Sewing Studio Tour

The sewing studio above the shop has become such an important part of the business for me over the years. If those walls could talk they’d know all sorts of stories about people who have learned to sew and made amazing things! It’s really evolved over time and grown into a space that I love so much. At the beginning of the year we reconfigured the room so that it could really work for the needs of a full sewing class so I wanted to give you a full tour of how it's looking now.

You can check it out in my latest Youtube video too to see it in action!

Looking back

When I first opened the shop I wasn’t 100% what I would use the studio for. I knew that I was going to teach workshops in sewing but I also wanted to keep my options open in case I decided to use it for other types of workshops or events too.

I had the bare minimum of furniture, two large cutting tables and two lower tables for sewing machines and a few ironing boards. The cutting tables were on wheels and the sides could be collapsed so they could be moved to the side if needed.

Slowly we added more bits and pieces. Storage for the overlockers, another ironing board, a shelf for odd nic-nacs and two more tables for extra cutting out space.

The studio today

We decided to make fixed tables around the edge of the room that would be sewing machine stations as that is the focus of our classes and workshops now anyway.

The surface of the workstations is 85cm so that it can still be used for cutting out. You can easily fit a folded wide width fabric, which was what I had intended.

They are propped up with adjusted Kallax units from Ikea so there is lots of storage underneath. We can fit the overlockers in the bottom boxes and then there is space for attendees personal belongings or projects underneath. They also have little height adjustable feet as the floor is uneven in places.

To give more higher up cutting out space, we had these props made for one of our original sewing machine tables. They are just the same as the big plastic elephant feed props you can buy. It’s great as it means we can lower the table for smaller group workshops where everyone is sitting around.

The original cutting tables we had custom made by a local joinery company. They are made from MDF and then have oak kitchen workshops cut to size on top. The wheels underneath make it really easy to move them around and reposition as needed.

We’ve used one of the ikea peg boards to store and display some of our tools.

And all attendees get their own Prym tool box filled with lovely sewing supplies for use during the workshop.

I commissioned Supercool (who are our web developers) to design this sewing machine print for me years ago and I’m so pleased to finally have it hanging in the studio in lovely pastel colours.

We also reorganised the landing outside the studio into a cloakroom area. My amazing Dad (who loves a project to do) made these little bunting flags and painted them in g&g colours.

Part of the studio reorganisation was also to create an office area for Meg our manager. As the g&g team has grown over the years, we’ve expanded into every single corner and space we can find in the building and the time had come that we really needed a designated staff room. So our original office became the staff room and now we have a lovely light and bright area so all the behind the scenes g&g masterminding to go on. Just in case anyone was curious, I have a desk and work area at home where I base myself from.