Organizing the Pressing Tools

OK, I sewed napkins last week.  And I spent some time avoiding sewing.  I really need to break this habit.

I also spent some time moving piles of things around the sewing room so I can work.  I really can’t work like this, that much I know.  I want to finish the sewing room.  I got it 3/4 done a few years ago, life took a couple of sharp turns and I never finished.  I did let things pile up waiting until I finished.

I have been working on the piles though.  They have been greatly reduced and moved out of the way and sorted in ways that I can work on them a little bit each day and finish, probably even before fall (yeah!!)

I also needed some shelves.  I had planed to put a narrow shelf above the ironing board, and above the window for little used items, but never did.  The shelves I originally wanted don’t seem to be available anymore, and I didn’t want to spend time dealing with making something just right. So I found something that worked and they arrived Friday.

The high shelves are for a few pressing tools that I don’t use every day, but still need to have around for those times when they are needed.  I also have a few other things used for specific tasks that aren’t regular day-to-day projects.

I wanted shelves that had invisible mounts because I don’t  really have room to put brackets up on the top and still room to put things on the shelves due to the window frames.  To get the length I had to put up a series of short shelves.  Someday, when I am feeling ambitious and have nothing better to do, I might make a custom sized shelf and just drill the holes to use these brackets, now that I have them.

On the far right the white roll on the top, way up by the beam is a piece of PVC plumbing pipe that I use when felting.  Below it, on the shelf is a roll of  “soil separator paper” that I got once for trying pattern alterations and muslins.  I learned that I prefer actual muslin because I can’t see the marks on this stuff, but there are times, when I am making multiple copies of something to work out a detail, that it is convenient, so I am keeping it around.

Here’s the south wall showing the shelves above and below the window.  The blurry white thing on top is my flash reflecting off the soil separator paper.  The shelf above the ironing board is narrow (4 inches) and just perfect for holding the things I use all the time.  The sleeve board is hidden in a slot right behind the cutting table next to the iron, easily reachable but out of sight..

Now all my sewing tools are off the floor, where I was always tripping over them, and some things that were piled up on a bookshelf are properly stowed so I can get the books off the shelf.  I am running out of excuses for not sewing.  This is good. 

But to make sure I do something I am going to have to give a regular accounting.  If I feel I have to write, I will also feel I have to have something to write about, rather than just the random musings in my head.