Sunday, August 14, 2011

Paralyzed by clutter

This is one corner of The Sewing Lawyer's rather small sewing room.  It may explain the title:


Specifically, the problem is the bags up top.  They contain my stash of interfacing, silk organza, and batting.  There's also a bag each of biggish scraps of wool coating and fake fur up there.  Every time I need some (say) black fusible, I have to take down two or three bags before I figure out which bag hides the black fusible.  It seems every time I put them back, I cause a slippery plastic bag avalanche.  A bag full of interfacing that falls the metre or so distance from the top shelf to my cutting board is rather inclined simply to give up the ghost and split, spilling its contents everywhere.

Recently I've basically given up putting them away, which means they are on the cutting board, and on the floor.  Too much clutter makes it impossible to sew.  This is not good.

I've had it.  I have the equipment, the supplies and the ability to fix it.  Enter a bolt of sturdy brown canvas (Fabric Flea Market).

A design.  Rudimentary, but it should work.

Heavy canvas "boxes" will not slip and slide on each other.  I hope they sit nicely side by side up top.

They may need some kind of handle too.  I'll work it out as I make the first one.  I have five cut out.

12 comments:

  1. I can't see what you come up with - what I see is a much loved space!

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  2. Oops I meant - I can't WAIT to see what comes next:)

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  3. I, too, become paralyzed by clutter. I dream of a day when I can put all my craft supplies away behind closed doors. I'm not even one for storing things on open shelves. Problem is, if I can't see it, I forget about it. Oh, the dillemma...

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  4. Good for you! I actually had a bit of a racing heart rate when looking at the photo above. Clutter is a trigger for me. Of course, I am retired and can afford the time to clean up, tidy up and organize. When I was working, my room looked chaotic.

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  5. Yikes, I can totally relate! Whatever you do, it has to be an improvement over a pile of bags.

    As for me, I recently bought yet another plastic Sterlite bin at Walmart and killed 2 birds with 1 stone. I was able to put a fabric collection in the new bin and move the old (shallower) one to my walk-in for all the wedge heeled shoes that won't fit on my shoe rack. There are some great specials on that kind of thing with school starting.

    But I do like the idea of canvas. Aesthetically much better than plastic.

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  6. I had the same problem.

    IKEA.

    Problem solved.

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  7. You are welcome to come organize my sewing space anytime, Kay. I like your solution--and I'm not surprised that you are making things rather than buying things!

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  8. What about something like this: http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/10154558

    A hanging fabric organizer? I have a couple of these in my closets and they are wonderful for stashing things.

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  9. I'm going through the same thing. I'm sorting through 25 years of "save it just in case" as I too can't breathe. It's in one room, it's in the loft, it's even in another house. I'm giving a lot away, duplicate patterns, books and fabric from the stash. New boxes are a great idea, but just don't buy too many beacause you will fill them!!!!

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  10. I don't do well in clutter either. Good for you getting it all organized.

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  11. I'm interested to see what your boxes will look like when done!

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  12. Very cool! I really need to figure out an interfacing wrangling technique.

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