The Roanoker - May/June 2014 - 100

SMALL SPACES 3:

Built-in sewing and ironing
space keeps company with
antiques in Jo Lynn Adams'
quilting room; ironing
board pops up from drawer
on right. Insert is one of Jo
Lynn's wall creations.

RKR

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100 MAY/JUNE 2014

FIVE OR SO YEARS AGO, Jo Lynn Adams of Salem got serious about sewing large lap quilts, but
finding a place to do it comfortably took a while.
She had her grandmother's 50-year-old machine
plunked on a table in what was then the living room,
which had become a catchall room because the family used the family room to entertain.
"I sewed at one table, cut at another and when
I needed to iron, I had to run upstairs to use the
ironing board. To see a quilt, I had to lay it on the
floor," Jo Lynn recalls.
As her interest grew, husband Mark gave her a
portable sewing machine so she could take it to
quilting classes. When it broke, Jo Lynn asked for a
new machine for Christmas. She received the machine and another wrapped box that contained a
brochure for Closet Storage Organizers and an appointment card with its owner Rick Gumpert. Mark
had spoken with Gumpert about creating a sewing
room for Jo Lynn, a step he refers to as "relationship capital."
Jo Lynn made the contact with Gumpert, who
came to look at the room and then presented a
plan. Eventually, the living room that had been the
catchall was reborn as an organized, efficient and
esthetically pleasing space. The first plan gave her

DAVID HUNGATE

Sewing Room Project
more ideas so there was a second plan that expanded
shelving and created a full length closet on one end.
The wall-to-wall unit that dominates Jo Lynn's sewing studio includes various sized cubbies containing
baskets of quilt pieces. The desk-like counter contains
the sewing machine and drawers that range from a
file size for patterns to one that contains a flip-out
ironing board. She can sew and turn to the right,
open the board and iron. On the wall next to the unit,
Jo Lynn has mounted a felt-board that allows her to
shift quilt pieces around to create designs.
She likes shopping antique and used good stores
and found most of her baskets that way. "A bread
basket is the perfect size for quilt pieces."
"It keeps me organized," Jo Lynn says of the completed room. It is also her retreat and many of its
furnishings and accessories pay tribute to her family. Grandmother's machine serves as a small table.
On one wall, a great-grandfather's desk holds a clock
that belongs to Mark's father. Wall accessories include
some older family portraits, a carriage robe made by
a great-grandmother more than 100 years ago and a
framed quilt piece in a snowflake design.
"The snowflake is there to remind me I will never
do another one," says Jo Lynn who did not find the
design a fun project. I
THE

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