I was very good on Sunday and tidied my sewing room, so I thought it was a good opportunity to get a few photos before I mess it up again. The decision to tidy (instead of sew…) was motivated in part by my fabric stash overflowing its containers, and in part because of a lovely new addition that I wanted to find space for – a RAR rocking chair courtesy of Lakeland Furniture.
When we first moved into our house we furnished the spare bedroom as a guest room, but soon realised it would be better utilised as a sewing room. I share the room with our wardrobes / washing and ironing baskets / lots of books and comic boxes, but it’s still lovely to have a room where I can leave my sewing supplies set up.
I have sewn with a Janome machine for years, a gift from my Mom and Dad as a teenager, but it recently stopped working. I was deciding what to replace it with (having borrowed my Mom’s machine in the interim), when a family friend generously gave me a new-in-box Singer machine she wasn’t using. So I’m currently using a Singer machine and serger. As you can see, my desk is a little small for two machines (plus sewing box, iron, and lamp!), but I squeeze both on.
My thread rack hangs from one side of the desk, and the desk drawer holds most supplies (buttons, zips, scissors, notepads, etc.).
Under the desk I have one tub of patterns, and one tub of UFOs. Keeping my pattern collection to one tub is challenging – although I do buy a lot of PDFs, otherwise it would be impossible. My fabric collection is housed elsewhere, in my bedroom, and I currently have it down to one tub and one tote containing lengths of fabric, and one tub of scraps which I can’t bear to throw away. I’m going to try not to let it expand much beyond that – although an upcoming trip to New York could be a problem!
Previously the only seating in the room was a upright seat at the desk, which is perfect for sewing at the machine, but isn’t very comfy for relaxing. The addition of the rocking chair means I now have a comfier seat where I can sit when I’m not working at one of the machines, to knit, hand sew or read. The rooms gets good light during the day so it is a nice place to sit and craft with a podcast or music playing.
The chair is a retro reproduction; the RAR rocking chair is one of a series of chairs designed by Ray and Charles Eames with a molded plastic seat (originally made from polyester and fibreglass). The chairs were originally entered in a ‘Low-Cost Furniture Design’ competition organised by MoMA in 1948, and are still being manufactured today.
The chair was sent to me flat packed (or as far as is possible for molded plastic), with the metal base as one solid piece (so four pieces in total, plus nuts and bolts). The chair is very lightweight, and assembly was quick and easy, although I did need to refer back to the image on the site to confirm which way ’round to attach the legs. If you love the Eames designs and don’t want to spend a lot of money Lakeland offer very affordable reproductions, including the DAW and DAR designs (the non-rocking variations).
I chose the RAR in white, but it comes in various colours, and also looks very cool customised although I’m not going to risk taking a paintbrush to mine.
P.S. Here’s a peek of the less attractive view in the other corner of the room – mine and Phil’s comic collection! I love comics, but comic boxes not so much…
Disclaimer: I was provided with a free RAR rocking chair in exchange for a review; all opinions expressed are my own.