Sewing Room

Here are another few shots from around my new sewing room.  I'm still in the middle of organizing and setting up, but you can see that it's spaceous.  The walls are painted a light sage green.  There's one window, and sun actually filters through in the afternoons.

I really love spending time down here!  There are so many projects calling me!

There's space enough for both of my antique Singer machines, as well as two modern machines and my serger, which I just cleaned and prepped for the actual 1920s dress I'm working on for a friend.  The muslin on that is finished - once the fitting is done I'll be working on completing that dress!

There's also plenty of space for my bins and bins of fabric and supplies!

Here's a view of the actual sewing table.  In the foreground is the maple dining table I got to serve as a cutting table - no more crawling around on the floor to cut!  Also you can see in this picture one of the two Ott Lights I got for Yule.  These make everything I'm working on as bright as daylight - which is great because, as a basement room, it can be a little difficult to light for close work!

I'm so happy to have this sewing and crafting haven in my home.  Thanks for popping by to look!

Puzzle Me This

Since acquiring my two wonderful vintage Singer sewing machines, I've been on a quest for accessories.  While trolling eBay, I came across a listing for two Singer puzzle boxes.

A Singer puzzle box is a neatly crafted box of feet and other accessories produced by the Singer Manufacturing Company during the 19th and 20th centuries. The box was invented in 1888 by John M. Griest, a Singer employee who was awarded US patent 397980 on February 19, 1889 for the design. 

The accessories stash into a fold out rectangular wooden box which is lined in velvet or felt (if the lining is still intact).  An alternate name for these is a "style box".  The boxes include attachments for hemming, braiding, underbraiding, tucking, shirring, binding, quilting and ruffling, along with screwdrivers and spare needles.  Mine are not in the most pristine condition, but I will continue to look for more of these fascinating treasures!

Now I just have to clean them up and learn how to use them!  Any tips?

Making Over Victoria: Laundry Rules

 One of the more minor decorating projects around the new home has been completing our laundry room. This is also temporary home to my sewing area – in the spring we hope to begin renovations to our 140 year old basement to put in a finished room down there which is planned to be my new sewing room.  The planned room will be large enough to accommodate an actual cutting table, as well as multiple sewing machines and ample fabric stash storage!

I believe this pretty much un-insulated laundry area was once an upper-level back porch, with its five bright windows, and near access to the back stairs.  I’m not sure when it was converted to a laundry, but that was the purpose the previous owners assigned to the room as well.  I think the it is coming out pretty cute, so I’d like to share a few pictures from the room… while not haute couture, I am sewing the curtains for this room, using one of the latest Pinterest trends, burlap and lace.  These are the completed valences.  The burlap was purchased from www.burlapfabric.com, and the lace was a yard sale find.  I scored a whole spool of it for pennies.  As you can see, there’s plenty left to complete the curtains, and then some.

This legless dresser was left behind by the previous owners of the home.  It makes a great place to store sewing supplies, and an equally nice window seat.  I’m planning on covering a cushion to make it even cozier.

While I lack a “before” picture, the walls in this room were formerly stark white. We definitely wanted to jazz things up a little, and we wanted to pay homage to the Victorian era without sacrificing modern convenience.  Corrugated galvanized steel roofing is the paneling we chose for the walls, with a periwinkle blue upper wall.  We first saw this used as a wall treatment in a regional fish fry restaurant. Galvanized buckets are used as light shades, and antique washboards, wringers, and clothes drying racks help to tie the theme together. 

We chose to stack our front loading washer and dryer because this saves floor space, and allows free access to the attic via the pulldown ladder in the ceiling of the laundry.  Please feel free to comment and let me know what you think about this room renovation.

Thanks for stopping by!

Another Vintage Find

During our honeymoon, we did a little antique browsing. You know me, my eyes are always peeled for great sewing related finds. There's a little antiques co-op, not far from here that I love. I've shared finds from there with you before, including my beloved copy of Make Do and Mend. While casually browsing, my spidey senses began to tingle... literally, that's the only way to describe it... something made me look inside an old barrister's bookcase (you know, the kind with the glass cover panels to protect the books and documents) and I found the first seven books from the Woman's Institute of Domestic Arts and Sciences course in "Complete Dressmaking and Designing With Pattern Drafting"! This course is the one headed by Mary Brooks Picken which so inspired Amy Barickman to write Vintage Notions (see my review here).

Anyway, ladies, I was so excited that my hands were literally shaking as I pulled these beauties from the case. They are in fabulous, near mint condition and they have already provided me with hours of enjoyment. My new hubby could see that I was beyond excited about these books, and he saw to it that I did not leave the shop without them. My only disappointment is that it is a partial set... the first seven in a seventeen book course!  I am dying to get my hands on the rest of the titles in the set. Seriously, if anyone would like to part with a set they own, let's talk. While I am far from a woman of means, I'd just love to have the rest of these, particularly if they were of the same vintage.

Each chapter in these wonderful volumes includes test materials.  Little quizzes on the contents presented, or instructions on what samples to create and mail in to be critiques by the faculty of the Institute.  There are a ton of projects to complete within these pages, may of which I will be sharing with you!

Included inside the first volume was a sheet detailing the course overview.  It also listed supplies that would be sent to each subscriber to the course.  These included a dressmaker's gauge, tape measure, answer papers, information blanks (I assume for notes), return envelopes and measure slips.

The books were sent out one at a time, so my assumption is that this subscriber decided not to continue in her studies for some reason. None of the books bore a name, or any other information, so I will never know why my historic friend stopped getting her books.

To commemorate this find, I'd like to share a little freebie with you! Here is a copy of the original Woman's Institute Measure Slip! Click on the image below and you will be redirected to download a fullsize PDF of the measure slip.  Print off several to use for your own measurements, or those of the people you sew for! Or, using PDF fill-in software, keep all the info on your computer. In any case, use it with my compliments, and thanks for your encouraging comments!