Experts Share How to Create the Ultimate Quilting Room

For the experienced quilt maker, having a dedicated space in your home to sew can foster creativity and provide uninterrupted concentration. While having a large space comes in handy, any small area in your home that can accommodate fabric storage, machinery, craft tables, and working space is all you need.

If you are looking to create a quilting room in your home, look no further. We reached out to quilting experts from Vancouver, BC to Miami, FL to get their tips on creating the ultimate quilting room. Keep reading to see what they had to say.

Tips on layout

Consider the flow of your space. There should be room to walk around and you’ll also want to have areas set up for specific tasks so that you can flow easily from one task to the next. Flow also means creating a space that is inviting, light, clean, and organized with a place for everything so you can find your tools and get to creating. – Seams Like a Dream

Make your design functional. Design your space for how you’ll best use it. If you sew more than you quilt, orient your room around your sewing machine rather than your quilting machine. The room should feel right, rather than just look right. – Sewing World Warehouse Outlet

Choose a practical layout. It can be tempting to create a picture-perfect space for your quilting room that is not exactly functional. When choosing furniture and a layout, make sure that your workstations can be functionally set up at all times. Cutting tables should be big enough for your mat and fabric, ironing boards left out, and sewing machines ready to fire up at any time. – Rachel Rossi Design 

Plan for the future. Our workstations (inclusive of a cutting table, ironing station and sewing table) should double as storage with cubbies or shelves underneath, along with having rollers for easy relocation and cleaning. If possible, abundant electrical outlets are crucial for set-up and changes to your layout in the future. – Quilting By the River

Make it ergonomic. As an avid quilter, I find the best strategy for enticing creativity is to have all the stations you need at the ready with easy ergonomic transfer between tasks. For me, this has meant not only raising my ironing board to 40″ but also putting my sewing machine and cutting board on a standing desk. – Lovely and Enough Modern Fabric Design + Quilts

Take measurements before you begin to move furniture. Measure the length, width, and depth of all of the walls, and then put those measurements on a blank piece of graph paper. Make notes of the placement of outlets, the height of the windows, and any heating sources. Once you have done that, and measured twice – then scan that paper of the blank slate of your room.  Whenever you want to move it around or look at buying a new piece of furniture for the room, you have what you need. – One Quilting Circle

Tips on storage and organization

Add built-in shelving. Every quilter faces this problem – fabric storage. By adding built-ins with varying heights and widths, you’ll be able to utilize wall space from the floor to the ceiling for your fabric stash. Whether you store your fabric by bolt or neatly folded, built-ins will allow you the flexibility to expand and organize your textiles. –  Marifly

Use open shelves for easy access to fabrics. You can then ruler fold your fabrics to showcase your stash. The beauty of ruler folding is that you can fold them to fit the space that you have created, no matter what size that may be. –  Quilted Twins

Shoe hangers can serve multiple functions. For organization, I use shoe hangers in my sewing closet to store fabric by color. These hangers are great because they hang on a dowel rod in the closet and the small separated compartments are perfect for organizing fat quarters and/or fabric scraps. – T-shirt Memory Quilts

Take advantage of the wall space. Using fabric and notions on the vertical plane of your craft room can allow you to insert your own personality and aesthetic. – HoffMama Company 

Install custom closets. To increase the functionality of a new quilting room, consider using custom closets or cabinets along one or two walls to organize all of your supplies. Include a large counter with open and closed storage above and below to maximize workspace and keep tools easily accessible. – The Crafty Quilter 

Store your craft supplies where you can see them. I love clear storage. It allows me to see all my tools and supplies igniting creativity. This leads me to actually using them, as opposed to before when I had things all tucked away in totes in closets or under the bed that would fall off my radar. – Keaton Quilts

Tips on furniture 

Start with furniture you already own. First, look around your home to see if there are items that can be repurposed in your craft room. I had a small letter chest and that is where I keep my color-coded, ziplock bags of fabric scraps. Then make a wish list of the items you would like to have in your room someday. This helps because you can take your time looking for the right items for your style and functional needs. Prioritize the items you will get the most use out of. – Brown Bird Designs

Then go with the essentials. I use three awesome furniture pieces. An adjustable height work table that makes cutting fabric easy on your back. Ceiling height shelving with doors, which look built-in, and hold a lot to keep everything hidden from view. Finally, clear plastic storage bins that will store and sort all of your fabric scraps. – Reed from Blue Bear Quilts

