This may seem like a trivial problem to most people, but being your own fashion designer & seamstress lends itself to what one might euphemistically call “storage problems”. The colloquial term is “clutter”, and I’ve got plenty of it here 
The basic problem is that you need to keep a decently-sized fabric stash handy for when mood or inspiration strikes, and you want to try something new. Or on the days when the creative lightning doesn’t strike, well, you can work toward your goal of having the same garment done in a dozen different colors and with minor stylistic changes.
Until just a few days ago, making use of the living room meant moving a stack of boxes (boxes full of fabric, of course) either in front of the door (so the bed could be used) or on top of the bed (so there’d be room to do stretches in the morning) or stacked elsewhere if both were needed. This was getting annoying.
About fifteen years ago I had picked up some of those rolling underbed storage containers. They’re shown in the picture below. Amazingly, the same company (Sterilite) still makes the same-sized models. The labels have changed a little, but that’s all that seems to have changed.
These are perfect for fabric storage. The widest fabrics you’ll ever find in clothing weight (60″ or maybe 64″) can be folded along the grain and will fit quite nicely lengthwise. Doing too many cross-grain folds usually causes problems later if the fabric is kept in storage for any length of time.
In the process of incorporating the 4 new storage bins, I found all kinds of goodies that will make for much fun sewing. Not entirely sure what to do with the red stretch vinyl .. a suit made from that stuff might be a little too risque for the office.
Here’s a shot of the landing lights on the new Juki. For reference, this picture was taken with the room’s ceiling lights on and with bright sunshine present indirectly.
The Juki folks really went overboard on this machine. It is absolutely wonderful as long as you respect its limits on needle size. Apparently I went over the magic “size 14″ mark when using those denim needles. Oops! Maybe they can find a home somewhere else.
Decluttering the stack of movable boxes helped a lot, but there’s still more to go. Looks like an additional two storage containers are needed. Grumble grumble .. how many barrels of oil go into making this much plastic anyway?
March 28, 2010 at 1:33 am
Nudge, we all have storage problems that are: (a) of a certain age; (b) have had a certain amount of disposable $$$; (c) find it difficult to throw anything away; and (d) have lived in a place for 10+ or so years*.
I’m always amazed at how much stuff street persons (the homeless) have in their possession.
*Moving occasionally helps to par down the excess junk.
P.S. What has happened to Patz? Hope it’s just spring break.
March 28, 2010 at 4:36 am
G’morning Doom. Let’s see .. I moved here not quite 5 years ago. This is what I call “option e” following the scheme you mentioned above, which is to live in a place that’s so small that you haven’t got the luxury of accumulating much in terms of useless stuff.
The big fabric-buying spree, for me anyway, was roughly 2004~2008, once I figured out the utility of accumulating a collection of stuff to grab one’s clothing-design imagination. I still buy stuff the same way (based on eye/feel appeal, and with no particular plans to make anything) and stash it away, just not at the same rate as before since there’s so much stuff here already. It needs to be something special now to warrant storage space ~ something like 4 yards of black/pink houndstooth, for instance. The right denim is always welcome here, particularly if it’s the kind with that brushed/sanded surface, and especially so if it’s black.
Yesterday’s first whack at the trial cardigan-type stretch top pattern didn’t quite work out .. good idea, bad execution. There was a problem with the buttonhole attachment causing the feed dogs not to get enough grip to move the piece .. and there were other problems too. Perhaps hooks & eyes (oh so Amish) would have been a better choice than buttons anyway, since there were some edge-tension complications along the button line. But I can go through some of the excess stretch knit material in order to figure out this pattern properly.
Everything else I have in here is small potatoes, volume-wise, when compared to that cubic meter or so of fabric stuffed in boxes. It’s worth approximately $15K~$25K to me in finished clothing that can be made from it. Why? Because talls clothing is both hideously expensive and hard to find, and because having everything fitted to you costs big bucks on top of it. On this scale of things (ie, what it would cost IRL to find in a store or pay someone else to make) I get fantastic cost savings out of sewing. I’ve done the math on this several times .. and even if I buy a new machine (something nice, $500 to $1000 range) every 5 years or so, and use only a third to a half of the fabric that’s purchased, I still come out way ahead of replacement cost of the same clothing found on the open market.
