Plans on Paper

I've been playing these little games, moving tiny bits of colored paper around, pondering their placement, loosing this bit or that bit, and then rearranging them all again. Every time I would get something on paper that seemed right, I would realize that some important ingredient had gone missing and I would have to start over.

At times I really just wanted to start pulling out my hair.

All this has been necessary in order to figure out what furniture I am going to move and where it is going to go in the new house.  Now that the framing is almost complete, the deadline looms for telling the builder where I need outlets, telephone jacks, cable connections etc.  Aside from that, time is running short.  It is already November and I think it is best to sell as much as possible before the holiday hullabalu officially begins in a few short weeks.

Although it was fun playing with colored bits of paper representing furniture in our primary living space, I initially thought that would be the hard part.  After all, I am really not moving any furniture to my new studio, planning on setting it up completely when we get to Knoxville.  I thought that part would be easy, but of course it is not.

It is kind of strange, planning a space for a studio, when I haven't sewn much in a long time.  It sounds kind of pretentious.  I don't know exactly where I am going with this, only what I am interested in doing.  I am not planning on going into business, this is not a good time for me to go back to work although a part of me would love to do so, so I feel a bit of the dilettente, and it makes me peevish sometimes.   And yet, I will have the time, and the space, and I have sewn a great deal in the past, hopefully learning something from that experience, and it is time for me to work at exploring something I love and perhaps determining how far I wish to pursue it.

But even though this is not in any way an industrial space, and home power requirements will more than meet my needs, there are special circumstances to be taken into consideration beyond basic "bedroom wiring".   And so planning for my work space has taken even longer than the entire living portion of the house. For example, I know I will need more circuits than are normally alloted for a "bedroom" space.   I will need seperate circuits for pressing and sewing.  I know that the press and the iron together can draw up to 3000 watts of power.  It doesn't happen all the time, but when it does that is enough to blow a shared circuit if anything else is in use on that circuit.  It is much cheaper to plan for electric usage in advance if possible than it is to fix a problem later on.

I have two small rooms. My basic plan is that one room will house fabric storage, cutting, and pressing as it seems logical to me that these things should all be in close proximity.  This room will also house my knitting machine, primarily because there is a convenient place for it next to the yarn closet and also because I can close the door, so that I can keep work out if necessary without worrying about little kitty claws.

The second room, which is open to the stairwell, will contain my actual machine work stations, pattern storage, books, and another surface that I am calling my finishing station.  This is where I can block sweaters without having them take up space on my cutting tables, or where I can sew sweaters, work on beading or embroidery or other handwork.  These are all tasks I prefer to do standing up with a generous work surface.  I have learned from experience that it is best if finishing and cutting occupy different spaces.  This second room, the sewing room, will also have a cozy window seat where I can sit and look up details or thumb through my books and inspiration files.

Although I went ahead and pasted up a rough plan  for my own reference and for the builders, I know there will be some minor variations when it comes to final execution.  Yet this is enough to let me know where I need power and where I need light.  I am glad I did this now because although I had a vague idea of what I wanted in my head, I hadn't actually worked out the requirements for a workable space.  There have been more than a couple of compromises but I think I have come up with something I can work with and it is a good place to start.