Dmcthread's Blog

Organize your Stitching Studio with Emma and Friends

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Hello Everyone!

Join us this week for my series on Stitching Studios. DMC takes you inside the studios of some of our favorite stitchers. I loved the thought of being able to take a peek at how my creative blogging friends organize their supplies, and seeing that magical space where all their creative endeavors begin.

Also, follow me on Twitter this week, I will be tweeting a great round-up of awesome organizing ideas and craft studio spaces.

The first stitcher is Terri Malinovich from Chocolates4breakfast a wonderful stitching blog. Terri also included a great tape measuring tutorial! So without further ado, here is our first stitcher, Terri.

Terri’s Studio:

“I am first and foremost a cross stitcher but I love all kinds of crafts to include punchneedle, beading and scrapbooking.”

“My craft studio is my favorite spot in my home! It’s a room in the basement that we had finished when we remodeled our entire basement a few years ago. It’s where I get to put all those things that I love and I get to decorate it however I like. There are no boys allowed!!! Right now, the walls are a watermelon pink and the floor is a cranberry red checkerboard which I will re-do in the watermelon color one of these days.”

“Some of the things that I use to organize my space are the plastic tool bins that you see on one of the desks. They were an ugly color so I spray painted them an antique white and then made labels for all the DMC floss colors. Four colors per drawer and my entire collection of DMC is always at hand! For my other threads, I use a wrought iron hook with swinging arms on the wall. The fibers are hanging on rings, organized by manufacturer and are in alphabetic sequence. My silk fibers I keep in the cabinet close to the door in old cigar boxes.”

“I use every available space to house or display something – see the stack of books on the old step stool I found one day while out hitting the local garage sales? The little table by my stitching chair houses some of my favorite sampler books and the basket behind my chair holds all my WIPs (Works in Process).”

“I love wire baskets! I use them to hold ribbon and charts that need to be filed (or anything else I don’t feel like putting away at the moment). I love them because you can see what’s in them, they look fantastic and you can hang things off of them. The wire basket on the wall is an old bike basket! and I hang all my wood thread keepers and needlepunch hoops from it. When I find another one, I’ll replace the basket above it.”

“I organize my fabric by rolling it, tagging it and keeping it in a drawer. This keeps it from getting permanent creases and I can easily see what I have. The labels include the fabric type, count and color name.”

“My cabinets above the counters are where I keep a lot of my crafting supplies. An entire cabinet is devoted to cross stitch books and patterns that are all kept in notebooks. My beading supplies are in another cabinet and my scrapbooking tools, paper etc are in another.”

I love Terri’s idea of getting vintage milk glass bowls, filling it with glass beads, and sticking your scissors in them.

Love Terri’s FOB’s!!

I love these glass vintage jars. I use them in my studio also! I always buy them at my local vintage shop in my town. I try to stock up every chance I go there.

“I hope you’ve enjoyed the tour of my room – if you ever want to come for a visit, I do have another chair just like the one in my room. My sweet mother made cushions for both so that if I wanted to have a friend over, I could move another chair in the room temporarily. It’s a bit crowded for two of them to be in there all the time but once in a while, for a friend, it’s awesome!”

Thank you so much for sharing your beautiful studio Terri! What a wonderful creative space you have, I might have to come over sometime for some stitching fun! Stay tuned for Terri’s tutorial.

Terri’s Covered Retractable Tape Measure

Supplies:
Fabric of choice – felt works great because it doesn’t fray!
Matching DMC embroidery floss
Needle
Fabric/craft glue (Elmer’s will work just fine)
Embellishments – buttons, beads, trims whatever you can think of.
Retractable tape measure

Step 1. Trace your tape measure onto the wrong side of your fabric
(make four circles), cut the circles slightly larger (1/8 “) than the actual
circumference of the top.

Step 2. Measure the edge of your tape measure from opening to opening (this is where the actual tape measure pulls from) and cut one length of fabric that wide and slightly more than twice as long. This will make your side banding.

Step 3. Stack two of the circles you cut out back to back and whip stitch
around the outside edges in matching floss. Do the same thing for the other two
circles you set aside in step 1.

Step 4. Embellish the circle(s) prior to construction. You don’t need to worry about the neatness of the backs because they will not show once
assembled. For my tape measure cover, I used some old buttons that I had in my collection. I simply stacked them one on top of the other and sewed them
all on at once. Embellish the other stack of circles (I left mine plain) and set both aside.

Step 5. From the fabric strip you cut in step 2, fold it long ways so that the edges meet in the middle. Measure against your tape measure to make sure
it covers from opening to opening. Whip stitch around the edges in coordinating thread all around the sides of your band. Your band will appear to curve as you stitch it but will straighten out as you get to the other side.

Step 6. Using a small amount of glue, run a bead down the center of your band on the wrong side. Glue this to the edge of your tape measure making sure not to cover the opening! Set aside to dry. Do not use a lot of glue, this is only to hold the band in place while you stitch the top and bottom (circles) to the band.

Step 7. Begin stitching your top circle to the band by using a diagonal stitch in a contrasting color. I like to use 4 strands of floss for a heftier look. When you get to the end, rotate, and come back in the opposite direction to make an “X” over the first row of stitches you just made. Pull tight as you go. When you get to the end, knot your thread, cut and do the same process for the bottom circle.

Step 8. Sit back and admire your work!

Get the PDF of this tutorial here for your records!
Terri’s Retractable Tape Measure Tutorial