I am currently preparing to create my new space. We just finished gutting our old back bedroom and will be turning it into our new work/computer room. I do not have room in this house right now for a dedicated studio, but we are considering taking the closet, which is actually the width of the room and originally had double sliding doors, and creating a quilt studio in a closet. I saw one once on Clean Sweep on TLC. A table will be attached with hinges to the back wall and will have a folding leg that comes out when you lower it. There will be shelves on one side for my sewing machine and various tools and notions, and on the other side there will be wire basket drawers for my fabrics. There will even be room for a little roll away chair if it all works out. The nice thing is I will be able to throw everything in the closet and close the door when company comes Has anyone here ever done this kind of set up? Any advice would be appreciated.

Great idea. I'm looking into this one! Yeah, I'll bet the weather is great there. Probably the dancing too!

Quilter Lynn, re: your problem of fat qtrs getting mixed up after you have removed one or two. Last fall I put mine in a shoe cabinet that I got from the closet organizing section of our home improvement store. I love it! I have been in and out of the bins and have rearranged the fat qtrs a couple of times as I have bought new ones or used old ones but the versatility is great. The space fits a fat qtr perfectly and if I have a lot of one color or color family I can put two rows in. The back one is not all that visible but my label maker comes in handy to remind me what is back there. I have a couple of plastic drawer dividers that just fit in the space so for the colors I seem to gravitate to a lot, I put them in the plastic tray and then into the shoe space. That way I can pull them out easily. Also I keep a couple of spaces for the qtrs that I have a tentative plan for --- I put a ribbon around them and a label that reminds me of the project so I do not use one for something else and come up short. (of course if I do come up short it gives me an excuse to head to the nearest fabric store and buy more. Hope this gives you some ideas PS greetings from Alamo Palms the weather has been great here)

I also have a 4x8 pegboard and I absolutely love it! It is the best part and the cheapest part of my new organization. I'm still working on the best way to to sort and stack my stash. Larger yardages aren't so difficult but those smaller ones, like quarters......they don't seem to stay in place well when I remove one or two.

I am loving all the great ideas on this thread. I'd like to add a few that I have found that work well in my studio. My studio was a carport that was converted to a large open room. On one side I have placed 2 double-door white storage cabinets that help me 'hide' all the small things like ribbons and trims, and batting. They is also room on the top of them for holding leftover bolts of fabric.

I have my fabric sorted in stackable white wire bins from WalMart that are secured to the wall to keep them from tumbling over when I frantically search for the right piece of fabric. They work very well.

My design wall stretches 12' wide by 4' high and is located right over the fabric bins. It stays covered with projects in the works.

I have my 'chair' and tv in the same room so that I can sit back, watch TV and work out design or color problems.

But one of my favorite tools in my studio is the peg board I have over the cutting table. I have my rulers, cutting sissors, rotary cutters, stencils, and more hanging out of the way and so very accessable. If you have a place where you can put up a peg board, give it some thought. It really saves a lot of time looking for items that you use over and over.

Keep the ideas coming!
patches

oh yes, there are alternatives for the trash, but it's the cup-holder that has saved me from more than one mishap!

WestCoaster wrote:
That's what I use --- small gift bags that I tape to the edge of my sewing table. Usually I just dump it and re-use it but occasionally I change it because I want to liven things up.

That does look handy! I've been using small gift bags pinned to the ironing board or looped over the drawer handle near my sewing machine. It's a nice hit of colour, as well.

here's another handy item for trash... it's a combination cupholder and trashbag that clamps on to your work surface. Go to creativememories.com and search for side-kick. The little trash bag is disposable, but since I don't want to be buying more, I just dump it & re-use.
Florence

I'm so glad it helped.

I like the idea of several PIN points, too. Another tip is that I have a bowl beside the sewing machine (a friend made it out of fabric) and in it I store the last thread used, an awl for pushing fabric that bunches under the needle, thread ripper (though who ever needs that!) I have a wide mouthed vase that my lint roller fits just above, so it's a wonky looking "flower" and also it keeps the outside edge from catching on other things. Handy handy handy!

