Posts Tagged ‘home’

Design the Sewing Room of Your Dreams with Nancy Zieman

Thursday, November 4th, 2010

Do you have your own sewing room? I wish I did! I sew in my dining room and living room, stashing my machine and supplies in the hall closet.  I have three small children so the majority of my sewing happens late into the evening hours. I shut down shop when I am not sewing and put away my machine and all my supplies when not working on a project for the safety of my kiddos and to protect my favorite fabrics.  Having an organized sewing and crafting room would be a dream for me! My current set-up takes so long to prepare to sew, I often don’t work on a project unless I have at least an hour or more to work on it. I know I would sew a lot more if I had a designated sewing space and a sewing cabinet.

Does this dilemma sound familiar? Having a designated sewing space makes sewing much more accessible. Plus it allows for more organization and saves you time and energy so you can just enjoy sewing! A sewing and craft room can take shape in many ways and can be set up in a corner, a closet, an attic or even an entire room.

Nancy Zieman has teamed up with Koala cabinets to create the sewing room of her dreams. Take a tour of Nancy’s dream sewing space and get inspiration to create a sewing space or room in your home. Also view  the Customers Style Gallery where owners of Koala cabinets have shared their own sewing studios. Its great to see a wide variety of different spaces that are utilized for sewing and crafting!  Plus you can enter to win a Koala Studio from Koala Cabinets, click here to read more details and enter the contest which ends 12/31/10.

My Mother's sewing room with the Koala Treasure Chest Plus IV and Koala Storage Center Plus IV in Birdseye Maple.

Not all of us can have the luxury of such a large space like Nancy for a sewing room. Here is an image of my Mother’s sewing room. She has taken a standard bedroom sized room and created a sewing and crafting room.

What is your sewing room like? We would love to see what your sewing room looks like, send us an image to share with all of our customers for inspiration and motivation to re-vamp our creative spaces!

Happy dreaming . . .

Annalee



Easy Pillow Slipcovers and Fabric Wall Hangings

Thursday, April 8th, 2010

When I was at Sew Expo, I found some super fun Echino fabric by Etsuko Furuya, at the Pacific Fabric & Crafts booth. Japanese fabric always so inspiring for me. Last year I put some Echino fabric on my Amy Butler’s Birdie Swing Bag. I LOVE it when a vibrant fabric inspires me to get into my “sewing room”.

I took my fun new fabrics and made new slipcovers for my tired throw pillows in my family room. It was so fun and easy and I love the way the great graphics contrast my dark brown sofa. It makes the whole room feel fresh and new. Download these free step by step instructions for pillowcase slipcovers from Bernina here.

I also took one of the large scene fabrics and spread it over an artist canvas, making it into a quick wall hanging for my daughter’s room. This was very easy to do. I bought an inexpensive wood framed canvas at a local art supply store and used my husbands staple tacker to get a more heavy duty professional staple. (An office stapler can work too but you are more likely to have to pull staples out and re-staple to get them to lie flat.) Then I measured my fabric, making sure that I left plenty of extra on the edges to wrap around canvas side and making sure that the scene I wanted would be positioned correctly. I ironed my fabric and then lined it up on the canvas. Then I pulled the fabric over the edges to the back side and stapled the fabric to the wood frame, making sure the fabric was pulled taut and even as I stapled. Voila, my daughter has a new wall hanging for her room. Easy, fun and sew satisfying.

-Carmen