I’m in lock-down mode. The DoubleTakes deadline is next week. I am seeing progress. I am working diligently. I promise.
I think I’ve posted enough pictures of the steps I’ve taken with this piece. Its time for the mystery to happen. I may put up a small detail shot between now and March 19, but until then you will not see the finished project. I have to leave some element of surprise here.
I realized this week, as I often do, that my studio hinders me. When I decorate, I tend to shove furniture against the wall leaving the center of the room open. In the case of my sewing table, it got shoved against the window. I loved the view. If I needed a break, I could just stop and gaze into my backyard. The problem is when you have only 12″ of space between your machine and the window…things are kind of cramped. I can’t tell you the number of times my stitching misbehaved as the materials were forced into the closed window as I sewed.
Imagine quilting big pieces (and I’ve done quite a few)…it all gets pushed into the window. Not only am I fighting the cloth under the neck of the machine. I’m also fighting the quilt as it gets pushed into the window. Of course with all that pushing and shoving, I get tired, aggravated and curse when the stitches look horrible.
The problem isn’t that I don’t have the space. I have the room in my studio and I’m fortunate to have a sewing cabinet that opens up to give me 3 ft of space behind the machine. I just didn’t like opening the cabinet, nor did I like having the thing in the center of my room. Then, last week I visited a friend and noticed how her equipment was set up. It was a tiny room with lots of cabinets and book cases and there in the center was her sewing table. Efficient. Brilliant.
So, I moved my sewing table last week. I turned it perpendicular to the window. I have less floor space in the center of the room. I can still see out my window if I look to my right. It made me uncomfortable at first. This sewing cabinet it big and takes up a lot of floor space, but I vowed to give it some time to grow on me. And then I started sewing this large piece for DoubleTakes…magic!
Really…its like magic! I feel comfortable sewing. I finally have room. What a simple change with major benefits. Why was I being so stubborn about moving the table? I guess it just proves you have to try new things, especially when the old things don’t work so well. I’m still learning. I hope I never stop.
I think I’m going to keep the cabinet this way. Even though my view is not straight into my yard, I can still see what’s going on out there. And this week, what’s going on are flocks of singing birds and clusters of daffodils. It’s Spring!
That’s the way mine is set up – I can stop and breathe and look out the window to the left of my sewing table – but if I need to be sewing, it doesn’t distract me. And I love having my ironing board set up so I am looking out the window when I iron – that’s probably the best part.
Moving furniture to improve your work environment sounds familiar. I moved my entire studio into a new room and at the same time separated the office part of my art business and my art studio. In the new studio I had to set up my sewing table in the middle of the room, similar to your new set up. And like you, I felt uncomfortable in the beginning. The arrangement of the furniture was good, it just felt “different”. Meanwhile, a few months went by and I love my new studio. The move and the re-arranging of the furniture was absolutely worth the effort. I hope that your move out of your familiar space, your comfort zone, will pay off soon!