Fabric Hoarders Anonymous

Those of you who know me know that I have my own systems of organization.  I can  be quite organized and have a work table piled high during a busy show.  But I can also always be depended upon for a thorough cleaning and organization once the work is done.

However, I have a confession.  My studio at home is often a disaster.  I make a lot of excuses for this...some are valid, some are, well...complete nonsense.  The biggest excuse haunts me in a lot of ways, not just in keeping my studio clean:  I have two small children.  This means that when I am at home, I am constantly attending to their needs upstairs (my studio is in the semi-finished basement).  for a long while, neither child was allowed to go into the basement as the stairs were too dangerous ans I hadn't worked out a system for keeping sharp things out of reach.  So whenever they grew out of a bunch of clothes (which is every season) or I finished a large freelance project (twice in the fall and twice in the spring, usually), all of the "stuff" went directly into the basement--unsorted!  Almost a full year of this system made for an unusable space and never enough time to catch up in organizing.  This is the fabric portion that I face:

Yikes!

I started cleaning out the basement this week.  Half of the room is clean--the play area/guest room.  Now I tackle the studio half.  I can have the girls down with me as I clean now, so maybe I will do a little bit every night.  Besides, summertime is the best time to be down in the cool air!  What I need is a system for slogging through the bags upon bags upon bags of things that come through our house...particularly from outside projects.

The temptation is just too great...I have trouble getting rid of fabric.  I always design with several fabrics in one project, and I always acquire more fabrics than I need.  So then what to do with what is left over or not even used?  Save for another project, of course!  But then I can't keep up with the sheer volume!

This summer, I plan to come up with a way to keep the studio in usable condition as well as figure out how to pare down the fabric and store what I have.  I'll update you as to my progress...stay tuned.

Plastic Bag Holder: Tutorial

It seems we are always buried under a pile of bags in the costume shop, what with all the fabric, clothing, and snack shopping.  For years we just shoved the bags between the fridge and the shelves, but recently have noticed them creeping out and encroaching upon the first hands' table and the path to the fridge.

Well, clearly we could no longer function with such clutter!  So, during our prep week, we created three bag holders to control the mess.  One for grocery-sized bags, one for the large Jo-Mar bags, and a third for...?  Well, good thing we have a third because the first two are already full!

Here is a tutorial for making the bags.  The entire project takes only half an hour and can use scraps left over from larger projects.

Enjoy!  And be sure to post your experiences if you try this, and any pictures if you've got them!

Materials:  1 22"x32" piece of fabric; 30" of 1/4" elastic; thread

1.  On each 22" side, fold down 1/2" to inside and press; fold down an additional 1" and press again.

2.  Unfold both pressed ends.

3.  Right side to right side, pin 2 long sides and sew with 1/4" seam allowance.

4.  Overlock seamed edge together.

5.  To make the casing for the elastics:  On ends, refold where you pressed in step 1, sew 3/4" from the folded edge and leave 1.5" open.

6.  Using a safety pin, thread a 15" piece of elastic through the casing of the top, a 10" piece of elastic through the casing of the bottom.

7.  Overlap and sew the ends of the elastics securely and flat.

8.  Sew the casings closed.

9.  Use the remaining elastic as a hanging loop:  Sew to inside back seam at the top.

Here is the finished product!  Congrats on finishing your first Shopbeat tutorial.

Clean the Shop, Cleanse the Soul

Our largest production of the season, The Cherry Orchard, closed on February 20th and with the clearing of the orchard went numerous piles of costumes and supplies to their rightful homes.  Having nearly 2 weeks of prep-time before Bat Boy takes over the racks has been an unusual luxury.  We are more organized than ever before...have you EVER BEFORE seen the top of the cutter/draper's table?

We strive to learn from and improve with each production.  Having just a little time between projects gives us the opportunity to think back on what worked and what didn't, to review what was most stressful and think of new ways to approach our work and alleviate those same stresses in the future.  Maybe the physical act of picking up every last thread and pin or purging old notes from binders is a kind of therapy.  With each trip to the dumpster, can we also get rid of any remaining resentment from tech?  With each swipe of disinfectant, can we also clear away residual fatigue and stress from dress rehearsals and previews?

And so we are spotless.  Costume racks and hearts are lighter.  Let's pledge to jump into our next project with energy and excitement and renewed joy for our work.