Hello! I thought I’d give you a little update and tell you what I’ve been up to since my 2022 year review blog post. And of course, we all love to hear about a sewing room makeover don’t we? 😉
Well, a couple of months before Christmas my mum gave me her lovely Bernina 1230 sewing machine. Mum’s nearly 94 and her eyesight and health aren’t what they were so sadly she no longer sews. She wanted me to have her machine while she was still around to know that I was enjoying it. But here’s the thing I had no room in my sewing area for it and it ended up sitting in its box in the corner for quite a while.
Then halfway through January, I started to think about how I could accommodate the machine and a plan was hatched for a sewing room update.
First of all, I did some research… and by research, I mean sitting and watching sewing room tours on YouTube for inspiration, haha!
Next, I started measuring up my space and looking at Ikea table options etc. and a plan (and an Ikea order) was made 🙂
First things first though. A fresh coat of paint was needed as part of the room refresh not least because where the old tables were there were holes and untidy areas on the walls so after dismantling the old set up I painted the walls in a nice fresh cream colour.
A Plan Comes Together
I bought two Ikea Lagkapten tabletops. One is 120cm long and the other is 140cm long.
The table legs are the Olov adjustable ones and I have them set at 67cm high plus the depth of the tabletop. This gives me a nice comfortable working height.
I also treated myself to a Skadis Pegboard and a Rashult trolley for my ironing equipment.
I made myself a new thread storage board and changed its location so that it’s no longer in direct light to reduce fading of the threads. It’s not difficult to make one. Mine is a piece of MDF board that I drilled holes into. The 5mm diameter wooden dowels came from eBay I think and I gave it a couple of coats of white paint before knocking in the dowels.
And finally, I made a simple change to my fabric storage drawers. I dislike visual clutter, so just the simple addition of some white paper lining the front and sides of the drawers and everything now looks fresh and bright and clean. This simple change makes a big difference. And so that I know what fabrics I have, I’ve cut a small sample of each piece and put them onto a card on my notice board with a description of what they are etc.
And that’s it my 3 Berninas look very happy on their new tables and the whole space feels so much more spacious, uncluttered and efficient.
And now for the obligatory before and after photos…enjoy!
I hope you enjoyed my sewing room makeover. See you soon! And let the sewing begin!
Well done, the room looks fabulous. Happy Sewing for 2023. I have a Bernina 1130 which I bought at a garage sale 14 years ago and I love using it.
Author
Thanks, Cathy! Oh, how lovely that you’ve got a Bernina too. Such great machines.
What a great sewing room you have now – I’m envious
Author
Thank you, Christine. I feel very blessed to have such a space.
Looks great and is motivation for me! I have a sewing and drawing / painting studio room, but my sewing tabletops are cluttered and I need thread and tools storage. Thanks for the tips, always fun to see other’s sewing space.
Author
Thanks, Heather! Ooh nice that you feel motivated to do a refresh too. I felt like it cleared mental clutter as well once I’d done my room.
Hi Diane
Your room looks so bright and efficient with your three Berninas. It must be a joy to work, I mean play, in your space. I feel inspired to rejig my space now. Enjoy your room!
Author
Aww, thanks, Jen. I’m sitting in my room right now typing this and it feels so lovely!
Thanks for showing us around your sewing room makeover. Looks great, well done. Hope you are enjoying the new arrangement.
Author
Thank you so much, Barbara. I am, very much enjoying it and having my machines set up like this and rearranging various tools etc feels so much better now.
Looks fabulous 👏👏👏
Author
Thank you, Vicki!
This is exactly what I want to do. I am 5 hours away from my nearest IKEA. Did you order all your items together? Was the shipping price the same for all items as it would be for the big large item. I’m trying to figure whether I should drive down there or have it shipped. You can email me privately if you wish. I love the iron storage idea!
Author
Hi Maureen. I ordered off the website. Not sure if you’re UK or not but on the website they have various tiers of delivery pricing at £15 and £19 for medium or large parcels and then £40 or £50 for selected day or express. Although I ordered everything together, my order came in 3 separate packages at the same time and cost £15 for delivery so I thought it was pretty good value.
Hi Diane! I keep finding your posts belatedly in my junk folder (never used to be the case) — so frustrating!
Lovely changes to your sewing room to accommodate your mom’s machine: my table bases and all of my storage (filing and closed shelves) are Ikea: very sturdy and functional! I had to change out my Ikea tops to a different brand when I bought a coverstitch machine, but they are essentially the same, just longer.
You have done such beautiful garments with your Bernina 1008: what do you expect to do on your mom’s machine?
Author
Hi Joan. Oh, that’s annoying. I’m actually subscribed to my own blog posts to make sure they keep getting sent out but occasionally they go into my junk folder too…ugh. And Bloglovin’ just doesn’t seem to be operating anymore as their website is always down and that affects my view figures…
Anyhow, I’m glad you like my new set-up and it’s good to know that the Ikea tables are sturdy.
I plan on perhaps setting up mum’s machine for topstitching if I’m doing a project that has different coloured topstitching to save me from swapping out threads. Also if I’m doing some client work I can set one machine up for that and the other for me if I’m also working on something for myself. I’ve also discovered that mums machine does a great machine basting stitch and also keyhole buttonholes (which mine doesn’t do).
Keyhole buttonholes: I bought my machine in 2006 to get keyhole buttonholes (Pfaff).
Re. Bloglovin’: is that where you initiated your blog? I don’t really understand how blogging platforms work.
I added you to my address book (which I’ve never done with other blogs) and hope that works!
Author
Oh yes, let’s hope so. Bloglovin’ is just a platform where you can register your website and new blog posts appear on it when published. I used to follow all of my favourite blogs on there and for the last several months it’s not been working properly or the site is down completely. It’s affecting a lot of bloggers. I think there are other wedsites where you can follow blogs. Feedly is one I think?