Sewing Room Design & Equipment Ideas

Ideas and plans on how to set up, organise, layout, and equip a sewing room.

The architect who must repeat in the small house the modern improvements of its more roomy neighbor will not readily part with any of the precious floor space for a special sewing-room. He may suggest that the sewing-machine be kept at one end of the up-stairs hall, under the window, or in the linen-closet, or even in the guest-room! So the mistress of the new home that is to be must stand guard over part of the house plan for a sewing-room. She alone fully realizes the attending muss of every little sewing, how hard it is to keep threads from traveling, and how much harder it is to get them up from a rug or carpet. This may be the day of ready-made clothing, but we still have with us the skirt that needs a new facing or the blouse of last season that must be remodeled, and the household in which there are growing children is never without the problem of letting out tucks and waistbands or taking them in for the next youngest. This is not the "sit on a cushion and sew a fine seam" kind of work, but requires patterns and cutting space, a form on which to fit, and means of pressing. In short, more equipment is needed than just a sewing machine.

If, however, a separate sewing-room is quite impossible, usually the case in a city apartment where there is neither hall-room nor guest-room, a definite place at least can be set apart from one of the other rooms. Possibilities for that kind of a sewing room substitute will be spoken of in the next section, sewing room storage.

Sewing Room Equipment

The equipment for a real sewing-room can be made at home with comparatively little outlay of money. A special ironing-board is not a necessity, but a most desirable convenience if there is the possibility of heating irons in the room. It will save steps and probable interference with other activities in laundry or kitchen. But the board should be ready for use with as little disturbance as possible in the sewing-room.

The picture shows a five-foot board hinged by its broad end to a wooden strip fastened to the wall at the required height. The standard is made in two sections. The outer section is a four-foot length of gas-pipe one inch in diameter, with one end flattened and riveted to a three-inch-long hinge. By means of this hinge the pipe is screwed to the floor near the wall. The inner section of the standard is a solid rod thirty inches long and one-half inch in diameter. One end of this rod slides into the pipe, and the other end is also flattened and riveted to a three-inch-long hinge by means of which the rod is screwed to the ironing-board fifteen inches below the narrow end.

When the board is not in use it can be folded up against the wall, where a bolt holds it in place. When needed, it can easily be let down. The iron rod slides part way from the pipe and the two sections form a supporting arm or bracket. This kind of a standard does not interfere with skirt-pressing, and is perfectly steady.

The picture also shows the little zinc shelf, to the right of the board, for the gas iron. A piece of asbestos is fitted between the wall and the shelf. The same arrangement is advisable for an electric iron. And with the latter it is a good plan to have a small red bulb attached to one end of the iron. This tiny light glows a continual reminder when the power is on. It consumes very little extra power and may save accidents. Either a gas or an electric iron can, of course, be connected to the high fixtures without interfering with the regular light. The gas or electric company can supply the necessary attachment for this purpose, and will also send a man to adjust it.

For a gown form that will be the right size and shape get enough stockinette or Shaker flannel for a fitted waist. Make this waist from a fitted-lining pattern with high collar, and long enough to come seven inches below your waist-line. It should be fitted tight, without wrinkles, over as little underclothing as possible. The seams are to be inside. After they have been machine-stitched, put on the waist and have some one sew up the center-front closing. Then mix plaster of Paris, a small portion at a time, and have some one apply it rapidly and smoothly with both hands over the whole surface of the waist. Be sure the vessel in which the plaster is mixed is clean and free from any particles of hardened plaster for each mixing. When the entire waist has been thoroughly covered and the plaster has set quite firm (about half an hour) have some one cut the waist apart down the center front and back. Remove both halves carefully and dry them in a moderate oven. Then give the inside a plaster coat and after that has dried join the two parts with inch-wide strips of adhesive tape.

Your waist form is then ready to mount on a standard that will bring it to your height, shoulder to shoulder. Including the standard, for which a carpenter will charge perhaps fifty cents, the whole gown form costs not more than one dollar. Indeed, if one has tools the standard can be made at home. A board one-half inch thick and large enough to cover the opening at the base of the form must be cut to fit this opening exactly and glued into place. However, be- fore adjusting the board the standard should be screwed to it. A dowel rod one inch in diameter or a. broom-handle will answer this purpose. The floor base of the standard can be made of a second board one inch thick and large enough to make a firm foundation. It must be weighted with a sheet of lead, so that the gown form will not be top-heavy.

The only other large piece of equipment that a home sewing-room needs is a cutting-table. A four-foot-long table with unfinished top, the kind that can be purchased for about four dollars in the kitchen-furnishing section of a department store, is ideal, especially if it has a drawer in which cutting-shears and tailor's chalk can be kept. But even if the sewing-room is large enough to admit a table of that kind, sometimes the household purse is not. So a drop-shelf substitute is suggested. This can be made from the side of a packing-box, hinged to the wall and further supported by two legs braced together at the top with a four-inch-wide strip of wood. By means of this strip the legs are hinged to the long free edge of the shelf board. When the cutting-shelf is not in use it can be folded up against the wall and the legs drop back against it.

A convenient size for a cutting-shelf is four feet long by two and one-half feet wide. That allows a skirt length to be laid out. But if cramped for space even a small cutting-shelf will be worth while. It may not need the legs, but will be sufficiently supported by large brackets fastened to the wall. If the packing-box board is too rough, a white oil-cloth cover tacked over it will remedy this defect.

Sewing Room Floor

Now about the sewing-room floor; one of narrow matched hardwood boards is best. If that is impossible or the floor is old and has large, unsightly cracks that catch dust and fairly devour pins, it should be covered or painted. For a covering either cork carpet or linoleum is good. The cork carpet good quality of inlaid linoleum are both are rather expensive. The initial cost of a painted floor will be less; but, of course, it will need repainting frequently, at least on the much-traveled spots. Before the paint is applied the boards should be scrubbed and the cracks filled with wood-filler (it can be bought in any paint-shop), or with a stiff mixture of flour and water - a regular dough. When the filling has dried the floor is ready to be finished with two or three coats of medium-toned floor paint.

Continue: Sewing Room Storage.