Lots of things have changed since I started working in our living and dining rooms in 1995, sewing on a single home machine. As our business grew, we began to overtake our home, and needed more space and more heavy duty equipment.
Eventually, we built out part of our guest house, transforming it into the SK Designs studio. Finally, the machines were out of the house, we had room for more machines, a padded pinnable large worktable, a suspended commercial iron, and room for lots of pegboard walls in order to display completed window treatment projects as well as fabric sample books.
Want to take a look at an efficient professional drapery fabricator's studio?
Below is the entryway to SK Designs. Client thank you notes are posted on the striped bulletin board straight ahead, and vendor files and client files are in the cabinets on the right.
Bins with client samples, trims, patterns, etc. are also located in the entryway, along with display photos of some past projects.
As with any business, it is important to have the correct tools for the job! By investing in commercial sewing machines, a more efficient work space, seminars and trade shows, I could complete projects more professionally and more easily. Here are a couple of our commercial machines:
It makes a world of difference having all of the things needed to design, draft, fabricate and display custom window treatments and bedding. The walls of pegboard allows me to display fabric sample books as well as completed treatments ready for delivery.
As you can see above, I can also use the pegboard walls to drape chain weight when drafting overlapping swags. This helps me check if the proportions and overlaps are the size that I want them to be. You can also see the suspended Dofix iron floating above the table. I love my Dofix iron! It allows me easy access to the iron, while keeping the worktable clear for cutting, drafting and laying out fabrics for treatments in progress. There is no dangling electrical cord getting in the way that has to be moved out of the way frequently.
Below is a photo of the tool storage and prep area. Pins, screws, fabric staplers, chalk marking tools, magnetic pin bowls, zippers and zipper pulls, roman shade cord orbs....lots and lots of little pieces are stored in this area.
Of course, there has to be room for inspiration! Here are just a few of the window treatment and design books that I have collected over the years.
I hope you have enjoyed the mini tour of our studio!
Thank you for your interest, support and business throughout our 20 years!
Susan Kostelecky
