I went to the Renaissance Faire again this weekend. Gary didn't go, he had to work. I went with some friends of his from Crystal, all of whom are on a different game team, so they didn't have to work. Meilin invited me when I saw her on Friday. We had met once before, at last year's Halloween party, but I didn't really remember her very well (but a Halloween party is not necessarily the best place to meet people!) We had been exchanging emails about renfaire costuming; she does a lot of sewing, and makes new renfaire outfits for her and her husband Sunspark all the time. She even had an extra shirt for Dave, another guy from Crystal who came along with us. I, in contrast, bought my outfit, and still haven't finished the shirt I am making for Gary.
She had stayed up late the night before finishing a dress to wear that day. It was simple, but very pretty. She wore it over a blouse and underneath a vest (both of which she made.) And under all that she wore ye olde ripstop nylon shorts, so she could carry her wallet around. Smart. I should start doing that, instead of stuffing everything into my little leather pouch.
So, anyway, on to the sewing room. I was at their house a little bit before we left, and was impressed that she had a sewing room. More of a nook, maybe, in the place where someone would probably put a dining room table. She had everything out, and it looked like it would be very easy to just come home after work and start working on something. My situation, until yesterday, was quite different. Everything was in my closet in my office, in various boxes. Whenever I wanted to sew, I had to drag my machine downstairs, find all my equipment, find the patterns, fabric, thread, etc. Set up the ironing board in our bedroom. Find a towel to place on the floor downstairs because we have wood floors and I don't want the foot pedal to scratch them. And then when I finished, I had to pack up everything. Before we got cats this summer, I could at least leave the machine set up for a weekend. But with cats I had to lock them in our bedroom while I sewed, and put everything away immediately.
Needless to say, I don't sew often.
I was so impressed with Meilin's sewing room and her costumes that I was inspired to convert part of my office into a sewing room! I bought a 5' office folding table at the office supply store (and it was surprisingly cheap, only $30.) I moved the futon so it's against the short wall of my office, by the window. I set up the table so it runs parallel to the futon; it sticks out from the wall, instead of being against the wall. The room is more crowded this way, but I think I get more flexibility by being able to work on both sides of the table.
The setup seems to work well. I still have enough room in my office to have the ironing board set up while I work (although it's too crowded to have it set up all the time, but that's ok.) I worked on a project yesterday (it's a gift, so I'll keep it secret for now) without fear of the cats jumping on my lap. And when I was finished, I put the cover back on my machine, cleaned up the stray threads, and I was pretty much finished!
Posted by Jen at October 6, 2003 11:04 AM