Think about your space as a whole. Our must-haves for a quilting room are a counter-height cutting table, a blank wall for a design board, and lots of natural light. We store our fabric wrapped around comic book boards in open cubby shelving, sorted by color and out of direct sunlight.  A luxury item would be a wall-mounted television to get you through the repetitive steps. – The Cloth Parcel

Focus on your tablespace. A large table is invaluable for cutting, designing, and having space to layout fabrics. It’s the workspace most used in my studio. It helps keep all my tools organized and ready to use. – Me and My Sister Designs

Think previously-loved and multi-purpose when it comes to furniture. My cutting table purchased off Craigslist is still going strong a decade later. When I need a larger work surface, I pull out a 6’ folding table and raise it to match the height of the cutting table. A set of plastic bed risers provides the perfect amount of lift for me. – Come Stitch With Me

Tips on lighting 

Natural light is a necessity for your quilting room. But be careful with direct sunlight. Always store fabric out of direct sunlight to prevent fading (in a dark cupboard if possible) and be mindful of putting your cutting table right under a window where hot, direct sun will cause your cutting board to warp. – Bonjour Quilts

Find the type of lighting that works best for you. Whether it’s great windows and natural light or overhead lighting. For furniture, I love my large L-shaped desk to quilt on. And of course storage – bookcases that fit bolts of fabric and thread. – Minnesota T-shirt Quilts

Keep fabrics in the dark. Light, daylight, and artificial, will both fade your fabric. Keep your fabric in a lightproof area. A closed-door shut is a good place. – Too Cool T-shirt Quilts

Reduce eye strain. Your quilting room is more than just what’s under your needle, it also includes the space around your sewing machine. Good overall lighting in your sewing space can reduce eye strain and fatigue, helping you sew for longer periods of time. – Westside Quilters Guild

Tips on tools and design

Utilize different types of boards. Pegboards can be used to store your most-used tools so they’re always in reach without cluttering up your workspace. Add magnets to the back of fabric swatches and place them on a magnetic board. This makes it easy to visually create a fabric pull. I like to create a color story and then walk by it for a couple of days, swapping out fabrics until I’m happy with the final outcome. – Patchwork & Poodles

Organize your fabric stash by color. And even better, in rainbow order. More often than not, when you sit down to start a project, the first choice you have to make is your color palette. Seeing your gorgeous stash of fabrics in rainbow order will help you easily choose fabrics to work with and might even provide inspiration for your next work of art. – Hoffman Fabrics 

Use every inch of your room. Use an over-the-door clear pocket hanging organizer to hold small items such as spools of thread or stabilizers. – Colorado Creations Quilting

Make sure all your tools have a home. I personally love simple desks with easy to reach pens/scissors, storage cabinets for fabric, baskets or containers for scraps, and pegboards to hold and display our most used tools. – Then Came June

Display cones of thread on wall-mounted racks. Just make sure the thread is not in direct sunlight. – Egg Money Quilts

Store small items in jars. We love to collect colorful jars and containers. We fill them with homemade pins, buttons, lace, trim and all sorts of goodies. They serve double duty as cuteness and eye candy for the room. – Poppie Cotton 

Brighten up your space with wallpaper. Wardrobes, closets, bedroom corners, or even the space under a staircase can all become creative stations while still blending in seamlessly with your household decor. Add a fun bit of removable wallpaper, toss in some color, add a fun and funky lamp, and with very little expense that most sterile of workspaces is a delightful place. – C & T Publishing 

Install a permanent design wall.  This is a great way for sewers and quilters to audition layouts before sewing and pin up possible arrangements of fabric or blocks. You can create one by using 1” Foamular foam board insulation covered with batting nailed to the wall. – Just Tshirt Quilts

Tips on portability 

Make your furniture portable. As the “Traveling Quilter,” I don’t get as much time in my quilting room as I’d like. So, to save space and time I use a portable design wall to easily store my quilting blocks in process while I’m on the road. Made of heavy cardboard covered with flannel, it holds all my blocks in place and I’m ready to pick up right where I left off when I get home. –  Rona the Ribbiter

Create a portable design wall. Take the batting that you want to use later for the quilt, hang it up or place it on the floor and arrange and rearrange your finished blocks until you like it best. – Zen Chic