Prepping Your Sewing Room for Summer

Prepping Your Sewing Room for Summer

I’ve come up with a few tricks over the years to let the fresh air in while keeping my sewing projects organized.

I’ve come up with a few tricks over the years to let the fresh air in while keeping my sewing projects organized.

With the warm weather rolling in, it’s time to open the windows. I love the feel of fresh air blowing through the house and cleaning the stagnant air out. It does present a few sewing challenges though. Fabric and patterns get blown around if I’m not careful. I’ve come up with a few tricks over the years to let the fresh air in while keeping my sewing projects organized.

Positioning

In my house, the air blows in from some directions more than others. I use this to my advantage and position my sewing table and supplies in such a way that they’re not directly inline of the strongest gusts. This usually takes care of most of the issues with supplies blowing around.

Paper Weights

Well, maybe they should be called Fabric Weights. Personally, I use clean rocks I’ve found on hikes, but anything that holds down the fabric and pattern pieces you’re not actively using will do. They look pretty and keep everything neatly in place while you enjoy the summer air.

Opposing Force

It sounds counterintuitive, but it seems to work when I do it right. If it’s a particularly breezy day, I’ll turn a fan on facing into the breeze coming in the window. When the balance is right, my sewing supplies wind up in a pocket of non-blowing air. It takes practice to find the right direction and speed and doesn’t always work. I prefer the first two tricks, but I’ll resort to this one if I’m really struggling with the wind.

I find that sometimes the breeze from an overhead fan or air conditioner can cause my sewing projects to blow around too. I’ve found that fabric weights are usually the best solution there since I want to feel the cooling effects of the air conditioner and/or fan.

What other tricks do you do to keep yourself comfortable and keep your fabric and pattern pieces from blowing around?