My workspace is very small, and it has to hold a lot of stuff.

• It’s my office and office storage, so there’s the computer, my business files, all my fliers and business cards, and ink for the printer, and books.
• It’s my general business storage, so it holds things like my mannequin and other items I use only for display booths at fairs.
• It’s my sewing area, with the machines, and bins for cut projects, and bins for in-progress items, and bins for in-progress orders, and tools, and supplies.
• It’s my sewing storage area, where I keep the extra rolls of elastic, backup spools of thread, my supply of ring sling rings, D-rings, snaps, seam binding, lace, trims and ribbons, interfacing, etc.
• It’s my fabric storage, heh heh, enough said.
• It’s my inventory storage and showroom (though a rather unimpressive showroom, I’m afraid).
• And it’s Wally’s play area, where he hangs out while I work, so it’s got two small activity tables for him, his painting supplies, a few bins of toys and clay and glue and scissors, as well as a TV and DVD player and a nice little rocker.

With all this crammed into such a small space, it’s important that I keep it all tidy so the clutter doesn’t become overwhelming. But it also means that I could spend all day tidying and never getting any work done!

Here’s what helps me:

Crate for fabric too small to go back on the shelf. Eventually, this will get folded neatly and placed with the bits of fabric that are already folded neatly and in a bin on a shelf.

 Bins for supplies.

 These little drawers. Small, perfectly sized for sewing-table necessities: scissors, machine needles, thread, machine tools, etc.

 These bins, oh how I love them. They hold in-progress projects and current orders. I can gather all the supplies and fabrics needed for an order and toss them in a bin along with the receipt, then place completed items in the bin, as well. Once the whole order is complete, it all goes in a box to ship and the bin is freed for the next order.

 New shelves for Wally. We’ll see how this works out. This is a set of shelves just for Wally’s stuff. His clay and tools, his art supplies, his toys, his markers, his paper, his books. Until recently, this stuff was all mixed in with my own stuff.

Little shelf next to my sewing machine table and tucked under the open leaf of the table. This holds elastic, giant thread spools, and other larger round supplies. The box on top is made out of repurposed foamcore posterboard, taped together into a box. Wally provided the decoration, then the box got wet during a recent small basement flood, so it’s got a unique look to it.