My new crafty digs

When I got pregnant with Alice, we converted our office/craft room into her room.  My sewing machine and piles of associated sewing / craft stuff was relegated to the guest room and closet.  While picking up a sewing machine and carrying it downstairs to the dining room doesn’t seem like that overwhelming a task, I dread it and will knit a sweater or bake ten pies before I carry the machine down a flight of stairs.



























Of course when I do drag the machine downstairs, I take over the dining room and often spill into the kitchen, much to the chagrin of my clean-freak husband.  And of course since Alice was born and we have another on the way, there are eleventy billion cute little baby projects that I must sew.  During my maternity leave, I spent hours sewing during Alice’s marathon newborn naps, the sewing machine humming along while she slept peacefully in her little swing.  Sewing these days requires much more planning and usually only takes place during the hours between Alice’s bedtime and my bedtime, which these days aren’t too far apart.  The occasional times I motivate to drag out my sewing machine, I try and sew everything sewy floating around in my brain so I can avoid carting all my materials back and forth.  Mostly I sew all small projects for Alice.   

Now that we have another baby on the way, Alice will move into the more spacious guest room, the new baby into Alice’s room, and my ever-growing stash of craft supplies will again be relocated.  Instead of the dragging out my sewing machine every time I want to sew, l’ve been bargaining with J on what’s an appropriate place.  Setting up a sewing area in the living room?  Not okay with him.  Plopping my sewing machine on a cardboard box in our leaky basement?  Not cool with me.  We’re working through it and eventually I’ll get my way we’ll make a perfectly amicable compromise with which both of us can live.  As a bit of an interim solution, I set up camp in our 3-season porch.  I don’t know why I didn’t think of this sooner.  Not only do I get to sew semi-outside, I’m far enough from view that my sewing stuff doesn’t take over the house.  And even on the hottest of days, a little breeze through all the windows and a ceiling fan make everything tolerable, if not enjoyable. 

I’m still working out where I’m going to store everything once I’m officially kicked out of the guest room and my stash moves into the basement (where all the scary things live!) and where my sewing area will move once it gets too cold to sew outside.  Which, in New England is in like a month and a half!

Those of you with tight spaces – how do you handle it?  Do you have a sewing nook or do you set up and break down every time you sew?  Or worse, do you just not sew?