# Sewing room design ideas wanted



## dragginbutt (Oct 30, 2009)

Hey folks, I am sort of in the doghouse here and want to do something nice for my wife. Over the years I have spent a lot of time and money on my hobbies. ATV's, Snowmobiles, Cars, Woodworking, you name it. All the while, the little woman has never complained. She has been into sewing all her life, but when it came to actually setting up a dedicated space for her work, we never got around to doing it. Now, I am feeling a little ashamed at not doing this sooner, so I'd like to do something nice for her for a change, while using my workshop. I do NOT want a simple cabinet that opens up for sewing then folds back up for storage. With the kids gone, I want a whole dedicated room with space to have three sewing stations (Embroidery, serger, and sewing machine) in a u shape configuration, and I want built ins/wall cabinets etc for storage of patterns, material, thread etc. In short, I want to GO BIG for her. 
I have the skills to pull this off, just looking for ideas on layout. 
Any takers out there?


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## Rick Dennington (Aug 27, 2009)

Hey dragginbutt: I might can help you with this, maybe. My wife is also into sewing, big time. Has been for 32 years. Sewing of all kinds. We took one of our bedrooms and turned it into a sewing room especially for her. I built an 8' sewing center out of oak, and a couple of extra tables for all her machines. It has 9 pull-out drawers with full extention drawer slides, is 26" deep, and I drilled a 1 1/2" hole in the top to run the cords down to the power strip. I made it in two boxes so she would have an opening to sit at(about 24", I think), and put a 3/4" solid top all the way across for machines, cutting cloth, etc. I have pixs of it, but can't find them in photobucket. I'll post them asap. Might give you some ideas. If not, toss them!! I'm looking-don't give up.


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## KayBee (Jul 6, 2009)

Years ago we built my mom a great sewing table for her sewing room. It was a full sheet of ply and solid edging with a cutout in the far right corner for the sewing machine cabinet. The cabinet had one of those sewing machine lifts, so she could lower the machine and use the entire table area for cutting or layout pieces. About 2 feet from the end, we put a small piece of angle iron into the top, mounted like a 'v' for a cutting guide. Go check out Joanns or a fabric store if you don't know what I mean. She already had shelves for all of her patterns that we had built. She liked putting them in shelves, said it takes up less room than drawers and easier to find things. If I can find pics, I'll post them later.


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## Berg (Aug 31, 2009)

I don't have any specific design but I can give you some points to consider when you do design that room. I'm sure it matters what kind of sewing she does. My wife is a quilter so she sews big, spread out projects. Her sewing table is white melamine 40" deep x 72" long. She would have loved it longer but the closet dictated the length. On that table she has spool racks and a couple small shelves set to the back. I put a stick-on tape rule along the front edge. She uses that a lot. Her cutting table is 36×60, "store bought". A friend made an ironing board top that is 22×60, padded, cloth covered and sets over a standard board. She has mentioned two things she would like: a layout table for pinning (something big like 4×8 or a ping pong table) and a sewing machine elevator / lift mechanism so she can use her sewing table for layout when not actually sewing. And the last block of advice: don't use kitchen base cabinets. A friend of mine (same friend) did that and made a very elaborate setup for he wife. The problem is the counter is way too shallow (my wife's is 40" deep) according to my wife. Remember lots of light (Ott lights are a good touch $$$$) and lots of *accessible* outlets/power strips.
That's it. Good luck.


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## Berg (Aug 31, 2009)

Hey Rick / KayBee, I'd like to see what you did also. Post pictures public OK?


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## Rick Dennington (Aug 27, 2009)

Hey Burg: You mentioned your wife is a quilter. So is mine. I built her a quilting rack to go in her sewing room, also. It is 8' long, and tilts so she can angle it down to reach it. It will make a king size quilt. It has 3-
1 1/2" galvanized rollers that set in the frame, and she attaches the quilt backing, etc, on these rollers, which are padded. She then stretches the material around these rollers and starts tightening it up(?). It has 2 half-moon shaped things(?)on the outside with "cogs" like a gear. And everytime she turns the rollers, the catches jumps down in between the cog tooth to hold it tight!!. It stays there til she gets ready to roll it, and jumps to the next one. I know it's hard to imagine, without seeing it, but it works kinda like a ringgear and pinion. I've got pixs. Got to get them out of the camera, and into photobucket. I'm working on it right now.


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## TopamaxSurvivor (May 2, 2008)

Why not ask for subtle suggetions from her?? might take a while to get it without spillin gthe beans if its a surprise.


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## Rick Dennington (Aug 27, 2009)

Hey draginbutt: Hope the pixs come through ok of the sewing center.

