progress on Facebook for sure and maybe here too. Friend me over there and like my page so you don't miss anything.
 Meanwhile, my students at Craftsy continue to impress me with their professional looking slipcovers. If you have furniture to cover, I invite you to join us in my online classes and dazzle me. This link is half off my Wingback slipcover class and this one is half off my chairs class that has dining chairs and arm chairs.

One of the many successful student projects from my Craftsy classes

Still Organizing after all these years

I have been designing and sewing as a business since 2006. You would think I was organized by now. But it is a never ending process. I feel like I am finally finding what will work for me. You will be glad to know that my fabric library was free for me to make, it just takes time. For quite a while I kept all of my fabric in bins, organized by color. That required digging for fabric, and it was usually a bit of a mess, but at least I knew it was there. I used what I had sometimes and only ordered something I already had a few times. When I moved the studio out of the house, I took the fabric out of the bins and had it in color arranged piles on a rack. I used what I had more frequently, never re-ordered what I did not need, but it would still get messy.  Now that I am back in the house, I dedicated a small office (10 feet square) to fabric and supplies. Since I have so much fabric, It is my goal to use more than I buy this year. For the last week, I have been getting empty bolts from JoAnn's, cutting them in half and wrapping my fabrics onto them. Mom came for a visit and helped me get started - it really does help me a lot to have a helper. Looking for an intern right now. This is how I want to keep it, always. So far, I have not bought any new fabric to make multiple versions of my newest pattern and I love every one of them. I am carrying the purple one now.  So I did buy new fabric Ari picked some up at IKEA for me and I got in some oil cloth (waxed cotton) to make my new sling back pack bag in a mens version - but the finished bags, 4 of them so far and 2 more on the table, are all done with fabrics I already had. One of the oil cloths is truly purple and that is going to be fantastic. This one shown with the bag face and a flap over the phone pocket is supposed to be red. I can see that it is going to get more red as it ages, so that is going to be cool. I may have to break-in the waxed canvas versions by using them some before I sell them. I cannot tell you how much I love this new bag, it is my favorite casual bag ever. I am moving out of my tablet wristlet in favor of this sling bag. The pattern is up at Etsy and Craftsy. I usually carry it on my shoulder, like a regular shoulder bag. Honestly, a lot of the time, just by the top handle too. It is nice to have the cross body option for having it on a hike or while traveling. Some of my favorite sewists have already got the pattern and I am looking forward to seeing what they do with it.

Before and After Computer Nook Makeover

A quick how-to with links to the materials.  At the new studio, I have a built-in computer nook. My monitor, keyboard, printer and speakers took over the entire desk.  There was no room for a notepad, calculator, phone, etc.  And it was boring. Not allowed! I was going to wallpaper the wall, but I opted for stapling fabric to the wall instead. 2 yards of wide home decor fabric at JoAnn's was less expensive than the paper I wanted (and it will be easier to remove if I move.) To get a nice straight edge at the top, I used a 1/2 inch strip of cardboard (find it in upholstery shops.)  The top edge of fabric is right side to the wall and the cardboard runs along the wall/ceiling edge on the wrong side of fabric. I stapled through the cardboard and fabric to the wall and the fabric comes over the top of that so the staples are hidden.  The sides and bottom are just turned under and stapled. I may get decorative tacks to cover the staples, but I only used a few and they are not noticeable.
The keyboard tray is from Office Depot. You need about a 33" opening to install it according to the instructions. My opening is 30" Just contact me if you have a similar situation and I can tell you how we made it work.  I love it!
The shelves are from Lowes.  You need to cut "x's" in the fabric for installing anchors for the shelf brackets. Move the fabric away from the anchor area to keep your drill from catching on a thread and eating the fabric. (I have no experience with that whatsoever - just guessing that might happen...)
The crate that elevates the printer to give me another storage nook is from Michaels.  I will paint it to match the shelves (in my dreams.)
The chair slipcover is from my easy pattern you can find on Craftsy.

