So here we are, time to clean our sewing space from all the holiday decoration/gift-giving mess
plus the mess that was there before. Why it takes me until there is just a skinny path between
the doorway and my cutting table to finally decide to do something about it, I don’t just don’t
know. Most likely this is due to the fact that it is just easier to close the door to the room and
pretend the mess doesn’t exist with everything else that is going on.
Now to get started. My method may not work for everyone or you might have to do a modified
version depending on what your space is. To be clear, I have my own space and no one else
currently has any say on what is happening with the space except for me. Last year’s way
didn’t work for me. Today we are going to take everything out of my sewing room. The slight
exception is the bookshelves that run floor to ceiling in my room are staying put. They were a
pain to put in and changing to the other wall isn’t going to make a difference. Stuff on the
shelves will move but not the actual shelves. You will also need an empty-ish space to move
the stuff that is in your current area to that new area. I have a guest room, hallway, etc. If you
live with other people or pets you have to find an area that will work for everything for a bit a
time because this isn’t going to happen overnight.
In total honesty I took this picture partway through the process because I forgot to get an
initial shot. My room was bad. I had batting scraps piled on top of things and all over. By the
time the picture was taken, I had started with the removal of the batting leftovers. Now, while it
is tempting to start to go through things while emptying I urge you not to. The goal is to have
an empty room. If you start going through things it will take longer to achieve the empty room
and you are now sidetracked from the plan. There will be time, later on, to go through things.
With all that being said you might need to have a couple of boxes to put things in. My boxes
were labeled like this; notions, scraps, patterns/books, projects, stash, stuff for the machine, etc.
You get my idea. Go with what works for you and you need to have the all-important trash bag.
How I accumulate so much trash in my sewing room is beyond me but sometimes you have to
draw the line at what you are willing to keep as scrap and if something is broken and you
already have another one. Throw the broken one away! (It is ok, I promise.)
Progress! You might not be able to remove everything from your room all in one day. Take
progress pictures so you can see where you were and where you are at. It took me several
days to empty my room. Life happens and I couldn’t devote all my time to my sewing room
even though I wanted to.
I now have a floor in my room and not just a path. I knew it was bad but didn’t realize how bad
until I could see how clean it could be. While emptying your space, clean at the same time.
Vacuuming and dusting went hand in hand every step of the way. Not only does this keep the
dust from tracking to another space, it will save time when you go to put it away.
Everything is out of the room/space or as much as possibly can be. Wipe the baseboards,
dust, vacuum, and do any other cleaning you want to do. Yea! The room is empty! Read Part 2
so see what to do next.
Happy Sewing!
-Laura
