Bedroom Sewing

Not for the bedroom, but in it.

I probably haven’t mentioned here that my sewing room underwent a huge reorganization back at the end of summer. We desperately needed another bedroom for the twins, which meant moving both Tyo and Syo around; Syo wound up moving into the basement bedroom (which had been the sewing room), and the basement living room became the new, somewhat more cramped sewing space.

While the bulk of this reduction was accomplished via a major fabric purge, a few pieces of furniture needed to leave as well. One of these was my Rocketeer, my grandma’s machine, which got relocated to my bedroom. Its little cabinet tucks nicely under a window now that the space isn’t occupied by the twins’ mattress. I also cleared a little cubby in the closet to hold sewing supplies while not in use.

Now, sewing in the bedroom is a bit of a fraught issue for my husband and I. He is a tidy (I might even say, neat freak) kind of person. I am a tornado. Sewing is not exactly the tidiest of crafts, either. And yet we both feel a little sad that I’m always running off to the basement instead of spending time together.

So really, this bedroom sewing setup is an experiment. Can I keep my mess contained, and tidy up at the end of a session? Can I keep the dresser top clear enough to throw the ironing pad on it? Can I sew without every single notion I own within arm’s reach?

We tested it out last night, sewing up a little doll’s dress. (If the twins had their way, this is the kind of thing I would sew exclusively)

It was really nice, actually, with the twins playing around underfoot (and “helping” lots) and my husband playing his video game on the bed. The downside is that 9:00 rolled around WAY too quickly. And then I had to pack it all away, even though I still want to add a ruffle to the bottom of the doll’s dress. I should maybe do the thing where you time your setup/teardown time so it feels a little less daunting.

And the rocketeer really is a pleasant machine to sew on. It’s perfect to have up here since, as my only slant shank machine, it doesn’t share its accessories.

Oh and as for the doll’s dress… the main pattern piece is from a rag doll pattern that wasn’t put away properly. I didn’t have the sheet with the sleeve so I drafted a sleeve to fit the opening. That part went well enough, but this particular doll seems to have extra-chunky arms because the sleeve (and whole armscye actually) is a bit too tight. But also—this doll dress is designed to gather in to the neck; there’s no normal shoulder shaping. Given that, why wouldn’t you just make it a raglan style sleeve, and save yourself the annoyance of setting a tiny capped sleeve? The final look is basically identical. Doll clothes could be a whole other thing, I suspect.