Over 20 Fun Ideas for Organizing Your Sewing Space

One of the big projects I wanted to tackle during this time at home has been reorganizing my sewing area. After months of going full speed on one project after the next, my work space was a complete disaster area, and it's taken me weeks to get things back into shape. I'm not finished yet, but the changes I've been able to make so far have already made me ten times happier every time I walk in the room. It's always amazing to me how a pretty space makes me feel so much more excited about sewing. I know that some of you are working on organizing your creative space too, so today I'm sharing some of my favorite tips with you.

Your sewing space and how you organize it are completely dependent on who you are, how you sew, and what you love to make. If you want a detailed plan on how to give your room a total overhaul, check out my book Sew Organized for the Busy Girl, but if you just need a quick refresh, making one or two changes can be enough to make a real difference. When it comes to any of the organizational ideas you pick up from me or anyone else, I can’t stress enough how important it is to:

• Be honest about what your organizational needs are and what you can actually maintain given your time and situation.

• Find a solution that looks like a good fit.

• Give that system a test run of at least a week or two.

• Be willing to adjust or start from scratch if it isn’t working.

It’s tempting to give up when something you try doesn’t work the way you thought it would, but you probably just haven’t hit on the right answer yet. Don’t stop looking for it. The time you take to find the best solution for your situation is more than worth the satisfaction you’ll have when sewing becomes a pleasure instead of a chore.



A sewing space is usually divided into four main stations: storage, cutting, sewing, and pressing. The more room you have, the more clearly separate these stations probably are. If you’re working with a small area, however -- maybe in the corner of your family room or on a desk in your bedroom -- things get tricky. It’s even more difficult if you have no real space to call your own. I remember my early days of sewing on the dining room table, timing myself so that everything could be cleared away in time for dinner and scrubbing the table after each meal so that my fabric wouldn’t end up with spaghetti sauce all over it!

Challenging situations are always a great opportunity to see how creative you can be. I’ve learned that it’s helpful to have some portable options for organizing your sewing materials whether you have a lot of room to work with or not. Listed below are some ideas for making your work space more organized and, yes, more fun. A lot of these can be done using things you already have around the house, so there's no need to buy something new unless you really want to. I personally like to use family antiques and vintage finds in my sewing room because I love them so much Wherever I can, though, I've included links to special items that I've bought myself and found useful. Ideas are classified according to the four stations above, but there’s definitely overlap, so adjust these as needed to make them work for you in any part of your creative space.

Storage 

• Picnic baskets and small suitcases can hold a surprising amount of fabric, and some even come with special pockets where you can store your notions. Best of all, they have a handle for carrying and a lid that shuts everything away from view. These can be really helpful if you're working in a smaller space.

• Spice jars are the perfect size for storing buttons and small pieces of hardware like magnetic clasps, rings, snaps, and zipper pulls. (Bonus points if you store them in a cute spice rack!) I also like to repurpose our jam jars for this job too, because who can resist a red and white gingham lid?

• Old photo drawers or card catalogs are a great fit for fabric scraps, notions, and small precuts. I use one for my charm squares, and it's the perfect size. You can easily label the drawers too, giving you the chance to sort materials by style, color, designer, or manufacturer.

• Mason jars and clear candy or cookie jars will store anything from scissors to thread, and they will always look beautiful while doing it. Best of all, you can see at a glance what supplies you have on hand.

• It took me years to find the best system for storing and organizing my quilting fabric, but I couldn’t be happier with the results. I prefer to organize my quilting cotton prints by color in identical tall woven plastic baskets measuring approximately 15” x 12” x 9”. Every print (usually half a yard or less) is folded to a width of about 5” and placed in the basket with other prints of the same color (red, orange, yellow, etc.). I can fit 2 layers of 2 long rows in each container, and I can always start a new basket if one fills up. The containers are stored on a pair of long, double shelf carts in my sewing room right beside my cutting table. It’s like having my own personal fabric shop right there whenever I need it! I also keep a reproduction soda crate for storing my solid fabrics, a metal cart with drawers for my linen and canvas prints, and a larger drawer unit for quilt backings and other special substrates like rayon and lawn. Almost all of my fabrics are arranged by color because that’s how I like to choose fabrics for my projects. This system makes finding what I need easy and fun, and that’s exactly how I like it.

