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Although there is probably no such thing as an ideal studio, it's well worth aiming for! Building your own studio means that it's possible to incorporate features that suit you personally. If it is attached to the house, it means that there is no need to travel, and quilting can easily be integrated with other activities. If you are adapting an existing space, many of the options mentioned in this article could also work.
To begin with I didn't have a studio. My first 'studio' was a curtained off area less than 2m x 4m (6' x 12'). There wasn't enough room for a proper table, and the ironing board was outside the curtain! But it was better than nothing, and many quilts were made there. Later when one of the children moved out I took over the newly vacated bedroom. It was a definite improvement, but it was a small room, so when more children moved out, I took over a larger bedroom and kept the small one as an 'office'. This worked for a time, but there were a lot of inadequacies in the arrangement. Then after nearly twenty years of making do, I had a studio built at the back of the house. It's the best decision I ever made!
Because my studio is attached to the house, it's just a matter of walking through a door; this is very convenient when the weather is extreme or for working late at night. There's a separate external entrance for visitors ensuring maximum privacy for the rest of the family. A separate toilet would be ideal, but I didn't consider it necessary as there's one in the house just a few steps away.
It's amazing what you can do in a small space, but generally the bigger the better! If your studio is a reasonable size, you can wall off one end to make a store room. My store room includes a kitchen sink with draining board, bench space and shelving. Having a separate store room solves several major problems. It provides more storage space than studio walls alone, and it means that unattractive items can be stored out of sight. The studio side of the wall is clear of shelving so it's a good place for displaying finished quilts and work in progress. And it's a valuable area of plain wall that can be used when photographing quilts. My wall is just plaster board, but for maximum flexibility you might consider covering your wall in white or neutral felt or 'frontrunner' fabric. Cork tiles or caneite behind the fabric could make it a pin board as well as a felt board.
Vinyl tiles in a pale neutral colour that reflect plenty of light cover the floor so there's no problem with clinging threads or hidden pins lurking in the carpet. The curtains, walls and ceiling are off white because it's also neutral and reflects light well. It's not quite as bland as it sounds - there are lots of colourful fabrics and books stored on open shelves, and quilts hanging on the walls.
If you plan to teach in your studio, or sew with friends, make sure that the electrical wiring is adequate for the amount of electricity needed to operate all the sewing machines, irons, heating and cooling appliances that could be in use at one time.
You'll need plenty of power points on the walls, but so that you can work anywhere in the room without the danger of tripping over trailing cords, ask your electrician to install some hanging sockets with their own switches, in the ceiling. It's useful to have ceiling power points connected to a switch on the wall as well so that all can be switched on or off at once as you enter and leave the room.
As an extra safety precaution against leaving the iron on, I have a table lamp (always switched on) plugged in with the iron so that both are automatically switched on and off together. It's easy to forget that the iron is on as you move from task to task. That light has often prompted me to switch off as I leave the studio late at night.
And here's a tip that will make things easier and safer later on whenever it's necessary to drill into the studio walls. During the construction process, before the plaster sheeting was in place, I photographed the wiring and plumbing while it was still visible. Those photos have been useful and reassuring on a number of occasions since, when installing extra shelving for example.
My studio has a whole wall of windows, and several more, but it's a big room. I would have had to use artificial light in the daytime without the three skylights that give a lovely soft light all over the room all day long. At first I was told it was impossible given the type of construction, but eventually a solution was found. Every day I'm thankful I persevered. At night, I use ordinary 100 watt pearl light bulbs. I decided against using fluorescent lighting after noticing how quickly it faded the dyes used in a small woven cotton hanging.
Direct sunlight on quilts and fabrics is not ideal, and strangely enough you can have too much light in a studio! Though at present curtains are not really trendy, the simple Indian cotton ones I made when the studio was first built have been a satisfactory and inexpensive solution for both daytime light control and night time privacy.
You could go for a commercially available hanging system, but the hooks I installed were cheap and have been totally satisfactory. There is a row of L-shaped cup hooks screwed into the exposed wooden beams that are a feature of the house. They are about 15 cm below the ceiling and 15 cm apart. If you don't have wooden beams, a piece of wood (eg 5cm x 2.5cm, 2” x 1”) fixed to the wall below the ceiling could support the hooks instead. The wood and hooks can be painted to match the wall.
Lifting pole. To avoid using a ladder I lift the quilts onto the hooks with a 2cm (¾”) thick dowel. At one end it has a large L-shaped hook set at an angle of about 45 degrees. A single loop of colourless fishing line attached to the top of the quilt at two points ensures quick, easy and convenient hanging. The fishing line will usually be at an angle to the top of the quilt but it doesn't matter, especially for photography, as it will not be visible in the photo.
CAUTION - if hooks are placed too close to the ceiling there won't be room to manoeuvre the lifting pole.
Part Two of this article will be about furnishings and equipment, looking after your body, public liability insurance and entertaining visitors.
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