Small Space Sewing Tips

A beautifully organized small sewing space using vertical storage, smart tools, and minimal clutter to maximize creativity and efficiency.

Utilize What You Have In Your Small Sewing Space

Dear Readers and Subscribers,

It takes ingenuity to sew and craft in a small space. Some of you have small spaces to sew in, either by choice or not. It can be challenging to have any hobby or craft in a small space because we need supplies, tools, and patterns. Most hobbies are about acquiring as much stuff as quickly as possible. But when you think about what you actually need for your projects, you start to consider the storage capacity you actually have. What stays? What goes? This article gives you tips on how to save space in your sewing room so you find solutions rather than more challenges.

Buy Virtual Or Digital Products To Store On Your Device

Buy digital versions of patterns, books, and magazines. This way, you print what you need when you need it, and store it on your device—not on a shelf or desk taking up space. When you're finished, your pattern can go into a recycling bin. If you need it again, you can print it again from your device. Make a list in a journal of all the digital patterns you have, without storing them in your sewing space. This alone saves a lot of space in your sewing room. This is one of the reasons I offer digital sewing resources in my sewing shop.

Don't Overbuy Fabric, Tools, and Supplies

It is important to understand the capacity of your sewing room—not just visually, but also quantitatively. Some containers can store up to 60 fat quarters, totaling 15 yards of fabric, enough to sew many projects. A 500-meter spool of thread can sew one project. By doing this, you can easily relate to what you actually consume in a given time. Small spaces don't have the luxury of a 3-year supply. Keep a record of what you've used so you don't bring in new items until you have created new space with outgoing projects.

Don't Spread Out

Use your walls to expand your storage space. Think vertically. Don't spread out—spread up. Use pegboards to expand your zones. You can purchase pegboards with hooks, shelves, and containers at hardware stores, Walmart, craft stores, or online retailers such as Amazon.

Share Sewing Tools 

This can be a bit tricky if it bothers you to loan your tools. But there are some items you need only once or twice a year for a particular project. Instead of purchasing them and having to store them in space you don't have, call one of your sewing friends to see if they may have what you are looking for. There are also sewing guilds where you can check out tools and return them like a library book.

Trade Your Fabric 

We always love other people's stash, don't we? Where do they find all of their beautiful fabric in their stash? That's always my question. Instead of buying new fabric, trade fabric. Fabric looks so much better in a finished sewing project than in the back of a drawer. Plus, fabric can be forgotten when it sits in the back of a drawer, too. If you cannot trade fabric, sell it online. It has been tried and proven that someone is looking for what you have.

Make The Hard and Painful Choices

Your small space has room only for the essentials. It's not about how you're going to fit it all into your space—it's about whether you're keeping this item or that item. These are hard choices that aren't easy to make. It takes all of us a long time to build and acquire our sewing tools, and some of these choices are downright painful. But you will be more successful and creative in a free, uncluttered sewing room that isn't crowded or hard to move around in. Free space allows more creative projects to enter your mind.

Make Every Tool Count

Can you condense your tools? For instance, instead of a regular iron and a travel iron, combine them with a portable iron. Can you make do with 2 rotary cutters instead of 4? Can you work with a limited range of neutral-colored thread? What else can you eliminate to open more space in your sewing area? More likely, as your skills improve, the tools you use will change or be upgraded, and you will remove those you no longer use.

Limit Your Sewing Projects

Keeping one active and one slow project keeps projects under control. You will discover you can still have quick fun with easy or small projects.

Consume Your Scraps Immediately

Small spaces don't have room to collect scraps. Use them immediately by incorporating them into small sewing projects or scrap projects. Some of the best gifts made throughout the year are nothing more than scraps sewn into beautiful, useful projects.

Get Those Unfinished Sewing Projects Done

Don't let your attention become distracted or divided. So many projects to choose from—oh my! Finish each sewing project first before you start another one. I know how it is: you see something online and want to sew it immediately. Make a running list of those whimsical or spur-of-the-moment sewing projects you want to do, and sew them one at a time.

As much as we wish it were true, there are no magical solutions in small sewing spaces. Sewing with less can be more, with its own kind of fun. The challenge to use what you have can push your creativity toward innovative, clever designs. For that, you can be grateful—because one-of-a-kind designs are what everyone is looking for!

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