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From: mommydionne
Date: 07-16-2006, 07:25 AM (1 of 18)
Well as you have likely gathered from my whining I'm moving in 2 weeks  And while our new house is larger there is NO sewing room!!!So.... I'm setting aside some $$ for a room in the basement (very dry, windows are OK, not great but OK). I'm looking for ideas, I've already prepared hubby for the idea that ott lights are the way to go (hate to whine but flourescents give me migraines and incandescents just are not bright enough - this getting closer to 40 thing sucks) he just doesn't know how much they cost yet  .I have a cutting table and a cabinet for my sewing machine and my serger lives on my singer treadle cabinet at the moment. The embroidery machine lives on a shelf and only comes out when needed. I will need shelving, storage, more storage and lots of storage. I also have a massive collection of doo dads and books and patterns (don't we all?), the fabric lives in rubbermaid bins and gets shuffled all over the house at this point, I would also like to make a pressing station etc. (hmm wonder if I can squeeze a new steam press system out of my reno budget) here is a link to my sewing space now (I'm gonna miss my windows...) http://ca.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/jeanettedionne/album?.dir=ddee&.src=ph&store=&prodid=&.done=http%3a//ca.photos.yahoo.com/ph//my_photos I'm not sure how large my space will be, at least 10x10, it's a big basement so I'm going to suck up my share of the space and I would like to put a little loveseat I have in there too so the kids can hang out with me as well. all ideas welcome, thanks!! Jeanette
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User: mommydionne
Member since: 01-08-2004 Total posts: 838 
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From: DorothyL
Date: 07-16-2006, 07:30 AM (2 of 18)
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Your treadle is just like mine. Does it work? Have you ever used it? Dorothy |
User: DorothyL
Member since: 12-09-2002 Total posts: 3883 |
From: Magot
Date: 07-16-2006, 08:38 AM (3 of 18)
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I can't imagine having a room just for sewing....good luck on the OTT lights!
love and kisses, Jan
Guts-R-Us Cells a Speciality DNA to order. |
User: Magot
Member since: 12-22-2002 Total posts: 3626 
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From: HeyJudee
Date: 07-16-2006, 09:22 AM (4 of 18)
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Well my sewing room is approx. 9x9 and it is too small. But I quilt and have my sewing cabinet and cutting table back to back so I can spread out my quilt when quilting. But I my room is too small. So my suggestion would be to make your space in the basement as large as you possibly can. I forgot to mention that I have something like a track light in my sewing room. I got it years ago and it has three lights that I can tilt different ways. But it has a 60 watt limit for the bulbs. But I found some of the new low watt (23) "daylight" bulbs and now have the equivalent of 300 watts. I find the lighting great for sewing at night. Maybe you can find something similar to use for the ceiling lighting. TTFN from
Judy |
User: HeyJudee
Member since: 01-25-2005 Total posts: 1366 
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From: Patty22
Date: 07-16-2006, 09:22 AM (5 of 18)
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Jeanette, I am a basement dweller. I love my space, but lighting is a big issue. I had tiny hallogen lights on a track system that can be adjusted put on the ceiling over my main work area. However, in hind site, I would have insisted on more track lighting. It is better to plan more and then have the ability just not to turn the area lights on if you don't need them. So mega lighting. Also, consider your flooring. We had antique wide-plank floors installed in our family room (strange house, but it is on the 2nd floor) and I had the left-overs used for my flooring. I was able to have electrical outlets installed in the floor so there wouldn't be cording to trip anyone (okay, I'm clutzy enough). I didn't want to work on a cement floor. The wood floor is perfect, but having the outlet in the middle of the room is great - and it is an outlet that can accomodate lots of plugs. Even though you may not think a basement is damp, I would make sure you have a dehumidifier set and ready and running till you are sure about your climate. We have two in our basement and I'm thinking of getting a third. My shelving works for me - wood racks from Hold Everything. I love the idea of the couch in the room. When my sewing room use to be the unfinished master bedroom upstairs, we had a large platform bed that my kids would play on, read, color and sometimes fall asleep on while I sewed.  I miss having lost the space, but I've acclimated to my new digs.Since your house is going to be larger......this is just me rambling here.......I would consider having an area - possibly near where you might think your kids are going to be doing homework - where you can do hand work. Claim an area upstairs as your own also. This helps when you might not be able to be downstairs, yet you still want to do some kind of project. Sometimes I even bring one of my portable machines up to my dining room just so I can look out the french doors and watch the day unfold. (Somedays I just don't want to be as isolated.) I hope your move goes well and your new home is the center of happy memories with your family. Patty
