15 Sewing Room Hacks

heather handmade sewing

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Keep your space organized and clean with these sewing room hacks. Some are cheap ways of organizing and some are simple techniques.

Everyone has their own way that they organize and set up their sewing room. Sometimes you do it the way your mom did or the way you think you are supposed to organize. I’ve found some sewing room hacks that make it cheaper to sew and organize in my sewing room.

Some of these ideas might not help you because you think differently then me, but I hope one of these sewing room hacks will help the way you sew. I love to decorate my sewing room with these sewing room decor ideas, and I also use all of these 20 apparel sewing hacks!

sewing room hacks

Sewing Room Hacks

Corral your elastic with wonder clips.

I use elastic a lot and save all the short bits to sew them together. I keep all my elastic in a bin in a drawer, but it’s always a big mess.

I realized I could loop it up and clip it with a wonder clip* so it stays neat and tidy. Here are some ideas for finding elastic to reuse!

organizing elastic

Organize scissors and metal bobbins with a wall magnet.

I use a wall magnet* to keep my scissors together up high and away from little hands. I also use a wall magnet to keep all my metal bobbins organized and off my desk. I love preserving my desk space.

spools of thread organized

Turn all your machines on with the button on a power strip.

I have all my machines, my iron, and my lamps all plugged into the same power strip. When I turn on the button they all turn on at the same time and are ready for me to use.

sewing machine sewing room

Learn how to use a seam ripper correctly.

When you push a seam ripper it’s way faster to rip open a seam. It works well with medium weight to heavy weight fabrics.

using a seam ripper

Wear scissors around your neck so you never lose them.

They are always within reach. I use it to trim thread, trim and grade seams, and cut hem tape the right length.

scissors necklace

Add batting to a cheap dress form to make a custom dress form.

I love the idea of a custom dress form, but I don’t love the price of a custom dress from. If you get a cheap dress form mannequin* that have small hips, you’ll be able to add the “hips” with batting and whatever height you are. These are some other great tips for sewing and saving money.

sewing room dress form

Store hand needles in a bulletin board.

Whenever I have some thread in a needle after finishing some hand sewing, I leave the thread on the needle and put it in my bulletin board. I often need to hand sew in a pinch, and I have lots of thread and needles ready to go.

store hand needles

Create a tiny ironing area next to your machine for quick pressing.

I hate having to stand up for all the little seams that need pressing. This little mat* (that protects my desk!) and little iron* make my sewing so much faster.

mini ironing station

Make a Portable DIY Cutting Mat

I don’t have a dedicated cutting table so I made a DIY cutting mat that I can store under the couch or behind a shelf. It’s great for projects I’m in the middle of. I can get it out and use it on an table or desk.

DIY Portable Tabletop Cutting Mat // heatherhandmade.com

Use a projector to cut out sewing patterns

Set up a projector on your ceiling to project sewing patterns down onto your fabric. Cut out a sewing pattern without printing, taping, and cutting!

This is a great hack when you need to use multiple sizes of a pattern, but you don’t want to trace or print multiple patterns. It saves so much time and money!

Trying a Projector for Sewing Patterns

Use a hand vacuum to clean machines, sewing areas, and thread from the floor.

I get frustrated with all the dust and thread that collects around my machines, in my machines, and on the floor. My hand vacuum is the best way to quickly clean up.

clean sewing room

Use a glue stick to “pin”.

My sewing friends gave me this tip, and it’s the BEST. Use the glue stick* to attach whatever you need and keep it in place, but the glue washes out in the wash.

glue stick sewing

Store and organize buttons and snaps in separated lunch containers.

I needed a button organizer for cheap so I bought these separated lunch containers* and keep all my buttons and snaps separated. I have four for all my buttons and snaps. I organize the buttons by color and the snaps by type.

button organization

Keep hem tapes on a dowel in a basket with holes.

Slide the hem tapes on the dowel and put the dowel in the holes in the basket. It makes them easy to pull out when you need it. I organized it so I knew what each hem tape was.

hem tape organization

Keep pennies or small coins in your sewing room to add weight to garments made from lightweight fabric.

I love soft, fluid fabrics, but I don’t like when they blow in the wind. I always add pennies to the side seam at the hem to give a nice weight. I’ve also seen washers used and sewn in by hand.

pennies in sewing room

Open buttonholes with a fabric knife.

It makes it so much faster to open buttonholes with a fabric knife and cutting mat. It has saved me so much time since I started using it.

buttonholer

Use Heavy Duty Snaps instead of buttons and buttonholes

I often make things that need buttons and buttonholes for closures. Sometimes I want to save time (and my sanity), and I use snaps instead. It’s so fast and easy! Here’s how to install heavy duty snaps.

install heavy duty snaps

What are your favorite sewing room hacks?

I use all of these in my IKEA sewing room. It really helps with organization. And see my current sewing room all the organization I have!

15 Sewing Room Hacks

If you make something using this tutorial, I’d love to see! Please share it on social media with the hashtag #heatherhandmade and tag me!

heather sewing

I believe small sewing moments can create great joy. Find your own “right” way to sew. -Heather

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I put removable 3M hooks on my quilt rulers to make them easier to grab with my arthritic hands.

Made a sewing mat with lots of magnets in it, and matching magnetized fabric bins of different sizes and shapes that can be used to hold anything I need during sewing – it lives to the right of my machine but also travels with me to the couch arm or when I’m sewing when sitting on the floor.

Industrial foam cleans lint and fuzz out of cutting mats.

Love the sewing hacks, also have one. Bought a lazy susan at yard sale and then used empty tuna fish cans, tomatoe sauce, soup cans etc. Then covered them with fabric and set it to the right of my sewing machine for my ripper, clips, tools etc

great tips and hacks!

Sewing Hacks

I desperately need an iron rest for quick pressing but can’t find any. Do you have any knowledge of where to find one? If you could create a DIY that would be great?

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