On the road to studio reality
The road to building my dream studio has been a long and involved one. I've talked about it here and here.
Now that the stove is cranking and patterns have been sent to the testers, I'm starting on some much-needed studio organization and, to a lesser degree, decoration. It can be hard to be timely with studio organization and remodeling when you're constantly working in the space as well.
Two sewing desks, 2 of 5 vintage straight stitch/zig zaggers pictured. We still need to frame out the windows...right now they're still covered in winterizing plastic.
I've wanted to teach sewing classes in the barn since the day we came to check it out with our realtor. Not just that, but provide a craft space to the community for knitting, sewing, you name it. I'm slowly getting closer to that goal. And I hope that offering this space to the community will help bring us into the fold. Right now we have approximately 4 friends in town: A couple whom we've known since before the move, and our friendly carpenter neighbor and his wife.
This week, my mom brought down an old desk I remember from my childhood that she no longer has space for in her 500 sq ft studio apartment. This will be sewing table #2. I'm hoping to pick up another fun table at my favorite local auction house. A lovely student in one of my Cabin Workshops offered me her 1970's sewing machine since she had just upgraded, which I will add to my 'classroom'. Slowly but surely, I hope to build a little team of lovingly restored vintage machines for people to learn on.
The little white thing in the outlet is a remote controlled outlet. This way I can use a remote to switch on all my plugged in pendants.
Lighting is key. I wanted to maintain the old-barn-iness, so I figured aluminum wearhouse pendants were the way to go. These paris green enamel babes are from ikea. I still have the old Xmas lights up and need to grab the ladder and take them down. They provide great ambient light but use a ton of electricity (new lamps use LED's) and recently stopped working mysteriously, so they're on the way out. I plan to pick up a few more of these drop pendants next ikea trip. I'm also going to mount some clip floodlights aimed at the cieling for ambient/fill light since the ceiling is white.
What a mess! I need to do a studio sidewalk sale or organize a fabric swap. Some bins just have unpacked stuff from my former studio that still needs a home (or needs to go?). I'd also like to set up my stereo and turntable at some point...
I also lucked out on craigslist and picked up some used industrial shelving! I've always liked the look of these and they were super affordable. I need to consolidate/have a fabric swap. Nearly all bins pictured contain fabric or WIPs! Talk about a stash...I'd love to get the boxes of Cabin inventory up on these shelves too. Right now they're stacked neatly next to the loom. The rug pictures will migrate over to in front of the pellet stove where I'm setting up a social area.
This week I'm also working on a prom dress for my youngest cousin. I know it's cliche to say it, but I feel like she was just a baby! She's going bright red!