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User: Patty22
Member since: 03-29-2006 Total posts: 1194 |
From: mommydionne
Date: 07-17-2006, 07:43 AM (6 of 18)
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Thanks for the ideas, I like where I am now b/c I can actually sit and sew and supervise the yard while the kidlets are playing, they tent to gravitate to wherever I am so the couch and perhaps a little TV might help keep me sane. I did a search yesterday and Ott lite now makes bulbs that fit in a regular socket ($54 a pop! ). Track lighting sounds like a great idea, I have that in my kitchen now and love it. I have a dehumidifier now (our basement here is damp, it runs most of the summer), more space if definately better  I already tend to lug my handwork all over the house must be another one of those sewers afflictions. Dorothy, the treadle does work, I have used it but am not very good at the rhythm thing, it reminds me of typing on a "real" typewriter where you had to strike each key evenly (just dated myself eh??  ), mine is an older one with the long shuttle style bobbin, very difficult to set up at times (for me anyway) I also have one of the old Singer electric "portables" with the wooden case, it's the machine I learned to sew on, it weighs a ton!! The mover dude raised his eyebrows a tad at my sewing machine collection but didn't flinch at my husbands massive tool and juck pile. Must be a man thing.
Jeanette
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User: mommydionne
Member since: 01-08-2004 Total posts: 838
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From: DorothyL
Date: 07-17-2006, 07:51 AM (7 of 18)
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Jeanette, Your treadle must be older than mine. Mine has a bobbin that was interchangeable with the ones my newer Singer (mid 90s). The patent date on mine was 1910. I used it all the time for a while but finally got tired of making all my button holes by hand. Dorothy |
User: DorothyL
Member since: 12-09-2002 Total posts: 3883 |
From: plrlegal
Date: 07-17-2006, 09:53 PM (8 of 18)
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Dorothy and Jeannette I have a Singer treadle also but mine only dates back to 1941 but it is in perfect working order and in the same cabinet it came in. Treadles are great to do straight stitch quilting on as they have that gorgeous straight stitch. Mine belonged to my deceased MIL who made everything she wore on it for years. Patsy Patsy
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User: plrlegal
Member since: 05-19-2001 Total posts: 318 |
From: Patty22
Date: 07-18-2006, 06:54 AM (9 of 18)
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Jeanette, On second thought and sleeping on this and because your kids are still so little, insist that your sewing room is right upstairs with the rest of your family. I rethought what I had written you and then I realized I would have gone nuts if my kids were little and I had everything I worked on in the basement. This only works for me because mine were so much older and I didn't need to worry about their physical safety. Put something else in the basement! Patty
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User: Patty22
Member since: 03-29-2006 Total posts: 1194 |
From: DorothyL
Date: 07-18-2006, 07:08 AM (10 of 18)
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If it was me I'd put the kids in the basement and the sewing machines in the living room. Dorothy |
User: DorothyL
Member since: 12-09-2002 Total posts: 3883 |
From: bridesmom
Date: 07-20-2006, 09:03 PM (11 of 18)
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Amen to that Dorothy! I have a 14x18 room in the basement that has 3 tall windows which aren't bad, but had to put in extra lighting and honestly I almost don't have enough room. I have a large cutting table plus another working table that is 1/2 ironing board and if I only had the ironing board it would be plenty large enough, but i still have stuff stashed in the spare bedroom drawers. The nice thing is today it was 33C and I was plenty cool in the basement!!
