New Year, New Sewing Space

It’s a brand-new year and one of the things many people think of is evaluating, decluttering, and organizing their possessions and the spaces in which they live, work, and play. It’s perfect timing for me because, as many of you know, I have just moved to a new state, a new city, and a new house. I did a lot of purging when I packed my office and sewing space for the big move. I have a much larger workspace than before, but I feel the need to downsize even more. My goal is to create a calm, uncluttered space where I can be creative. Over the next few months, I will be sharing how I organize my workspace in a series of blog posts. In today’s post, I want to pass on some information from three other bloggers that I follow. They are all about how to manage your space and the possessions you want in it. The focus of these three bloggers is not specifically for sewing and crafting but much of their information can be useful to sewers, quilters, and crafters. I’ll pass along one thought or process from each one that I’m using as I set up my new sewing/workspace. Here’s a short video of why I need help in organizing my sewing space.

Minimal Mom

Dawn Madsen is married to Tom, and they have four children, ages 8-13. I very much enjoy her videos where she talks about how to become your own version of a minimalist. Even though she is talking about the same subject in each one, Dawn has very creative ways to approach it and it is always interesting. Here’s the one piece of advice that made me start following her several years ago.  It is one of the things that started her own decluttering journey. She began looking at her possessions as inventory. Then she asks herself, “Do I want to manage this inventory? Does it have value to me? Do I want to clean it, organize it, store it, maintain it? I keep this thought in mind as I plan my space, go through my possessions, and shop for new things. It helps me keep things under control (almost), having only items that are useful and/or beautiful to me. I’m certainly not a minimalist but I do want to keep clutter from overwhelming me as I create. Dawn has a lot more to say about this and you can watch her videos on her YouTube channel. I know about the next two bloggers I’m featuring because Dawn has partnered with them to create an online class and they also have presented Facebook Live classes.

Clutterbug

Cas Aarssen is a home organizing professional. One thing that sets her apart from other organizers is that she doesn’t use a one-size-fits-all method. If you go to her website, you’ll find a short quiz that helps you identify which style of organizing will be most successful to you. Her four categories are named after “bugs” – Cricket, Bee, Butterfly, and Ladybug. I found out that I am a Butterfly who is a visual (no surprise!) organizer. I need fast and easy systems with simple organization and should use lots of labels. I’ve always drifted toward this method but now I know more ways to make it work better for me.

A Slob Comes Clean

Dana K. White is another blogger who focuses on cleaning, organizing and decluttering strategies that actually work in real life for real people, including those who don’t love cleaning and organizing. One of her strategies is the Container Concept. Whether it is a box, shelf, basket, drawer, bin, or some other container you select, it defines how much you can store in it. It gives you boundaries which you may not be able to automatically set for yourself. For instance, I selected one drawer for storing stabilizers and interfacings, so I know exactly where to go when I need these items. If the drawer gets full, I know I need to get rid of some of the materials I don’t use to keep the drawer organized and easy to manage. I have a lot of cabinets, shelves, and drawers that I plan to use in this way. CLICK HERE to see entertaining and motivating videos from Dana.

I hope you are excited about the new year and have big plans for your sewing and crafting projects. I’ll be sharing some of mine with you soon. In the meantime, Happy Stitching!