Four tips for organising your creative space

Yesterday, after a morning of cleaning, I looked around and felt that I am very happy with the way my creative space is  currently set up. When working from home, it is challenging to organize your space in a way that will assist you in creating, especially when your business reaches the point when you need to make things in bulk. That's when it is important to reorganize your space to accommodate a production line. Trust me, it's not the same as making 2-5 items at a time, it's more like 8-10 robins, 5 owls and 8 Mimi birds here at the moment (not mentioning the cross-stitch and crochet). From my experience, it's much more challenging as my "studio" is a part of our living room and my production lines used to spread on a couch, balcony and kitchen bench....

 Likely, productivity and living room tidiness increased dramatically when I did the following:

1. Bought a folder for the patterns. When I had more then 3 toys, it started to get tricky to find  the right feet or eyes in one plastic sleeve. Now, I have patterns organized in a folder with a sleeve per toy. It saves hips of time! 

2. Made "portable" production stations. 

I had a few pieces of a foam laying around so I use them to pile the certain project on (trays, containers or thick cardboard sheets will work as well). They are easy to remove from the table when I need space for another project. This way, they don't get lost in a pile of other things. 

Why not finish one and then start another batch? 

I like having 3-4 different projects going at the same time. It's more fun to have a variety and make progress on a few things at once: orders, shop stock and something new. It works for me as I am not very patient person and like changing tasks to keep myself creative for longer. 

3. Keeping a little plastic bag for scraps on the table at all times. 

I used to cut toys out and leave scraps to pile up on a table (still do sometimes). It seams it's easy to just bin it when it gets out of control. Not really! The scraps leave felt fluff and fabric bits that tend to spread around and just end up being everywhere. Now, when I cut shapes out, I do it  directly above the plastic bag so scraps go straight in it. It works so much better!

4. Moving all the supplies so they are located behind my back when I stitch.
I like that my fabric, ribbons and felt are behind me when I work. It's easy to get distracted when you see a particular fabric and get diverted from what you are doing, start making totally not what you suppose to and end up, 3 hours later, with a cute new toy but behind on orders. However, it still easily accessible and close enough to browse through when I need to find THE one for the project.  

Over the years, I've tried all kind of fabric storage solutions: Ikea boxes, folding fabric over plastic organizers from Spotlight, baskets, plastic boxes... They worked well and looked pretty before Plushka started getting really busy. 

2011, we just bought more Ikea furniture and these cardboard boxes with the lids.

2011, I used to like having fat quarters folded in the plastic containers on my table.

 Now, I just have 3 shelves with fabric neatly folded that I use the most, plan on using, purchased for the particular toy and a separate Christmas fabric shelf. 

The rest of my stash is hidden in the containers that I go through once in a few months to find "forgotten" fabrics that might go with a new toy, customer order or a new range. It almost feels like shopping! From experience, 4 shelves with fabrics are enough to work with, the rest of the containers are there to accommodate my fabric addiction. I heard that admitting it is the first step to recovery;)

So, these are my 4 tips for increasing productivity. 

Do you have any craft studio organizational tips that help being more productive? 

P.S. There is a great article on the Etsy blog "Where you do your best work" with more advice:)