Laura
Tickled pink with my Innovis 4000D |
User: bridesmom
Member since: 01-21-2004 Total posts: 2026 |
From: mommydionne
Date: 07-26-2006, 05:50 PM (12 of 18)
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I'm thinking when hubby is away on some trip he may come home and find his office in the basement and the sewing room upstairs but for now I'll let him think he is going to have a "real" office, not that he needs one, he has an office at work. Perhaps I could put his desk in the garage??? next to the motorcycle would work Not sure how exactly old the treadle is, The copy of the manual I have (didn't come with it, bought it online) Calls it a Vibrating Shuttle No.2, and is dated 1891, but I think mine is a bit later than that. Jeanette
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User: mommydionne
Member since: 01-08-2004 Total posts: 838
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From: sews4love
Date: 07-26-2006, 06:37 PM (13 of 18)
I too lost my sewing room when we move several years ago.  I am now in the basement slowing taking over hubby's space. In my humble opinion, you can never have enough space for sewing and all it involves. Think big and get as much of that basement as you can right from the get go.Molly |
User: sews4love
Member since: 05-20-2006 Total posts: 57 
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From: Patty22
Date: 07-26-2006, 06:40 PM (14 of 18)
Is my mind muddy, or does anyone else think that Jeanette's machine's name is funny? 
Patty
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User: Patty22
Member since: 03-29-2006 Total posts: 1194 |
From: sews4love
Date: 07-26-2006, 06:50 PM (15 of 18)
| Patty, I did stop and read it twice. I think some person with a very weird sense of humor worked for Singer and was most likely a man!Molly |
User: sews4love
Member since: 05-20-2006 Total posts: 57
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From: weezyrider
Date: 07-27-2006, 10:49 AM (16 of 18)
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I grabbed the dining room. Have sewing cabinets, cutting table, computer desk, ironing board and bookshelves. Could spread out more, but since the kids moved back, I've got 2 huge ferret cages (on wheels) and 5 ferrets in there with me and averything is crammed up! Weezy
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User: weezyrider
Member since: 08-19-2003 Total posts: 218 
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From: LoveSewin
Date: 07-27-2006, 01:04 PM (17 of 18)
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My sewing 'area' is in the basement as well. No windows at all! I have a little fluorescent light about my machine that helps, but I am noticing as I get later into my 30's my eyes are needing a little more light My basement has a tv with vcr for the kids and my youngest often comes down with me and either watches a movie, or makes stuff out of my scraps. I also like being near the washing machine so I can quickly mend if need be. I live in a townhouse that has no option for a sewing room, but I am happy to have my own corner now and at least I can make a mess and no one is bothered by it! I had a few good laughs reading the posts on this thread! (I especially like the one about the motorcycle...) Kim
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User: LoveSewin
Member since: 01-31-2006 Total posts: 103 
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From: lvquilts
Date: 07-30-2006, 12:53 PM (18 of 18)
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My sewing area is in the basement, and since I never had a space before...I'm loving it! For years and years I'd set up the machine on the kitchen table and pack everything up again at the end of each sewing session. While I don't have natural light, I do like my Ott light very much. Got it at JoAnn's when they were having a 50% off sale on them. The only other lighting is a bare lightbulb in the ceiling. The one Ott light seems to work fine for me. I copied one idea from a book that I LOVE: took a table top ironing board and added a table leg to the pointy end. The wide end I attached to the kitchen table that I use to sew on (I don't have a sewing cabinet...wasn't in my budget). I use desk pushed up to the other side of the kitchen table and voila! A u-shaped sewing area that works great. I used to trek across the room to iron a seam...no more! I quilt, so I generally don't have long seams that I need a regular ironing board for. I found a "butchered" antique (top isn't original to the base) secretary. I have my fabric stored on the shelves behind the glass doors. Stays spider/cobweb free, but I can enjoy looking at it. Good luck with wherever you end up! |
User: lvquilts
Member since: 07-16-2006 Total posts: 29 |
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