How do you store your thread?

Continually evolving the studio .........

For the last 6 months I have been in the process of reducing and decluttering the studio. This has included all the cupboards that 'stuff' just gets placed in, rehoming old UFO's (unfinished objects) and taking a serious look at the fabric stash and making the decision that some just had to go.  It has been a very rewarding task. 

Some items have taken a while to get to the top of the clean out / re-home list but I do have to admit that the more I was cleaning out, the more I wanted to clean out. The process became easier and I found that I wasn't as attached the the 'items' like I once was. I was becoming happier about the reduced amount of 'stuff' that was laying around.

The photo below shows my sewing space back in January before I started the declutter and rehoming. The second photo shows it today. I have been able to eliminate one 8 cubed shelving unit, Lily was happy to receive that for her room, and replace it will a four cubed unit and place my two aqua filing cabinets on top. These used to live in the office but are much more functional out in the studio space as they held all my various English Paper Piecing papers.

With all this decluttering I have been rearranging things. I love this part, the patting of the fabric as you reconnect with the reason you purchased it in the first place and making plans to actually use it!  With all the rearranging more space became available and I was able to turn my mind to better storage. Top on my list was my thread.  Using thread as a 'decor' item is great, I love the colour and brightness that it adds to the studio and who doesn't love a thread rainbow!  BUT the dust. My thread was gathering dust, surely this can not be a good thing for a sewing machine right?

So I turned to Pinterest, as one does, looking for ideas. Then I looked to what I already had and could make use of. Those two aqua filing cabinets were originally full of various EPP Papers but now I have my Scan N Cut machine (which I absolutely love) I don't need to 'stash' papers like I did. Now I just cut them as I need them.  You can see from the photo above that one cabinet (the left one) doesn't have any white tags on it because it is now empty :)

Hello dust free Thread Storage.

In the top draw I have my Aurifil Floss.

In the next draws I have my sewing thread. 

I only use Aurifil thread in my sewing machine so it also makes more sense having it closer to my sewing machine.

  

If you would like more details on the aqua cabinets got mine from Officeworks

and all the details are HERE.

In my search for a thread solution I also visited the Aurifil Blog and found a little tutorial HERE on cutting up the Aurifil Thread card.  So this morning I also cut mine. It is going to make it a lot easier to colour match threads. I wish I had done this earlier.

I am now off to pick some new thread colours and maybe actually sew something,

 or I could finally cut up my Kona Solids Card! 

Happy stitching,

Sharon x

You can also follow Lilabelle Lane Creations here

In the Studio

With the school holidays starting later this week I have taken the opportunity today to give the studio space a bit of a clean up so it seemed also like the perfect opportunity to "document it". And yes my OCD (or CDO) is showing here :)

  

 My little Liberty Stash is also growing with my monthly Society bundle from Ava and Neve.

Last week I also added to my "Tower of Bonnie and Camille" with a 'The Good Life' JR.

That little collection has long outgrown the cake plate!

I like to keep my fabric wrapped around comic boards.  They are a thinner and often cheaper alternative to some the brands that are marketed as boards to wrap your fabrics around.  My last lot I picked up from Ebay. They were 2nd's and advertised as being of irregular sizes.  We are talking all of mm's different to each other so of no real concern and they came in at 5c each!

The white baskets down the bottom are from Kmart and they house my random colour sorted scraps. 

The shelving its that I am using are from Fantastic Furniture here in Australia.

I love storing my fabrics like this as it means I can see exactly what I have and I can shop at home first.  The wall of colour is also inspiring and having it to look upon whilst at my sewing machine just makes my heart sing. If I had a little bigger space I would have another shelving unit as my AMH is tucked away safe in a cupboard with a few more gems.

 The top row of fabrics are all of my Bonnie and Camille. Some days I get a little sad because it has shrunk but then that means I have been sewing with it and that is better than sitting on a shelf right? To the far right there are 6 baskets. That is where I keep my Bonnie and Camille scraps, sorted by colour and easy to go rummaging through :)

Above centre, I have a slow growing collection of Kona Solids thanks to my monthly "Kona Cotton Collectors Club" at "The Next Stitch".  Here I have them will my "Karen Lewis Textiles Rainbow". I hope that one day they will become a rainbow creation.  

This is my new baby. A Brother VQ3000.

We are still getting to know each other and I am very impressed by her capabilities and her huge throat space.  When we have had a little more time to play I might just write up a review for her.

    

I recently moved my cutting table out of the office and back into the sewing hub and I am hoping that I will be able to add a bigger cutting table to this space in the future...stay tuned :)

As you can see my cutting table isn't that big or is it that I just have a few projects on it that I am slowly working on all at the same time?

Truth be known, the real reason for my clean up today was to find those Liberty squares (above the scissors). I knew I had cut them ready to turn into the next instalment of my Diamonds in a Square Quilt but just had no idea where they were.

My OCD is happy now. Now I just need to get into the office and finish sorting it out. It has become the dumping ground and work space for many an EPP project whilst on a Netflix binge!

Better go, time to go and mess it all up again :)

Happy stitching,

Sharon

You can also follow Lilabelle Lane Creations here