Every few years I have to reorganize my sewing room.  It is not something I really want to do, but I have to out of necessity, due to not taking the proper amount of time when putting things back after or even before a project.

My room is NOT this clean now.

My sewing room is small, I have every possible space taken up with something needed for sewing. My sewing room is connected to my husband’s game room, now there lies the real issue.  I don’t have enough room to cut things out properly in my sewing room, he has a 9 foot billiards table, see where this is going?  He even has empty space under the billiards table … I have inched my way into and taken over his game room, 90% of the year.       

Years ago I made a light weight table cover out of high density foam board, (used in building houses that I found at Home Depot), glued black vinyl on top, felt on the bottom and decorative bullion trim on the edge.  I put this on the billiard table and now it becomes a great cutting table.

One problem, when we entertain, I have to gather up all my sewing stuff and cram it back into my sewing room … that is how it gets unorganized again and again.

Throughout this year I am going to take you on this journey of how I am organizing everything, including cataloguing my patterns and fabric.

My first trick is using a Shoe Organizer for all my embroidery stabilizers, interfacing, self made or traced patterns, and muslins.

Earlier I had bought two Interlocking Shoe Organizers for my shoes, but I only ended up using one, so I thought why not use the other one for sewing.

What I learned when I put the first one together is that it would fall apart when I moved it where I wanted it.  It had strong shelves and sides but when it was all connected it wasn’t sturdy enough for moving.

This is how I fixed the problem.

I carefully drilled little holes in each side of the connectors.

When drilling, the material fragments you are drilling into will gather around the bit, in this case it was plastic.

To keep your bit clean, use a wire brush and lightly brush the fragments off of the bit. One reason why you want to do this, is that the drill bit will become so full of the fragment buildup that in time you will actually be drilling a bigger hole than the true bit size.

I then took aluminum wire, used for electric fences, and made little pins that will slide into the newly drilled holes and lock the unit shelves in place.

I cut the wire about 1 1/4″ long, then took a pair of needle nose pliers and bent the wire down, making a head or stop at the top.  I chose this wire because it is strong but easy to bend.

After putting the sides, bottom or top into the corner connectors, I slid the pin into the holes I drilled and then bent the remainder of it up to form a secure lock.

The finished shelf was easy to lift up and move around. I’m still in the process of filling it up, but I think it is going to work well.