Cutting 

• A desktop office supply organizer makes a fabulous tool center for your cutting station. Rulers can be sorted by size in the larger sections, and there’s usually a small compartment that’s just right for your rotary cutter and extra blades.

• Have a return basket for your cutting table. Once you finish cutting what you need from a larger piece of fabric, fold it and place it in the basket. Take five minutes each week -- or every other day, depending on how often the basket gets full -- to return all the folded fabrics to their proper spots in your fabric stash.

• Keep a scrap basket on your cutting table for all the little pieces that are too small to stash but too big to throw away. Whenever the basket gets full, find a home for the contents. Share them with a friend who loves scraps, hold a giveaway on social media or at your sewing guild, or celebrate a full basket by using them to make a scrappy project of your own.

Sewing 

• Wire baskets are a wonderful way to showcase bundles of fabric that you don’t want to separate. I also love using them to hold sets of fabric that I want to keep together for upcoming projects, including ones that are labeled by number so I can easily organize them in the order that I need to finish them. Just recently I ordered a rolling cart with removable wire trays that I can slide out and set on my sewing table while I'm working, and I absolutely love it. When it’s time to start working on a project, I just grab the tray and get to work. If I need to take a break, everything goes back in the tray so I don’t lose anything while the work is in progress, and it slides easily back into the cart, leaving my sewing table clean.
• Ceramic containers for kitchen utensils are the perfect place to store packaged zippers.
• I keep a small cutting mat just to the left of my sewing machine so that I can do quick seam trimming without having to get up and walk over to my main cutting table. This really comes in handy when I’m working on blocks like half square triangles.

• Tins and lunch boxes make fantastic travel sewing kits. The hard sides of the box keep everything inside from being crushed, and there’s plenty of room for all your supplies. 
• I keep a small ceramic basket filled with stuffing next to my machine for projects like pincushions and stuffed animals. It takes up less room than a full bag of stuffing (which I store elsewhere), but is nice to have at hand when I need it.
• A pretty soap dish makes a quick landing spot for embroidery scissors and binding clips next to your machine.
• A lap desk with a lid is the perfect organizational accessory for English paper piecing or hand quilting. I keep one in my bedroom so that in the evenings I can pull out my latest project, have a nice flat surface in my lap for sewing while I watch a movie with my husband, and then slip everything back inside when it’s time for bed. A small serving tray will work just as well in a pinch when balanced on a pillow in my lap.

• Trays of all kinds are wonderful for organizing block pieces or small notions. My daughters gave me a retro cafeteria lunch tray for Christmas, and I keep it stocked with all the little things that I want to be able to find in a hurry when I'm at my machine.
• Vintage glass measuring cups are wonderful places to corral binding clips or basting pins, and I love that they come with a handle that's easy to grab when I'm working.
• I love using a tin picnic utensil caddy to store larger tools like scissors, chopsticks, pencils, notepads, and my sewing machine accessory kit.

Pressing 

• Use a small homemade ironing board for most of your pressing needs. There are great tutorials online for making both tabletop and TV tray versions of this little gem, and it allows you to keep your full size ironing board stored away unless you need it for a larger project. All you need is a board, batting, fabric, and a staple gun.

• I like to keep a small tray or basket next to my pressing board filled with spray starch, the small flask I use to pour water into my iron, a seam ripper, a hera marker, and fabric pens. It’s amazing how much time you can save when you get in the habit of grouping items together that you use at each station so that you can find them when you need them.

• After I finish pressing my strips of fabric for quilt binding and sewing them together, I wind the long strip into a small circle and place it into a heavy, clear glass cookie jar, pulling one end out of the jar to start sewing. The jar keeps the binding from unrolling and spilling all over the floor under my feet as I slowly feed it out and sew it onto the quilt. When I’m done, I put the leftover binding back in the jar. It’s not only a great storage spot for these extra pieces (which make fantastic scrappy binding), but it also makes a colorful display on my shelf. 

