In our previous post we incorrectly measured our studio at 50m2... unfortunately we must have been on the turps when we did this as it is only 25m2 at best... only half the size... *sigh.
The first thing you notice when entering our studio is the big behemoth of a cutting table! It measures 2m x 3m and is very imposing!
This cutting table also becomes our photography studio when not in use! We have a roll of white backdrop material above, which pulls down. In addition a large lightbox is on the right side of the table. Together they create a good basic photography studio! Otherwise, we turn to Gary from GNC Photography for the truly professional shots!
Behind the cutting table you can see the window to our sewing room. This room used to be a sound recording studio so we have double paned glass in an interior window... weird?! In addition we have 4 inches of insulation all around! Cool in summer, warm in winter! Bonus!
Hanging beside the sewing room window is our pile of bag patterns. These are constructed from old cardboard signs previously used in BWS stores. Big thanks to the crew at BWS Cav Rd for the constant hook up!
Beneath the cutting table is storage for rolls of fabric, foam, and other miscellaneous materials. At the moment it looks a little bare...
This is not the most ideal setup as some rolls are 50m in length, and well over that in weight. It is sometimes quite awkward to remove these particularly heavy rolls and place them on the table. In our ideal dream studio we would have a roller system in place so we could pull down the fabric without having to lift the rolls... oh for dreams!
To the left of our cutting table is the remainder of our "cutting room", which also affectionately known as the "crack den" by Nate and Gypsy. This is mainly because we have a couple of bricks wrapped in paper (to secure fabric while cutting in bulk!) as well as scales (to weigh bags for postage... honest!) in the room.
As you can see we have a hard to access sink at the rear of the room (blocked by piles of boxes), while on the left is our webbing cutting table and closer to the camera is our buckle storage shelves. The webbing cutting table is just short of 1m high and is perfect for working while standing up. Underneath this table are boxes of velcro, webbing, and our FRS Strap Ons.
Standing at the sink you can see our webbing cutting table currently put to good use as a "junk storage area". We definitely need a bigger studio!
If you could stand on the webbing cutting table (it wouldn't be comfortable as your head would hit the ceiling!) this would be the view back to where you entered. The imposing cutting table is front and centre, with the lightbox behind it. On the right is our "scrap" storage bins... more on those later!
And here you can see our piles of buckles, d-rings, and other assorted plastic components, neatly stacked on the shelf. These are also getting a tad low... time for a top up perhaps? Beneath it are off-cut rolls used in the manufacture of our tool rolls.
On the top shelf of the buckle storage area are our stamps for unique ID numbers, as well as our proudly and often displayed "Made In Australia" stamp.
Going back to our original starting position in the room, are our "scrap" storage bins. These bins are full of usable offcuts (which we use in some of our Lovehandles and other small products), as well as unusable pieces relegated for punching bag fill. We haven't built the punching bag to contain this material just yet, but we will soon! If you know of someone who would like some fill, don't hesitate to let us know!
Stepping in to the cutting room the first thing you would notice (apart from the four sewing machines) would be our extensive use of the "floordrobe".
These are the buckles that we use regularly in almost every bag. As such they are in a quick and convenient area to access. Ultimately we would have them neatly piled in carts on wheels, like in a hairdressing salon... damn, there are those dreams again! But this solves the problem at the moment!
And below are our current four machines. I know you already saw these in our Tools of BOgear post, but they still take up room in our studio so need to be introduced!
Our needle feed machine! Used entirely for lightweight objects, it doesn't see much action during the work week. However, it was used extensively for my waterproof bib-pants (I will be doing a write up on these pants shortly! Stay tuned as they ROCK... biased perhaps?)
Our main workhorse... a compound walking foot, needle feed machine. Every product that comes out of our studio is touched by this machine in some way.
Our straight stitch standard machine. It was lightening fast, but unfortunately is not used much at all. We recently sold it to make room for a new machine (or two).
Our dedicated binding machine! This is also a compound feed machine. Needle feed, walking foot, and moving binding bar! Oh, and it is cylinder arm so it is fantastic for binding inside awkward objects!
And as I alluded to slightly above, we have another machine on the way... shh... don't tell anyone, but it is truly AWESOME! It will deserve a post of its own!
Most of the area inside our sewing room is taken up with sewing machines and floordrobe storage. But we do also have a series of shelves for "proper" storage. On the top you will find our Babycandy bags (now safely stored in Rubbermaid tubs), while on the right are our individually bundled FRS Strap Ons. On the left are our pre-cut Beernutts and bag liners.
And at the bottom of these shelves are our piles of thread...
and our rolls of webbing, spare binding tape, and elastic...
As well as velcro and multiple zipping spools.
And so there you have it! A long sneak peek into our current studio! It is the fourth studio space so far, and although it may be small, the space is fairly efficiently used. We are fast growing out of the current space, but will make do with the current area as long as humanly possible!
No comments:
Post a Comment