Tips to Stay Organized!

It’s a NEW year and the perfect time to set some new goals, new objectives. I won’t call them “resolutions” since no one sticks to those, lol!

Getting better organized is often a common goal, and it’s essential in the sewing room as we’re all trying to do sew much these days with so little time. Staying organized will definitely help you save time, and help avoid, or at least minimize frustration in the long run, so we have a month’s worth of organization/ storage tips and tricks for you which hopefully will help. Today I’ll share a few little tips as I sew a fun Jelly Roll Rug.

To help keep your tools and supplies organized and conveniently available, Janome has some fabulous accessories to add to your sewing space. I rarely sew with pins, so I keep them in a box to the right of my machine and use my magnetic Janome Pin Pal to keep my most-used tools closer at hand. I never lose track of my screwdrivers, Janome Mini Duckling 4″ Applique Scissors, tweezers or stiletto as they’re always readily available with a permanent home on the Janome Pin Pal. When I travel, I just take the whole thing, tools still attached, and pop into a small zipper bag so everything stays together. Sew convenient!

The Janome Bobbin Saver 2 is also super convenient as the rubbery compound holds the bobbins in place and doesn’t slide around in the drawer or on the table. It holds 66 Janome “J” bobbins but will also hold the larger M-class bobbins of the Janome Quilt Maker longarm quilting machines. The rubbery compound of the bobbin saver flexes easily to accommodate the larger bobbins. You won’t be able to hold the same number of bobbins, so maybe, like me, you need more than one!

I keep a Janome Bobbin Saver 2 just for the Janome Pre Wound Bobbins, which are 60wt 100% polyester thread. I use them for embroidery and regular sewing, as well. There’s always a little extra thread left on the bobbin when using the “low bobbin” indicators on the machines, so I keep those bobbins in the same bobbin saver, so I remember what thread is on them. It’s so helpful to stay organized while you’re sewing so there’s less you have to try to remember. There’s way too much on our minds these days, so you don’t need to worry about what weight or type of thread is on your bobbin, lol!

Have you seen in some vintage machines where the user just wound a new colour of thread on top of the old colour instead of unwinding it and wasting the thread? No one likes to waste thread or take time to unwind a bobbin in order to reuse it, but DON’T do that! lol!

Instead, save the time and the trouble and use every inch of bobbin thread by using it as the needle thread. Sure, you may end-up threading your needle several times, but with most Janome machines having built-in needle threaders, or by using a manual needle threader to speed up the process, you’ll save time and avoid waste in the end by not unwinding all those bobbins.

I save this process for when I’m chain-piecing a quilt binding, or in this case, piecing together my Jelly Roll strips for a Jelly Roll Rug. Inverting a large spool cap positioned up high on the spool pin provides a good base for the bobbin and reduces the chances of the thread wrapping around the spool pin. Topping it off with the medium spool cap works great! As a tip, remember that the spool cap should always be larger than the top of the spool/ cone of thread.

Staying organized while sewing any project definitely helps speed-up production and avoids ripping out mistakes later on (ask me how I know! lol!) I appreciate having the large embroidery carriage of my Janome CM17 acting as an extension table to keep my Jelly Roll strips in order. There’s lots of room in front of the needle on the bed of the machine for my Quilt in a Day Sew Straight, which I love using for diagonal seaming. It sticks to the bed of the machine and embroidery carriage but is easily removable without any residue left behind. Check with your Janome Dealer to see what cool, and convenient sewing tools they have to help make your sewing task easier, and maybe even more fun.

Since I’m all about saving time and money whenever possible, I love using all the features my Janome machines have to offer, including something so simple, yet sew effective, as the side thread holder/cutter, which is on almost every Janome machine out there, including sergers, and embroidery-only machines. It’s such a convenient time-saver!

We’d love to know what organizing tips and tricks YOU do in your sewing room! Please share in the comments below so we can all help each other be more productive, save time, and share more of the Janome love!

Happy Sewing!