Finally, always remember that spotless and organized are not the same thing. We often think that our space isn't organized unless everything in it is perfectly clean, but a workspace is actually organized if it's arranged so that you can find everything you need quickly and easily. Discovering new creative ways to do it is just part of the fun!

Being Real

Last week I talked by phone with my friend Stephanie who asked me to do an episode of her popular Modern Sewciety podcast about what brought me to the decision to retire from professional sewing. As someone who had struggled with these issues herself, she felt that it was an important conversation to have, and I'm so glad she did. We spent over an hour sharing our hearts about the joys and challenges of this work. Being real . . . it seems to be the theme that's guiding this new season. Real conversations about real things with real people in real life. It's messy and difficult sometimes, but it's what we've got. It's who we are. And it's so much better to look at that reality than to try to be something we're not. So pour yourself a cup of tea, pick up your favorite slow sewing project, and settle in with the link right here for some good, honest conversation with friends.

On another note, it's been almost a year since I started working on my scrappy linen log cabin quilt (Sunny Day Supply is actually getting ready to host another round of their annual log cabin sew along that got me started on this one!), but I finally finished it last week just in time to gift it to my niece for her first birthday today. I absolutely love this quilt, and as hard as it is to let it go, I'm so happy that it's going to her.

For months, I was stumped on the quilting. I tried both machine and hand quilting several times, but I always wound up pulling the stitches out when they didn't look quite right. After getting so much wonderful encouragement from friends on Instagram to finish it up, I decided to do the simplest quilting possible on my machine, and it finally worked. The linen had to be handled carefully at times, as it does like to stretch a bit, but it came together in the end.

The back of the quilt is a Melody Miller print, back from her solo Ruby Star days, which I've always loved. I added a tag on the back with my niece's name and mine, which I embroidered by hand. It takes a little extra time, but for something special and personal like this, it's so worth it. The quilt is bound in a rainbow striped canvas print from IKEA that I've been saving for years. I like the touch of whimsy that it adds to the border, and it makes a wonderful frame for the whole project.

This quilt is absolutely packed full of favorite prints that I've been collecting since my very first year of sewing. It almost feels like a time capsule of the past eight years. I love it so much. I hope that every time my niece wraps herself up in it, she'll remember -- as I've always told my girls since they were little -- that she's all wrapped up in our love too.

Milk & Honey Beachcomber Bag

My friend Elea and I have never actually met in person, but it feels like we have. We've talked back and forth so many times through online messages that it seems like we've been friends forever. I've been sewing with every one of her collections all the way back to her Milk, Sugar, and Flower fabric, the last scraps of which I'm still hoarding in a drawer. The cuteness of Elea's designs is perfectly matched by the sweetness of her spirit which comes through in everything she does. I've been so blessed to get to know her from a distance, and it feels like a fitting end to my professional sewing career to finish with a post about her beautiful new fabric line: Milk & Honey.

Everything about this collection says "spring" to me, so I thought it would be the perfect choice for sewing up my own version of an Easter basket. After a lot of thought, I decided to use the pattern for the Beachcomber Bag from my book Patchwork USA, which I enlarged by doubling all my measurements. This, by the way, is something I do by subtracting the half inch seam allowance from each measurement, doubling the leftover number, and then adding the half inch back on. So a piece that was originally 4 1/2'' x 2 1/2'' would, when doubled in size, be 8 1/2'' x  4 1/2". You can do the same thing to shrink a project, just by halving the numbers instead of doubling them. It's a very handy thing when you want to size a pattern up or down, and I do it a lot!

I used Elea's prints for the patchwork portion of the bag, alternating colored fabrics with low volume ones. A few Riley Blake basics found their way in there too, as I'm a huge fan of their tiny dot prints which look adorable with just about anything. Black and white RBD gingham is such a lovely contrast to the pastel colors in the center, and the light gray floral print from the collection made a beautiful lining. A bunny twill tape tag on one side and soft, cream colored cord for the drawstrings were the finishing touches.

