How to Organize Your Sewing Space

It’s the thing your sweetest dreams are made of if you’re a quilter or sewer and that’s having your sewing space organized, which means being able to find what you’re looking for when you actually need it!

It seems like an insurmountable obstacle, doesn’t it? Getting all your tools and fabrics organized in a way that not only looks neat but also makes the most sense for you, how on earth?

Now we don’t want you to go all Marie Kondo on your sewing space, because we realize that all of that scrap fabric and miscellaneous knick knacks may seem like a mess to others but to you, every piece is important and has a purpose so we won’t be counseling you in this blog to start chunking any of it!

Let’s just find a way to organize what you’ve got, not only for the sake of your own sanity but also so you can fully optimize your sewing space. Maybe that way you can even make room for more projects, quilting/sewing supplies, or whatever else you’ve been dreaming up but haven’t had the space for yet!

We hope in this blog you find some inspiration and maybe gain a little courage to take up the challenge of getting organized. You won’t regret it!

Go Vertical: Organizing Your Thread

We know that a common problem you’re facing in your sewing room might be that you don’t seem to have enough tabletop space to spread everything out!

You just couldn’t dream of bringing in another table or small desk, and that’s absolutely right! You don’t have to try to figure out that game of tetris anymore!

A great way to start utilizing that vertical space is a peg board!

If you’ve been in the quilting or sewing game a while, you probably have spools and spools of thread and when you try and dig through that box they’ve been sitting in it’s just chaos and you can never find the exact one you’re looking for.

Regardless of how “positive” you are that you just bought that color thread from your local quilt shop last week.

Peg boards come in many different sizes and so it’s easy to find one or maybe several (depending on how large your thread collection is) that will be easily mountable on your walls. Doesn’t the thought of just being able to reach up and pull the right color off the peg board make you excited? You don’t have to get too crazy but you could even organize your thread by color. How fun is that?

Organizing Your Quilting Rulers:

What else is easy to hang on the walls?

What about all of those quilting rulers you have scattered around your sewing space?

The right ruler never seems to be on hand and you might even have some duplicate rulers as the result of never having the one you’re looking for laying around. Purchasing the same of any product is just the worst, so let’s find a way to keep those rulers together!

Watch this video from our YouTube The Best Way to Organize Your Quilting and Sewing Rulers that shows how our very own Deb Luttrell organizes her rulers.

Hanging your rulers is such a great way to keep them all together and whether you are organizing from small to large or large to small, you’ll always be able to lay your hands on just what you need, right when you need it.

You can create your own ruler rack by simply using a shower rail and some trade show display hooks or you can purchase the whole set from us here, The Ruler Organizer Kit is a life-saving addition to your sewing space!

Organizing Your Fabric

What about for all of that fabric you have laying around?

The basket it might be in right now is overflowing and it’s easier for you to match socks in the laundry than it is for you to find the fabric you’re looking for. What is more frustrating than that?

Utilizing some organizational bins from your local Walmart, Target, or The Container Store, some rectangular pieces of cardboard or comic book board, and some wall shelves or stand-alone shelves will set you well on your way to another organizational masterpiece. Like you see in the picture, you can roll or fold your fabric and organize neatly.

There are several options for how you organize your fabric, whether it be by collection, project, or color, organize in whatever way makes most sense for you.

Another fabric organizing hack for you is taking some rectangular pieces of cardboard or comic board that is the size of your fabric and neatly wrapping your fabric around the board and pinning! It’s like you have your own miniature quilt shop, right in your sewing space!

Label your bins then put away on the shelf with the label facing out so next time you need that fabric it’s just one quick pull off the shelf away. No more endless digging to no avail!

Get creative with how you organize your space! Pinterest is a wellspring of inspirational material, so don’t limit yourself to just what you can imagine, although we’re sure you have daydreamed about organizing and probably had ideas for quite some time now *wink*.

Identify and Organize Your Essential Tools and Notions

Identifying that rotary cutter, your trusty thread snips, shears, and pins you’re constantly reaching for is key to clearing up some tabletop space in your sewing room.

We know of course, that you have more frequently used tools than we just mentioned but that’s just a start.

Once you are able to identify those tools you can first, organize your most used quilting supplies and then move on to organizing the rest.

You can look at Stitchin’ Heaven in-store or shop online with us or visit your local quilt shop for a variety of organizational tools that can help you keep your notions and other quilting/sewing tools organized in an accessible yet also fun way.

The Your Nest Organizer is a wonderful tool to be utilized for keeping your stuff handy and also in one place while you’re in the middle of a project.

Our Stitchin’ Heaven Storage Caddy is also a great product for fabric storage! If you’re in the middle of a project, store extra fabric in it when you’re done for the day. A storage caddy is also great (if it’s large enough) for storing unfinished quilt blocks!

Make Your Tabletop Space Count

If you’ve been sewing or quilting for any time at all, you know the importance of having a sturdy surface to work on.

What is worse than having a wobbly table that shifts right in the middle of one of your cuts or with even the slightest bump your whole project is scrambled?

Sounds like a nightmare to us and we know you agree. Ikea, your local quilt shop, or any furniture store in your town is a great place to start looking for that table.

With a sturdy, reliable table you won’t have to tiptoe around your sewing space anymore or worry about sending your plastic folding table tumbling.

With a new table that won’t jeopardize your equipment that sits on it, you may even consider brightening up your sewing space a little more with purchase of a beautiful BERNINA sewing machine.

You might even consider doing away with a few other random pieces of furniture that you’ve been using to store quilting or sewing supplies, fabric, and more! A sewing table with drawers or shelving is even better, we are all about maximizing our space right?

In Conclusion

We sincerely hope you gained some courage and maybe a bit of resolve to make your dreams of an organized sewing space possible. Having a space where every tool, fabric, machine, and bobbin has a place doesn’t have to be a dream. With a little hard work, some creativity (which we know you have, because you are a quilter or sewer, right?) you can achieve that perfect space.

No more deep breaths of anxious chaos when you enter your sewing space, only sighs of relief and excitement to have a space that brings you so much joy and gets those creative wheels turning in your mind.

For extra inspiration check out another YouTube video on our channel below: