Packing up the Sewing Room

I had hoped to have a post ready now about my new sewing space in my new house in my new city. But as with all stages of this move things have not gone according to the time plan that I had in my head.

But late on Sunday night, as I was trying to get the new house in some sort of order before I hopped on a plane back to the old city early on Monday morning for my last week of work here I pondered a lot about the process of packing up the sewing room.

We were lucky enough to have our move paid for, thanks to my partners new employers, and as part of that arrangement we were not allowed to pack anything other than our clothing or it would not be insured. I have been involved in several such moves before, thanks to my work, and my feelings about strangers going packing all my things has always been a little mixed.On the one hand I am thankful I do not have to personally stand over boxes for days on end and get everything in their temporary cardboard homes, instead sit on a chair and watch it all done in a few hours but on the other I hate the invasion of my privacy and I can never help but shake the feeling that the movers and packers are not as careful with my things as they would be with their own.

These old thoughts first came to mind during this move with the completion of The Inventory. This has capital letters for good reason. It is the first, last and only list of your goods provided to the movers and the basis for the insurance. It is not a time for undervaluation. For this move I actually developed several databases, the one for the books took all weekend even with the assistance of a barcode scanner and the great program Collectorz Book Collector.

But how do you value a metre of fabric, sure it's easy enough to say that it was $24 a meter when you bought it two years ago but now it is out of print and hard to get. And that scrap over there? That is actually a Prints Charming panel that is not produced anymore and I'm saving it to make a baby quilt for my child, should I ever have the chance. The Elna machine, it's probably $50 on eBay, if you can find one, but you can't replace the one that my mum chose for me. All the buttons, so many little packets and varied origins. It's not like you can replace them, so what is the point of putting a money value on it? Just pack carefully please, so nothing gets lost.

And then there is the moment that packers walk into the sewing room/study and let out a low whistle of shock/awe/dread. And the mutterings from the room about the amount, range and 'what is this for?' comments as they take almost as long packing everything in that room as they do in the rest of the house. Should I try to explain, no, I don't think they would understand.

But I have got most of it unpacked, and somewhat less of it all organized in the new sewing room.

And because a post is not a post without a picture, here is a 'before' picture. Hopefully it will be finished this weekend and I can show you the 'after' pictures, 'cause I want to sew!