Now that my girls are all in their tween years, with Bunny plunging headlong into the teens when she turns 13 tomorrow (sob!), I try to think a bit outside the typical Easter basket contents of candy, plastic eggs, and stuffed animals. I'm a big fan of gifts with a theme to them. In fact, if you've seen my book Patchwork USA, you know that I added a chapter at the end called Share the Journey which lists dozens of ideas for gifting the projects in my book, including themed ideas for sharing handmade presents with everyone from a new mom to a new neighbor. So if you're looking for goodies that would work well in an Easter bag or basket for an older child, here are a just a handful of ideas:

• Art pack: sketchpad, colored pencils, watercolor set, sharpener, eraser, ruler, drawing books
• Fun & games: travel games, sidewalk chalk, jump rope, Rubik's cube, deck of cards
• Spa set: lip balm, lotion, hair accessories, brush, spa goodies, nail polish

We actually celebrated Bunny's birthday with a party on Saturday so that the whole family could enjoy it together. She wanted a retro Palm Springs Spa themed birthday party this year, so that last gift idea came in handy for me this week. I have no doubt, though, that my girls would be perfectly happy to get a repeat of their spa favor bags for Easter once April rolls around.

So congratulations to my sweet friend Elea on another adorable fabric collection. And all of my thanks to the wonderful people at Riley Blake Designs who have been so incredibly lovely to work with over the years. There's no doubt that I love beautiful fabric, but it's really the people that I love the most. 

Love Letters Sewing Kit

About 90% of my sewing time these days is spent on secret things, and most of that has lately been spent on samples for my next book. Each book is its own wonderful journey, but sometimes I need a break from it to refresh my mind and get inspired again. Thankfully, I had signed up months ago to be on the Love Letters fabric tour for my friend Lindsay of The Cottage Mama, and I can't tell you how glad I am that I did!

This fabric is exactly what I needed in my life. I love it so much. How much, you ask? So much that it might just be my favorite Riley Blake collection from all of 2019. The vintage Valentine card illustrations stole my heart immediately, but the supporting prints are just as good. So many cute details are in there like heart stamped envelopes, tic-tac-toe games, and blank postage labels. It makes my vintage loving heart happier than I can say...

My friend Cheri recently released her Tinkandstitch Needlebook pattern which makes the cutest little sewing kit, so I thought I would put the two together to make something adorable that I can use all the time. It's a great pattern for customizing, as Cheri has shown by sharing so many adorable versions of the needlebook on her Instagram account here.

I used a bit of red RBD wool for my needle pennant (decorated with some of Lori Holt's buttons and a few adorable donut pins from my friend Vicki at The Cherry Chick) and added a fabric stamp on one side of the inner pocket with some embroidered postage meter lines on the side. A bit of elastic paired with a vintage white button that belonged to my grandmother makes the perfect closure, and I absolutely love that red, white, and blue stripe for the binding and the faux washi tape on the inside.

This project was so much fun, and I'm thrilled to now have this beautiful little needlebook to use as I go back to the secret sewing on my table. This, I remind myself every time I look at it, is why I love to sew.

Tilda Club

A quick invitation to all you Tilda fabric fans out there: my friend Julie of The Intrepid Thread has a monthly Tilda Club subscription box that only opens for enrollment twice a year, and this is one of those times! You can find all the details on her website here, but I wanted to share it with you because A) I love Tilda fabric, and B) I'm designing half of the patterns for her boxes this year. My first project was this sweet little Spool Case in the photo above. It's a simple pattern that lets you have fun with a bit of your fabric right away while still having plenty leftover for other projects. Just the sort of thing I love to make myself...

I have the fabric for next month's project spread out on my cutting table as I type this, but I didn't want to forget to share the news with you since enrollment closes on Thursday. Hop on over to Julie's website to check it out!

Birthday Sewing

Birthdays are a big deal in our family. Even though we keep our parties simple and small, the girls are always allowed to choose a theme, and they literally start talking about next year's party before their big day is even finished. My little Mouse is turning 9 next month and decided long ago that she wanted a pool party with a tropical feel. For weeks she's been coming up to me with her big eyes and cheeky grin, asking, "Can we talk about my birthday?" So we spend time looking at pictures on Pinterest and talking about cupcake flavors and pretending that we're planning the party of the year when really it's all a great big excuse to spend time cuddling and chatting together, giving her special one-on-one time with Mommy that we both love so much.