WestCoaster wrote: Both very good tips! I'm always shifting my one and only garbage can from cuttting table to sewing table. In fact, I'll pick up a couple of extras, as well as a lint roller this afternoon at my local Wally World. I'm shopping mainly for a couple of 3 drawer rolling carts that are on sale at this time. They'll fit nicely under my cutting table. I've outgrown my little bitty storage cart already. Another thing I'm picking up will be a couple of extra magnetic pin holders...love those things. That's another thing I'm always shifting from one work area to another. It's all in the convenience, right?!

I'm so jealous, but lest others on the forum think we're all so lucky, I think I'll tell a bit about my room, and others can join in with their own particular challenges...
My sewing room is also my guest room, so everything has to be able to be stashed away (fortunately, MIL doesn't come often and my family's in town!) I have a double-door closet with wire shelves off to one side which hold bins & plastic drawers for some semblance of organization. In the center, an old dressing table holds an old Kenmore machine, but I seldom use that anymore, and lined up underneath are the other 3 machines that have come into my life since I took this up! But truly, sitting in the closet worked early on for piecing, but NOT for quilting!
So now, I have a sturdy, adjustable-height card table for my machine, and I keep my big-board ironing board to the left, adjust the height for ironing/cutting or use as a support surface when maneuvering a large quilt. All of this is set up at the end of the bed, so the quilt has plenty of room to move once it's thru the machine! The bed also holds the cutting board if it's not on the ironing board for use. (and a variety of other things that haven't been put away!)
Behind me is my design wall, 2 4x8 sheets of dense foamcore (1/2", not the usual 1/4") with white polar fleece draped over from the top. This way, the fleece can come off if the whole thing needs to really go away, which might mean the attic.
My MIL is my most frequent guest, and she's just had to get used to a room decorated with stacks of fabric on several tall bookshelves, which also hold books and folders with patterns, DVD's, etc.
I have a decorative screen in a corner that can hide the design wall, card tables, ironing board when needed.
What I need most urgently is for DH to fix the light-- a ceiling fan w/ 3 bulbs, one of which comes & goes, one works, the other doesn't. This is really making me crazy, not to mention blind! I do have a good task light but I have to aim it in different directions depending on what I'm doing! Lucky it's got a swivel neck!
I've got lots of dreams & ideas for the "perfect" room, but for now, I'm still managing with what I've got--that goes for time as well as space!
Florence

Wow. That's the kind of room I want when I grow up. :shock:

Funny you should mention Myrna Giesbrecht above. She visited my B&B several times, and each time made wonderful suggestions for my quilt room, which she borrowed on occasion.

One feature is the design wall. I used 4X8 sheets of styrofoam on one wall covered in a white flannelette sheet. It is always well used. I also have a small flannel bulletin board above my sewing machine where I can put a sample block to follow to be sure I don't twist around the piecing of blocks as I stitch them.

Storage for the stash needs to be thought out carefully. I get plastic tubs with lids, fold them on end and stack like file folders in a cabinet. I keep similar colours together. No, I won't tell you how many tubs I have. That's like asking my age!!!

My cutting table is mounted on a sturdy flat board with piano wheels, so that it can move or be pushed flat against the wall. It is a raised table, so I don't have to bend too far over when cutting. Myrna suggested paint cans under each leg as a quick fix for short tables. Isn't she the smartest cookie? Fortunately, my husband was motivated enough and clever enough to do the low shelf supporting the legs. He thought I might be neater if motivated. SIGH.

I have lots of shallow drawers for templates, buttons, stabilizers, lonely blocks, and I label each drawer to eliminate the open-shut-bang method.

I have at least three garbage points. One near the sewing machine, one under the cutting table and one in the other corner. I also use a lint roller for the thread that invariably sticks on ironing board, cutting board or by the sewing machine.

My ironing board needed to be wider, so good ol' hubby designed a wider board with a v shape underneath that slides over the tapered end of the regular ironing board that keeps the board secure. I CAN remove it to have a regular board, but I NEVER seem to do that.

I use my classroom mailboxes (used to teach school) for small bits. I keep them in colour sections, and it's almost fun to go looking for a small piece of black and white in the letterbox.

My scissors hang from one of those kitchen racks with hooks. I keep it near my sewing machine. I have a ruler board that a friend's husband made with grooves for the rulers. I put that near my cutting board.

No one dares think of a second use for this room. That way it's always ready to go.