(disclaimer: the sewing-vs-buying math doesn’t come out the same way for more normally-sized people who can fit the offerings put out by the sweatshops in China & Malaysia .. I just happen to be roughly Geena Davis’ height and skinny, so clothing is a problem)
Not sure where Patz is. Hopefully there wasn’t some kind of one-month-delayed post-Olympics problem in his city.
Yesterday I finally got to try out the buttonholer on the new machine. All I can say is “wow” .. it is a painless process that involves changing the feet, plugging in one cable, walking through the menu choices, positioning the foot, and hitting the start button. A minute or so later, it finishes, and all you need to do is hit the thread-trim button and pull the fabric away.
Amazingly, Joann’s (the crafts/fabric chain store) is opening a new “super center” store over in Leominster sometime in April or May. Can’t tell if it’s because they’re seeing green shoots in their market segment or because they’re just looking for safe assets to dump cash into. It could very well be green shoots for real .. after all, the sewing blogs are full of threads where everyone is complaining about the horribly low quality of that shoddy crap we import from turd-world sweatshops, clothing that barely lasts 3 washes before starting to fall apart. A number of the people participating in those threads have already gone over to making everything themselves. Can’t blame them. Most garments I make get 5~10 years of use, and some last as long as 15 years with care.
March 28, 2010 at 5:14 am
Up late reading the 55-page doomer report, “Tipping Point:
Near-Term Systemic Implications of a Peak in Global Oil Production, An Outline Review” by David Korowicz. Almost finished it.
Nudge, at least you can trade your clothing line for food, fuel, etc. Barter will be big amongst the survivors.
Anyway, have a great Easter Sunday, doing whatever.
March 28, 2010 at 5:57 am
Easter? Oops, I should really start using a paper calendar again. At least that explains where everyone’s disappeared to this weekend. Err, unless the regulars are all big teabagger fans who I inadvertently offended with that rant-y material yesterday in /misc. (and if so, mega-apologies are in order)
Hoping to go visit a good friend later for some f2f talk time. Not planning on much else unless time permits more sewing.
Enjoy the rest of the weekend
March 28, 2010 at 3:01 pm
Not Easter, my bad. It’s officially next Sunday. Get a giant ham cheap, put some canned pineapple on it, pour on cheap can of beer occasionally while baking in oven, and you’ll be eating delicious ham leftovers for the next month.
For some strange reason, your first picture reminds me of a stack of pancakes.
Second picture of new Juki reveals you are a lefty, Nudge.
March 29, 2010 at 3:48 am
How so on the lefty thing? (just asking out of curiosity) Sewing machines are not made left- or right-hand like guitars or archery equipment.
(actually I’m ambidextrous)
March 29, 2010 at 3:55 am
It looks like it’s designed for you to lead with your left hand. My mother has an old Singer, and an even older antique Singer that are the mirror image of your Juki.
Am ambidex also. Forced to be right handed by my mother, I shoot rifles and pool left handed. It’s a drag being a lefty with some shotguns because they eject the spent cartridge across my face!
March 29, 2010 at 12:50 pm
Doc, that’s why you want a pump shotgun. Shoot, pull away from face, rack slide, up on your shoulder, repeat.
Just curious how you can figure out which hand someone’s using to sew… that setup looks pretty much like every sewing machine I’ve ever seen.
Anyway… Nudge, I think you have the right idea. Spend freely on stuff that matters a lot to you, and blow off everything else. Those Sterilite containers are nice, useful, and about the only thing left in Mal*Wart that’s made in the USA.
March 29, 2010 at 2:26 pm
Made in the USA. That phrase brings back memories of products of usefulness, quality, and durability.
I’ll mention one. The Sotz monster maul. An all-steel splitting maul. I used one recently to split some large rounds of oak firewood. The company is no longer in business. Not sure why.
March 29, 2010 at 3:41 pm
GB, Dunno if it’s a Sotz, but there’s a few of those laying around the manor and/or in-laws. They call ‘em “go-devils” for whatever reason. It’s rather entertaining to hit a piece of green wood with one & watch it bounce right back.