When she told me that she wanted to do little candy favor bags, I decided that these adorable animal prints from Under the Canopy by Citrus & Mint Designs for Riley Blake would be perfect. My girls are especially crazy about sloths right now, but the leopards and birds were also a big hit.

I sewed these drawstring bags together in less than an hour. The striped baker's twine was perfect for the finishing touch. (I buy several spools of it every time I see it in the dollar section at Target since it goes with just about anything!) These bags are just the right size, and I love that the girls can use them after the party for other things.

Speaking of Riley Blake, I want to take a moment to say thank you. I've spent the last few years as a designer for them, and it's been an absolute joy. They've been generous to me in so many ways. Not only did they give me the chance to create three collections, but they've given me fabric to use for so many special projects. They sent me prints to use in both Sew Organized for the Busy Girl and Patchwork USA as well as in the next book that I'm working on right now. When I asked them if they could donate material so that I could make burp cloths for a local pregnancy clinic that I support, they sent me a huge box packed to the brim with soft flannel goodness that allowed me to sew the stack above and still have plenty leftover to give to the clinic for future needs. Working with these staff members and designers has been such a privilege, and I've learned so much through this chance to do something that I honestly never thought I would get to do. So to everyone from the RBD office who has been so kind and helpful to me these past three years, and to all the amazing RBD designer friends who have blessed my heart with love and encouragement -- thank you . . . with all my heart.

Mini Majestic Easter Gift Basket

There are some patterns that you go back to over and over again, that fit you like a comfortable sweater or your favorite slippers. They're familiar and lovely, and you know they're going to be just what you need. The Lunch Bag Tutorial by my friend Ayumi is one of those patterns for me. I don't know how many times I've sewn this one, but it never fails to be a joy. This time I thought it would be fun to do something crazy and shrink it down to half size for a mini gift bag using the Majestic collection by Gerri Robinson for Riley Blake Designs.

The footprint of this finished bag is only 2 1/2" x 3 1/2" -- such a sweet little size!

I met Gerri for the first time last June when she was kind enough to drive me all over Missouri while we were both teaching at Missouri Star Academy. She and I spent hours together that week chatting about everything under the sun -- fabric design, the quilting industry, our families. I loved every minute of it. Watching her teach was an education in itself for me. She is an incredibly talented and generous lady, and I admire her so much.

I chose just three prints from the Majestic collection for this project in a range of scales. The smallest scale white floral was especially perfect for a tiny bag like this one. These prints all work together so beautifully, don't they?

Whenever you shrink a pattern -- especially for a bag or basket -- there are positives and negatives. Smaller pieces make a much quicker sew, but the logistics can definitely be more difficult as you try to navigate your needle with a more narrow bag opening. The drawstring casing was a bit fiddly, but with some patience and care, I was able to get it right. It took me a while to decide what to use for the drawstring itself until I remembered my box of chunky thread by Lori Holt. This pink was a great match and just the right weight to fit easily in the casing. It's always hard to hit a speed bump when you're almost about to finish a project, so I was awfully glad to have that thread on hand!

Now that I'm looking at this little bag, I'm thinking that it would make a darling mini Easter gift basket. Just toss in some candy and other small goodies, and you're all set.

I have the sneaking suspicion that I may have just launched my next sewing obsession...

Soda Pop Shop Quilt Top

Late last fall I was scrolling through coming collections on the Riley Blake website when I came across the most adorable set of fabrics called Perfect Party by my friend Lindsay (the Cottage Mama). I immediately wrote to our RBD blog tour coordinator and said, "I HAVE to be on this tour!"

I'm completely in love with this fabric collection. The little animals enjoying birthday celebrations together, the border prints, the ribbon flowers, even the colorful plaid designs are all so playful and sweet. And don't even get me started on the panel that includes birthday bunting and larger animal squares that are just perfect for pillows. I can't wait to get my hands on it!

A collection this cute called for something special, so I decided to make my first attempt at a vintage soda pop bottle quilt block. Blocks this large actually come together surprisingly quickly, and I really love the way they look, especially with the novelty prints as soda bottle labels. I worked in a few RBD basics too, mostly the striped prints that I used for the bottle caps and the filler blocks, which remind me very much of party straws with little decorations on them.

