The Sewing Room

 March 24, 2026

I have been working on the sewing room for almost a month now. I decided I wanted to do a deep purge and cleaning of the room. I also wanted to do some organization as I have not been happy with some of the organization I have. 

I did not take part in Karen Brown's decluttering this year. The first two years I did her 21 day program, I was happy with what I accomplished. Last year I stalled as I wanted to clean as I went. When you do something every day you do not have time to clean your spaces. She wants you to declutter and clean later. I like to do both at the same time. 

I started decluttering in late February when I was disgusted with my sewing room. I tackled the fabric stash shelf and did one shelf at a time. I was building decluttering muscles once again. I was dealing with my fantasy life with some of the fabric I had on the shelves. I was dealing with guilt over fabric I had bought. I was making myself look at the future and what it was I wanted to make. This was very hard for me as I had been ignoring these things for a long time. 

Doing the shelving unit was mentally hard work for me. I found it easy to do the bottom two shelves and the very top of the unit. I was able to have the bottom shelf empty until I put 2 empty tubs on it. The next shelf up was patterns and I have my patterns down to 2 containers. The very top of the shelf had me sort out the embroidery stabilizers and get rid of half or more of them. There are two items left on it as the embroidery stabilizer is on the shelf with the patterns. 

Emotions started to run high when handling the garment fabric. I was dealing with guilt, emotional attachment, and fantasy sewing. I walked away from it twice before I got it done. I took almost 50 meters to the thrift store. What is left may be donated next year if I don't sew it. 

The quilting fabric was gone through and, once again, I was dealing with emotional attachment and fantasy sewing. I got rid of some fabrics but kept more than I should have. I haven't fully dealt with the fantasy sewing. This is where I need to look at what I want to sew in the future and get rid of what doesn't fit in with my plans. I was emotionally exhausted when I got finished with the shelving unit and can see it will not be removed from my sewing room in the near future. I am still working on what I want to sew in the future. 

In my down time, I was scrolling through YouTube (bad habit) and found a series called Making Space to Make. I watched the first 5 videos over a short period of time. I made myself answer her questions and do what she had asked for homework. I had finished one UFO and cut out another one which I will make in April. I did sit in my room and think about what I had learned. 

    I hate clutter and a mess and I was working in what I hated the most. 

    Out of sight, out of mind. Having items in containers I can't see into is not for me. 

    I do not need to have a Pinterest ready sewing room.

    I have not built good habits in the sewing room. I will stop sewing and not clean up before I leave the room. It is out of sight and out of mind when I leave it for the day. 

    What is it that I want to sew. I am hoping that will fall into place as time goes on. 

Week 6 was the cutting table. I had done some clean up prior to week 6. I finished it after I watched the video. I can only have one project on the cutting table. I am following the lady's mantra "anything can visit, but nothing should stay". If I cut out some projects for a month, I have trays to put them into. They reside on the shelving unit. If I take out interfacing, I need to put it away when I finish using it. With the table cleaned off, I then scrubbed the top of the cutting table, wiped down the shelf underneath. I then scrubbed the cutting mat. This area was so dirty it was disgusting. The next day I sorted through the two drawers and organized what I had in them. One drawer is for the tools I use at the cutting table and the other houses boning for the doll's historical clothing. 

I will confess that I have two things extra on the cutting table that I need to deal with before Friday. I will sit in the family room and do them one afternoon. 

I have been forcing myself form good habits in the sewing room. I put away several spools of thread I had on the sewing cabinet. I dealt with the table and the desk. That area is cleaned. I vacuumed the floor which had a lot of fibre dust and threads on it. I am still at the stage where I have to tell myself what I need to do before I leave the room. It is hard when you just want to exit the room for the day. 

As I work on the room, I am working on what I want to sew in the future. I have ideas mulling around in my head but I am still thinking them through. The one thing I do know is that I am not sewing for the sake of sewing. I want to sew meaningful projects. I have several items I want to make that are meaningful and I plan on making them this year.