What Makes A Studio?

Studio or Sewing Room? I’ve had designated sewing spaces since 1996. They have each been quite different, some more useful than others.

My first sewing space was little, simply a corner in the great room. I had a sewing desk, a design wall, and one open cabinet for fabric and tool storage. This picture is probably from around 2002, teaching my niece Hannah to sew. She made a sweet pillow during her first visit and a couple of small quilts on later visits. This is certainly not a space that I would call a studio, though quilts got made here. 

The design wall was small so layout had to be done on the floor for any large quilts. Basting had to be done on the floor unless I took the project to my friend Kathy's house so we could layer and baste the quilt together on her kitchen table. The paper pieced kaleidoscope quilt I made for my Dad is starting to come together on the great room floor in the picture to the left. Fabric cutting was done on the kitchen counter or dining table. Quilting was done on the dining table. Cats were always around and difficult to keep from laying down right in the middle of the work.  Nigel Sebastian in the picture below is in the middle of my sewing area keeping me from working on my Churn Dash quilt.

So if quilts get made here and all my fabric, tools, and other necessaries, like a design wall are here, but it's only a little sewing corner, what makes a studio? The property we lived on was shared with my husband's mom Flo Barnett. She had a studio, though she was not really a quilter. She was however one of the most creative people I've ever known. She had lived on the property for many years and our home had originally been her studio. We built a new studio for her when we moved to the property in '96 so she could keep working and teaching. She taught watercolor classes for many years and had a very loyal group of students. She had many paintings and sold her work, her income depended on having a studio to work in. She had a 700 sf space right on the back side of her house.

So is it size that makes a studio? Is it a space occupied by a professional artist? Is it having a name and a sign and an official business? I think the designation studio is usually associated with a professional occupation, though I just saw a video of an extraordinary man who's hobby of making things with matchsticks would certainly qualify his work space as a studio. His work is without question professional even though the label of hobby fits. Here is the link to the video.   https://youtu.be/HyuE1XnYO0I

Shibui was the name Flo gave to the place we lived and to the studio she worked in and the gallery she at one time had for displaying and selling her work. I started a blog several years ago to write about and showcase her work after she died. I'm afraid I only managed a few posts at the time, I may have to revive that blog. You can find it here https://shibuiliving.blogspot.com/

After Flo died we had two homes and a studio on three and a half acres. We tried for quite some time to sell the place but it just wasn't working out, so I moved my sewing desk and fabric cabinet out of my little sewing corner into the studio. Wow did I get a lot done once I had that space. I also wasn't working at the time and that made a huge difference too. I put up a much larger design wall and put it to good use. I am no professional quilter or artist of any kind, but I had a studio for a while. Besides getting several quilts done there from start to finish, I had one very fun weekend with friends in the studio.

We had a quilting weekend in September of 2016. They brought their own projects to work on and we had a great time together. Here is a group picture. From left to right - Cindy, Speri, Kathy, Cindy, and Barb. I took my things off the design wall so it was free for their use and got my stuff of the tables so there was room for each of them and their projects. Sadly all but one of these women lost their homes to the Paradise Camp Fire in November of 2018. The studio and both homes on the property also burned to the ground. My husband and I had lived there for 21 years but we sold it a year and three months before the fire. It's just up the street from where we live now, it's still very sad every time we drive by to see that it is all gone.

But the weekend retreat was a lot of fun! Here is Barb with her sweet whale quilt on the design wall. Barb moved out of state when she lost her home in the fire. We miss her!

Speri is in the picture below with her mother-in-law Kathy on the left and her mother Cindy is on the right. Showing the finalized design for the quilt she made for her husband Michael. She worked a long time on that design. It's the only quilt she took with her when she ran from the fire.

I made several quilts in the studio in the short time I had it. It was a lovely place to work. One of the great things about it was that I could make a mess and leave it when I was done for the day, to be picked up where I left off the next day. When I had a corner of the great room for my sewing space I had to constantly be cleaning up, especially when I used the kitchen counter as a cutting surface.

When we sold Shibui we bought a house with extra rooms so my husband could have a designated office and I could have a sewing room. A lot of sewing has happened here lately and I can close the door in the evening when I'm finished for the day and the mess I've left is not in the way of anything. I have space here to have a friend come sew with me, but not enough space to hold another quilting retreat weekend.  But right now even having a friend come sew with me is off limits since we are all under social distancing restrictions, and we are all supposed to stay home to help stop the spread of this awful virus.

Though quilts get done here I wouldn't call this space a studio. Though in some ways I think it's actually a better work space than the studio was. The studio had almost too much space, this space is more compact, everything is close to hand, and the storage situation is actually much better than it was in the studio.

My favorite thing about my sewing room is the position of my sewing desk. This is where I do my piecing. From here I can look up and out the window and all the way down the canyon into the valley below. It's a glorious sight.

Well, this post has gotten long. If you are still with me you are a real trooper! Thanks. I hope to create a tab called Studio Stuff even though I no longer have a studio. If I can figure out how to do that future posts with the Studio Stuff label will be about stuff that makes this space special, about tools and organization and ideas for future projects. I hope you will check in sometimes to see what's going on in the sewing room.  I will finish off this post with one of Flo's paintings that graces the wall of the sewing room.

Mom loved collage, if you look closely you can see the scrappy nature of the painting, the sun rays are actually just torn from another work. It's a very gray day outside and I've only got light coming in from the window now so it doesn't show it's sunny nature very well, but it's a painting that lights up my days.

I hope in your days at home just now you are having some time in whatever sewing space you have, and that being there gives you joy.

There is space for comments below, I'd love to hear from you. I do try to answer when people comment on my posts, but sometimes they just won't go through, and I don't know why. I will keep trying though.