This quilt top was a joy to design and sew from start to finish. I've decided that I love it so much that I'm going to have it quilted with a longarm, so I'm packing it up tomorrow and sending it off to a pro. Once it comes back to me and I get it bound, I'll have more pictures to share...promise!

Shortcake Panel Patio Placemat Tutorial

Since I first posted my original Patio Placemat Tutorial back in 2012, it's received almost 80,000 page views, making it the fourth most popular tutorial on my blog. (The Ellie Travel Case comes in first place, followed by the Malibu Satchel and then the Pixie Basket, for those of you who were wondering! See below for more details...*) When Riley Blake asked me to design a placemat panel to go with the Shortcake collection, I thought it would be fun to create one that could be used with that original tutorial.

The result is a fun panel, available in 2 colorways, that can be used in 3 ways:

1. Make 4 standard placemats with a simple front and back. The rectangles on the panel are your placemat fronts, and all you need are some batting and backing fabric to sew them up.

2. Make 2 pocket placemats. These include a pocket for the plate and silverware -- really handy for breezy days on the patio so that your paper and plastic tableware doesn't blow away! Pick 2 of the panel rectangles to be the pockets and 2 to be the placemat fronts. You'll add batting and backing fabric to finish them.

3. Use the panel as a pattern sampler. There are 5 extra prints on here along with 8 retro fruit crate label squares, just perfect for fussy cutting a sweet little project of your own design!

Directions are included on the panel for both types of placemats, but I thought I would do a post on here using the fabric so that you can have a step-by-step visual to help you along the way. Here's how you make one pocket version of the Patio Placemat:

1. Cut out the 2 rectangles of your choice -- 1 for the pocket and 1 for the placemat front. Seam allowance is included, but sometimes shapes can get a little wonky when they're printed. Don't worry if the rectangle is skewed slightly by 1/8" or so. You need a rectangle that measures 11" x 18". If there's a bit of white along the edges, that will get caught up in the seam allowance and won't show in the end, so don't worry about it!

2. Fold the pocket rectangle in half lengthwise with the wrong sides of the fabric together. Topstitch 1/8" below the fold.

3. Use adhesive basting spray to fuse the wrong side of your placemat front rectangle to an 11" x 18" batting rectangle. (Pins or binding clips will work too, but the spray is so quick and easy!)

4. Place the pocket piece on top of the placemat front along the lower edge. Baste in place along the right, lower, and left edges of the pocket to hold it in place.

5. Measure a line on the pocket 5" from the right edge and sew down that line, backstitching at the start and finish. This will divide your pocket into two sections -- one for the plate and one for the silverware.

6. Cut out a 11" x 18" rectangle from another piece of backing fabric and use pins or binding clips to hold it right sides together with your placemat front.

7. Stitch 1/4" from the edge all around the outside of the placemat, backstitching at the start and finish, but leave a 4" gap in the lower edge for turning. Trim the corners and any loose threads.

8. Turn the mat right side out through the gap int he lower edge, gently pushing out the corners and edges with a knitting needle.

9. Tuck the raw edges inside the gap in the lower edge, give the whole mat a good pressing, and then topstitch 1/8" from the edge all around the mat to finish.

That's it! To make a standard placemat, just follow the directions above but eliminate the pocket. The wonderful thing about this project is that it's so quick. You can easily make yourself a set of placemats in an hour or less, and these are just the thing for summer picnics and patio parties. If you sew with the panel or any of the other prints, be sure to share photos with me with the tag #shortcakefabric and @fabricmutt. I would love to see how you're sewing with Shortcake!

* For those of you who may have viewed this post before I edited the stats, I had my numbers mixed up the first time around -- sorry about that. The official count of page views for the top four posts on Fabric Mutt (as it stands at the writing of this post) is:

1. Ellie Travel Case Tutorial - 201,021
2. Malibu Satchel Tutorial - 121,505
3. The Pixie Basket Tutorial - 84,963
4. Patio Place Mat Tutorial - 79,891

Nothing makes me happier than knowing that you're all using and enjoying these tutorials that I write for you. It absolutely makes my day!