Welcome Daisi!
Designer: Daisi Toegel
Instagram: Daisi Toegel
Hello!!!
I am Daisi Toegel, Quilter and Pattern Designer since 2020. I started sewing back in 2016, and when I first learned I used to make bags. I learned to sew by myself watching video tutorials and reading blogs. The interest came when I wanted to make myself a bag that I simply couldn’t find one like I wanted. Long story short, I have designed over 100 bags but never wrote a pattern for any of them until now.
I used to sell the bags I made in craft shows all over New Jersey where I live with my husband, three cats and one hamster. After the pandemic hit, I needed something new and that’s when quilting came into my life and took over most of my sewing time!!! After releasing quilt patterns I asked myself, maybe now’s the time to release some bag patterns too, why not? And then between making quilts and bags I changed my sewing room and reorganized everything, which I’ll be sharing with you. I love what I do and I do it full time!!! Hope you enjoy some of my organization hacks.
Comic Book BoardsHave you ever heard of this? Comic book boards are cardstock-like acid free paper that collectors use to help maintain the shape of the comic book, the standard size is 6 7/8” x 10 ½” and it’s sold in packs of 100, easy to find on Amazon. Each board typically holds 2 yards of fabric folded and rolled without bulk, but it’s common to see up to 5 yards being storage on these. The size of the boards is perfect to fit basically any book shelf, or standard cube storage furniture, making it easier for us sewers to adapt the fabric boards for being put away in any available place we have around our sewing room.
Book Shelf CabinetWhen we think about fabric storage we have to consider that most of it will be sitting for a long time without being used. To solve that problem, at least to a certain degree, especially if you have pets that have access to your sewing space, a cabinet with doors is essential. The cabinets in the picture above are IKEA Billy Bookcase with glass doors, and it is definitely one of the best and economic options on the market. They’re relatively narrow, and it fits well if you have a bit more space in your sewing room, being able to add more than one side by side, and one cabinet like in the photo above has 6 shelves! The height of the shelves are just perfect to fit the fabrics that are organized in comic boards, making the whole work of shelves organization to be done once. It’s important to save time since there’s less need to be reorganized overtime and the fabrics will keep clean, dust free for longer.
Pegboard
We all know that pegboards are very common when it comes to sewing room organization, but really, have you tried? Ikea has a perfect narrow size called SKADIS 14 ¼” x 22” and it’s the perfect option when you don’t have a large wall space to fit a wide pegboard. There are also many options of pegboard accessories that you can add to fit your needs, such as hooks, containers, clips, shelved and so many more. It’s wonderful to have everything you always use such as scissors, rotary cutters, pens, notepad, measuring tape, bobbin nest and etc on hand for easy grabbing close to your sewing machine, for example.
Mini Spool RackSpool racks are often large and occupy a lot of space depending on the set up. But let’s give a chance to the small ones. The spool rack in the picture (sold at JoAnn Stores) is a 7.5” x 12.5” with 30 pins, ideal to hold any type of medium to small spool size and it is foldable, which means that you can attach it to flat surfaces, like a wall or the side of your cabinets. Remember, the goal is to keep practical and save space! For being small, it’s easy to stack them and make a nice section in a corner of your room and even organize your threads by color, or brand for example.
Convertible Desk & Comfortable ChairWhat about a desk that gives you extra work space? It’s important to plan well when you are choosing a desk where you’ll spend most of your time working and of course, to consider a comfy chair that will keep your spine straight and won’t cause body pain on the long run. These both are to be bought together, they need to fit together for sake of your pain-free body at the end of the day! When looking for these items, it can occur that you won’t find them at the same store, so it’s important to keep in hand the measurements you want them to be, and you can start by trying chairs first, so whatever is comfortable for you then the desk must fit to the chair height. Extra space is never too much, and if it’s at hand it’s even better, so considering a desk that converts to a bigger table, or adds a side table for example, are good options that will make all the difference in the long run. Desks that include a pull-out panel like the one in the picture above, forming a L shape is perfect for smaller rooms as it adds boundaries at your working area, keeping your main station altogether, like sewing and ironing.
There are so many more ways I could share here, so I invite you to check my website (www.flowersew.com) and Instagram account www.instagram.com/daisitoegel for tutorials, more sewing hacks, bag patterns, quilt patterns etc.
I am extremely happy to part of this wonderful team as an OLFA Expert!!!!
Thank you for reading!
Daisi Toegel