My Afters Look Like Befores.

We've (Okay, I've) been feeling very overwhelmed by orders and the constant demands of our new son lately. Our whole business is run out of our home, and the bulk of the magic happens in the upstairs bedroom, which is about 13 by 15 feet. Evey day is a struggle to keep minimally organized and productive in the windows of time left to me while keeping Loch content and well-fed.

We discussed building a shed in the corner of our backyard, big enough to hold Toby's tools and our business. We even added up what it would cost and how long it might take to complete. We drew up a floor plan, fitting in areas for cutting, sewing, grommeting, computer, boxes, and kids' play. At one point, I looked at it and thought it was very similar in layout to the room we use now, just bigger. So I asked why we couldn't just revamp our current room to fit a better plan. Or any plan at all, really.

Long story short, we spent less than a tenth the shed amount, in both time and money terms. We bought tons of shelf-track, brackets, and shelving at Lowes, gutted the room, and installed all of it. I know it doesn't look organized or cute, but it is impressive considering what it was like before.
THE WALL OF FABRIC. It doesn't look like much, now that we're not stepping over piles of it to get around in here. Maybe it does look like much to you, but I promise Michelle's stash puts ours to shame. She doesn't think in terms of yards, but rolls of fabric.

We are seriously short of lining fabric. There should be a yard of lining for each yard of outer fabric. But lining fabric isn't nearly as fun to buy... We do plan to take the shop-vac out eventually. And the placement of the mannequin and the lights is someone's idea of a joke.MY SEWING AREA. I have ordered a swivel chair with no back to fit between these tables, so that I can just spin around and use the serger when I need to. Notice the dust cover? It is not there because I'm a neat freak, but because when I don't cover it up, someone-who-is-two messes with the tensions. I am a bit proud of the rainbow of topstitching thread on the shelf above, the only aesthetically pleasing part of this whole post.
COMPUTER CORNER. This is where we will keep track of orders, do customer service, and weigh packages to print shipping labels (we've been doing it downstairs, and getting too much exercise running up and down.) I have two monitors because I married a techie. Okay, and also because it is easier to copy orders onto our master order sheet without clicking back and forth six times for each order.BREASTFEEDING CHAIR/GROMMET AREA. It is a huge and monstrous orange chair, but trying to feed a baby balanced across your knees in an armless chair is NOT COOL. We've not had table room until now to have the grommet press (blue thing on table) set up full time.CUTTING TABLE. Where the magic begins. Unless you count the internet, which is the source of all magic. We have drawers underneath for all the larger pattern pieces and the WALL OF FABRIC is just to the right.

The real winners here are the customers, who might get bodices before they expect them. And Lowe's, because they got a good bit of money from us this week.

Losers? Four of our kids still sleep in a 6 by 8 room on one set of bunk beds. But they do have sloped-ceiling gable room upstairs full of toys, so don't feel too sorry for them.