March 29, 2010 at 5:20 pm
Doom, most bolt-action rifles are going to cause you the same sort of grief, unfortunately.
Agreed on finding stuff that’s useful and worthwhile to you. I know a few people out here with similar sewing setups and even-larger fabric stashes, folks who’ve got the gear to rebuild cars at home, folks set up to fabricate in wood & metal and who know the art of making assembly jigs etc. I for one applaud any kind of hands-on stuff like this (GB’s craft too) since making stuff is how you survive at above-primitive levels when you’re living in a community. It leaves us with labor and/or goods we can trade off for other things.
Doom: I consider it an enormous help to sewing that I’m ambi. Why? Because if you’re a typical RH’er with a club left hand, you’re missing out on something like 5/8 of the work that needs to be done to keep the fabric positioned and tensioned just right when it’s under the foot. The right hand sometimes needs to let go in order to work the controls, but the left hand has to be all over the fabric like white on rice. It has a major role in making things come out right.
A lot of people find stretch fabrics difficult to deal with because they’re accustomed to passively letting the machine drag the fabric through, as if it’s cardboard or something with total angular stability. Sewing stretch fabrics is easy as long as your grasp the idea that right when they’re under the foot, they need to be tensioned/stretched as they will when they’re being worn later in the finished garment.
March 29, 2010 at 5:27 pm
Yep, that sounds like mine, FAR. A lot of knock-offs made – mine could be one. Forget trying to split the gnarly, knotty pieces. Works great on straight grain sections. Best thing is you never have to worry about shredding the handle just below the big triangular head…and doesn’t need gasoline, maintenance, and lots of storage space. Also gives you a good workout.
March 29, 2010 at 7:42 pm
If y’all promise not to tell anyone, I’ll admit to having used an old electric Singer sewing machine to make a small A-frame ridge pole tent out of cotton duck, many years ago. Hey, it was cheaper than buying one. As Nudge has been saying, there’s a certain satisfaction in owning custom-made stuff.
April 3, 2010 at 10:37 am
Nudge
Love your machine’s lighting – the light on mine is a candle by comparison.
Never having sewn stretch fabrics before I’m going to have to get my friend J to let me have a go on her overlocker as I’ve got a pattern for a top that can only be made up in stretch fabrics.
Have you had any more interest in your tote bags or are you still modifying your design?
It’s great that there’s been a renaissance for home made garments. Maternity wear here is expensive, so when I made a pinafore I was able to adjust the pattern so it didn’t end up obscenely short and it was very satisfying to say “I made it.”
GB – good for you being able to sew and you should not hide it – it will enhance your mate attraction possibilities. There’s nothing so cool as a guy who can do the traditional female domain thing and vice versa. It’s heavenly when a guy offers to change a tyre for you, but it’s vital I have the skill too, even if he is naturally more proficient given the superior upper body strength.
April 4, 2010 at 3:43 am
Nudge, Gail and the other “OIL CANNERS” on TOD are talking about making your own clothes for a post-PO world: http://www.theoildrum.com/node/6323#more
April 4, 2010 at 7:03 am
GB ~ let me second Mary’s comment above. That being said, I’m not sure how many guys would appreciate knowing I’m proficient with a chainsaw and other farm equipment, though. Let’s not even talk about the archery or other stuff.
Doom, thanks for the pointer to the TOD thread. That first comment (from Welsh Wizard) really got me chuckling .. especially that part about how we’ve got enough loose fabric lying around to be good for the next 50 years. Clearly s/he hasn’t personally tried storing the stuff, or seen what indifferent storage does to fabric over the long haul, or tried making stuff out of other garments.
April 4, 2010 at 7:20 am
Err, maybe that part got corrected later in the thread .. I’ll have to go read the whole thing later.
April 4, 2010 at 9:11 pm
I’m not sure how many guys would appreciate knowing I’m proficient with a chainsaw and other farm equipment, though.
You must hang out with the wrong kind of guys.
April 5, 2010 at 3:54 am
Ahh, I get it .. there aren’t any farms around here!