Sunday Sewing Space - Sarah from Fairy Face Designs

This week we have the super talented Sarah from Fairy Face Designs. I'm sure you have all visited her blog and seen the great stuff she has on there but if you are not then definitely head over, there is always loads going on there.
Thanks Sarah for giving us a glimpse into your space, you sound much much more organised than I am and much tidier!
Where is your Sewing Space?
My sewing space doubles as my kitchen table. Oops, maybe I should reverse that statement!! Actually, sometimes it feels like that though :-) I don't have a spare room that I can use for sewing, living in a very modest little house, so my stuff is stashed in a number of places in the kitchen, playroom and living room. I have most of my storage on some shelves in the playroom, and I have a box of handsewing stuff in the living room behind the sofa.
What 3 words do you feel best describes it?
Never enough room
What are your most important things in there?
My sewing machine and my stash of fabric are the most important things in my sewing space. My sewing machine lives permanently on the kitchen table, cunningly disguised by a lovely cover Kirsten made for me last year. We are a 4 person family, and our table is against the wall, so luckily there is plenty of room to leave it there like that. My stash of fabrics is on shelving in the playroom, crammed into various baskets and boxes. It is a bit of a pain pulling fabric as it entails a big tidy up job afterwards, but I wouldn't be without it!




How is the room laid out?
I have a number of *ahem* space saving devices I use in the kitchen to disguise my sewing stuff...... My cutting board and rulers are hidden out of site, under the table. They rest on the seats of the 2 unused chairs against the wall. Keeps them flat and safe. I have an open basket of current WIPs that lives on the table beside the machine as its just too much trouble pulling them in and out. A few little boxes holding thread, zippers, other bits and bobs. My ironing board lives behind the dryer and is taken out every evening. I have a small one from Ikea that I use if I'm working on blocks or something that doesn't require lots of pressing yardage. My UFO box (with my finished quilt tops awaiting quilting and my WIP curtains) and sewing basket live on top of the dryer beside my laundry basket. It's not clear from the pictures, but they are right beside my kitchen table. Usually, I cut, then put away the board, then start to sew. But if I am lazy, I put the board on one end of my table, machine on the other and pile the fabric on the chairs. That's when my hubbie wants to run away, the kitchen ends up covered in fabric.


What sort of sewing machine do you have and how do you feel about it?
I have a Pfaff Expression 2.0 and I love, love, love it! I have it about 18 months now and I love the long throat and the different functions. It needs a service pretty badly now though.
Do you have anything in the room for inspiration?
I have a shelf of crafting books beside my fabric stash and I regularly flick through them for inspiration. The laptop lives on the counter behind the kitchen table, so its easy to access Flickr, Pinterest etc. I keep meaning to hang some mini quilts on the wall over the table, but am conscious that its a family room so I don't want to take over with my stuff more than I already have. Plus I live in hope of converting a corner in the playroom to be my space and would hang them there instead.
Where do you keep your fabric stash and how do you organise it?
It lives in the playroom, up on 2 high shelves. I have a big box for yardage, 2 baskets of FQs and smaller bits, organised into lights and darks. A few scrap baskets. A box with solids and novelty prints. A hat box with precuts, another with ribbons etc. Oh - and then there is the shelf that has batting, interfacing, fleece, minky etc.

Do you have any top tips to do with work spaces?
It is totally possible to carve out space for yourself in a house that is small, if you are clever about storage but it is important to tidy as you go. I am not a tidy person by nature, so its a real challenge to me. But I find it much better to try and keep it under control, rather than when it just starts to jump out at me from the shelves and I find my daughter using fat quarters of precious fabric for doll blankets because they have fallen down onto the floor! Or finding fabric I forgot I bought underneath something else........ Still, I dream of having my own little room for my sewing space, and I am working hard on not feeling envious of people who have a dedicated room they can call their own!
What would your ideal workspace look like?
I saw Alicia Paulson's new sewing room online last year and I have been green with envy ever since. I would just LOVE something like hers, with the light and the space and the storage .....dreaming, dreaming, dreaming!
Thank you so much for sharing this with us Sarah. It's so good to see how people cope with different sized rooms and with sewing in a room that is also used for something else!
Did you notice that mini quilt of Sarah's? I am seriously in love with triangles and that mini is totally gorgeous!