I have been Summer-ized

A year ago, my friend Summer came over for coffee and a chat. Summer is the Costume designer (among other administrative and teaching titles) at Gonzaga University. She is a kindred spirit in terms of her creativity and appreciation for quality, but she has something I don't have- the "O" gene. A year ago Summer offered to help me organize my space to make it work more efficiently. At that time, I really believed that chaos was part of what made my creativity thrive. I turned her down, and she politely accepted that.
I spent the last year working in my 10' by 12' studio, winding it up like a slow motion tornado. I even enjoyed the thought of myself as akin to a natural disaster. (Tempted to analyze that right now - but I won't do it here.) Draw a pattern, cut it out, shove it aside, sew it up, scraps shoved aside - don't throw them away, save them for the crazy quilt! Fabric for the next project was handy - and often, in the way. Lots of fabric, lots of visual stimulation. Almost everything had a place, but I am the only one who could find anything. Sometimes it took me a couple of days to find a specific ruler. If I couldn't find something I really needed, I would buy another. Things that didn't have a proper place got hung on the peg board - jewelry findings, buttons, mirrors, they came packaged to hang in the store, I will hang them too. Then there was the drapery: twill tape draped on the pegboard, spools of chain, ribbons, elastic, a shoe lace, (I am not sure why)luggage tags, zippers. Anything hang able was hung there.
A whole year of making (and making a mess) passed. And then, I couldn't make any more. I began working at the kitchen table. I avoided the studio. I was still producing but not as much as I knew I could if I were organized. I found an empty box of sewing needles, but I could not find a single needle to sew on a button. That was the last straw. Finally, I cried for help. Summer was there for me. She came running and ready to work. Summer is full of practical suggestions and the sensitivity to let them sink in. I told her which piles were important and which hadn't been looked at in the last year. She sent me outside to weed the garden (We agreed it was best if I didn't watch this part.) while she hauled out 6 or 8 big black bags of giveaway and garbage (that is, my imaginary crazy quilt.) I came in, and joined her in going through boxes and being a lot more realistic than ever before in what to keep and what to toss.
We moved my big beautiful dresser out, and went shopping for shelves. It happened to be the first day of an incredible sale at Lowes on this shelving, so I spent about half as much as I had planned. Sweet! We went to lunch.

At lunch we talked about my sewing ADD and how maybe that was caused by over stimulation. Above is the shelving that replaced my big dresser, less stimulating and more efficient. I marveled as Summer told me about sewing more than 300 costumes between September and May. My jaw dropped when she informed me that she has over 800 patterns catalogued and stored neatly in her studio at Gonzaga. I got inspired by her efficiency, her ability and her humility.

Summer's layout of the room is so much better than the "L" shape I was using. I have more room now for everything. Just in case there is anyone reading this who finds they have worked themselves to a standstill, I want to invite you to get Summer-ized. If you are in Spokane, Pullman or in the Seattle area, chances are Summer can schedule something with you - before school starts up again at Gonzaga. I highly recommend her as an organization maven, and not just for sewing rooms. She is working with a local woman on her whole house next week. Summer has all of the right stuff and she knows how to use it. I love how my studio works. Thanks to Summer.

An organized and uncluttered peg board. Small stuff in small drawers and labeled.

My shipping area. I will organize the closet more, but right now, I am really enjoying how well my space works.

Notes to self

If you read my notes from this morning, you will see, blogging is not among them, yet, here I am. Shower is also not on the list, but I better do that if I am going to deliver veges and do a photoshoot. The light is good today, so I must carpe diem. This often happens that as I sip my morning coffee and sit with pen and paper - not my notebook, that would be too easy - a piece of scrap paper - not even a full sheet of paper... I start thinking about a project and go ahead and draw out ideas. Now I am going to have to add this piece of paper to my sewing journal because I will want to reference it as I build the bag. As you can imagine my journal resembles a scrap book - a disorganized, random scrap book. I wrote the notes clockwise, but when I read them, I read counterclockwise. It must have to do with always searching for a new perspective. As you can see from the lack of writers group posts, we have not met in a while, and I have not written. That is on the master to-do list in my head. I hope you find some relaxation when you pop in here to look in on me. I know my random world touches yours through this blog and I appreciate it when you take a minute to post a comment. When Gretchen comment last week, that really touched me.

Small Victory, Still Sweet

I think I just started a poem there with my title. Today I completely cleared off my cutting table and my sewing table. They are both banquet tables by the way. Now I have more room to work. As you can see, I filled up my scrap jar and organized my bobbin threads. My deep thought for the day is: Do something small today. As the drop falls into the bucket, it becomes part of a larger purpose. Now I'll go take a walk, letting the tables enjoy their emptiness before I let loose with my next three bags and an apron or two. (I know I won't even get half of that done today, but I can dream.)