My Upcycled and Recycled Sewing Space

Welcome to my sewing space where every piece of furniture has been salvaged from somewhere and then painted to within an inch of its life. While the rest of the house is decorated in whites and off whites with hints of grey and dark navy, in this room my love of colour and pattern has been let off its leash. It’s a small room with a lot in it.

As you can see, in the far corner is my sewing machine, the Brother Dream Creator – I’m sending big love thoughts at it as I write this. It sits on a small dining table I bought second hand. I bought the chair for $5 from an op-shop and painted it several colours before settling on lime green… for now.

The trolley thing next to it is a cheap thing. The plastic boxes were transparent so I painted them with craft paint. I keep things like coloured pencils in there; some of the boxes are empty. It makes a great place to sit the fan on in summer.

The cane chair was bought second hand. I didn’t paint it but I’m thinking about it ;-).

The blanket box has been with me for a long time. An ex-work friend gave it to me. The top is made out of chipboard, so I covered it in paper and painted and decorated it. It has lasted remarkably well. It houses things like cushion covers and tablecloths.

My sister is a lino-cut print artist in her spare time (@jennifernoone) and she sent me this print as a birthday present a few years ago. I have a few of her other prints but, being red, this one seems to go really well in here. You’ve probably noticed I have room for a few mini quilts on the walls as well.

This is my cutting, basting, general craft activities table. It is made from an open Japanese style bedhead someone had on their verge for one of those shire pickups. I brought it home, nailed a few MDF panels to it, added some legs as best I could and painted big sunflowers on it in the style of the time. It’s 63” by 36”, so a very generous size. It barely fits in the room.

Underneath the table I have a small chest of drawers (another roadside find); some A3 paper boxes painted and decorated sitting on some planks on wheels like big skateboards; and my ironing table that I made from timber that was in the shed. The boxes hold sewing notions and yarn. The ironing table is on wheels (almost everything is in this room) and pulls out for quick jobs like seam pressing. If I take some of the furniture out of the room I can have it in an open space for pressing yardage and quilt tops and backs.

This room may not be much if you’re looking for a studio but it works like a dream. What it doesn’t have is a design wall. Usually I use the spare bed or the floor, and if I want to see what a single block looks like I often attach it to the fridge with a magnet and stand back.

Thanks for visiting. I can’t wait to see your space!