I've gotten a lot of questions over the last week since I posted recent pictures of my sewing studio that I thought I'd answer in a blog post, in case you might be wondering the same thing as another fellow reader!

Q - Where did you get those bookshelves for your fabric?
A - Those are Billy bookcases from Ikea, with the optional glass doors. I built the bookcases, but when it came time to add the doors, I got a little nervous about working with the glass, so my husband did that part. That being said, these are not the most sturdy bookcases in the world, but for the moment, they're the size I need and look I wanted, so they work for me.

Q - How tall is your cutting table? Does it kill your back?
A - My sewing table and cutting table back up to one another to make an extra large flat surface for when I'm quilting, which I love. My sewing table was custom built for me, so the legs were made just the height I wanted them to be, but my cutting table is a regular desk, sitting up on big blocks of wood to make it about 36" tall, which is the right ergonomic height for me to be able to cut without bending over. It's roughly about kitchen counter height. It was one of the first things I wanted to change about my cutting table, as it's always been a regular desk, and it's one of my favorite things about my sewing room these days because I can cut and cut and cut without any back problems.

Q - Can you tell a little more about the cube shelves in your closet? I've been trying to find a set of cubes to fit in my closet but the sizing is all wrong. What do you have and how big is it?
A - I'm a Target girl, and those cubes are straight from their organization section. They are the ClosetMaid Cubeicals 12-cube organizer, which measures right about 48" tall x 36" wide x 12" deep.

Q - What size fabric do you consider to be a scrap for your scrap bins? Do you save all your scraps?
A - I used to be real finicky about this, but now my rule of thumb is pretty much fat quarter or smaller, it goes in the scrap bin. I destashed most of my fat quarters last year, as I kept getting frustrated that they weren't half-yards like the rest of the bulk of my stash, so I've relegated the small number of fat quarters I still have to the scrap bins. As for what scraps I choose to save and choose to toss, I try to think about usability and how likely I am to use it again. So, for instance, when I have weirdly shaped scraps from paper piecing, I take a look and think to myself, is this a fabric I really love and want to reuse, in spite of the strange shape/size? If so, I keep it. If not, I put it in a pile to bring to one of my local MQG meetings, where I'm known to bring a big pile of fabrics and scraps up for grabs.


To read more about my sewing machine table, I've got a two whole posts right here and here dedicated to that. Here's hoping I can actually make it into my sewing room for some sewing this week, I can't believe it's Wednesday already!! Have a great day :)