Berg and 3fingerpat: Besides the sewing center, I also posted a quilting frame I made for the wife. It works pretty good-so she says !!

sewing center:
http://i635.photobucket.com/albums/uu73/RickDennington/sewingcenter.jpg
http://i635.photobucket.com/albums/uu73/RickDennington/sewingsideofcenter.jpg http://i635.photobucket.com/albums/uu73/RickDennington/embroiderysideofcenter.jpg
quilting frame:
http://i635.photobucket.com/albums/uu73/RickDennington/quiltframe.jpg
http://i635.photobucket.com/albums/uu73/RickDennington/quiltframegears.jpg
http://i635.photobucket.com/albums/uu73/RickDennington/quiltframeside.jpg 
Hey guys, hope these come through ok.


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## roman (Sep 28, 2007)

I have built several sewing tables, some resdidential, most commercial and I have seen dozens that others made. I've gone with the "other half" and seen the sewing rooms that "teach quilting" so my 2 cents.

the bigger the table, the better. Seems these tailers prefer a table,like a kitchen table where access can be on all 4 sides. Often they have an internet jack/USB port for downloading the fancy stitches and they have an electrical outlet. The sewers each get a station and on one side there are drawers. Sewing can be a social event where all the sewers gather at one anothers house…........mostly gossip, and do a bit of sewing so its nice to have a table big enough to sit a few folks.

And then theres the fabric, bolts and bolts of fabric…....floor to ceiling built in open cabinets makes it easy to find the fabric, saves money too?

threads spools are put on 1/4" dowels on staggered shelves


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## dragginbutt (Oct 30, 2009)

Thanks guys, these are all great ideas. Currently we have a corner desk unit in place that allows her to have two work stations, but I want to complete the horse shoe and add another workstation so she can just turn and burn so to speak. It is working OK, but this time around, I want to go all out with built in cabinets. I am going to ask her how high etc. It is not a secret either. It is something I have been promising for many years now and we have the room so why not. I also have a large folding table that rolls out of the way when she doesn't need it for layout and cutting. That will probably continue to be used. Also already have Ott lights over the work stations. Been thinking about the lifts for each workstation, but in theory with dedicated areas, she shouldn't need to put them up and down unless she just wants to tidy up.
I hear you on cloth storage. In my younger days, I shipped almost 1500 lbs of cloth back from Europe. Nuff said there. (She used to sell sewing machines for Phaff when I was stationed in Europe, so she has a lot of their equipment.) Still the lifts sound good. I'd like to have some drawers, and maybe some doors that open and slide away like you see on TV cabinets. When she is done, she can close it all up… Also, She hasn't really any opinion of thread storage etc. I have seen and used the thread racks with dowels etc, but again, I 'd like to design something within an upper cabinet that can close up when not in use. Possibly with slides internally. I have seen some wood shop cabinets like that. 
Anyway, thanks for all the comments. Keep them coming.


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## Berg (Aug 31, 2009)

Rick, 
Nice quilt rack. Looks like a fun project. My wife is a quilter but she doesn't quilt. She "pieces the quilt" then sends it out to be machine quilted. I tease her that it's like me cutting out a project and sending it out to be assembled 

Here are pic of her work area. Someday something more formal like DB.
http://i771.photobucket.com/albums/xx355/bourg2649/STH70984.jpg
http://i771.photobucket.com/albums/xx355/bourg2649/STH70985.jpg
http://i771.photobucket.com/albums/xx355/bourg2649/STH70986.jpg


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## Rick Dennington (Aug 27, 2009)

Thanks guys for the nice comments. I made a q.r. just like it out of cherry for a lady customer. She showed me a pix, and my wife had to have one, too!!!

Berg: looks like your wife has plenty of room to do hers. We took an extra b.r. for my wife's room.

Pat: I did the same thing. I ordered a "starter" kit from Hinterburg. It was just the 1/2 moon thing that rotated, the cogs, or sprockets, etc. About $40 for the kit. That was for the other lady. Then I duplicated it in the shop to make my wifes. It was fun cutting all the cogs on the bandsaw!!! It's a big sucker-8 ft.


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## tonyennis (Oct 24, 2009)

If she's a serious seamstress/quilter/etc, and you're not, then you probably need to involve her in the project. You'll feel like a total tool if you build something useless or inefficient. My wife is a very good quilter. She knows what she likes. It would be folly for me to try to surprise her.

She'll probably like talking to you about her new space anyway. I bet she'll have some really good ideas.


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## roman (Sep 28, 2007)

Tony Ennis. .............That is the best advice, the wisest advice ever!


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## Rick Dennington (Aug 27, 2009)

Hey guys: Aftrer posting the story/ pixs of my wife's "quilting rack", I was informed that it's not a rack-it's a quilting frame. She says a rack is something you display the quilts on. Sorry honey-I'll try harder next time to get it right !!!!! I've been married 33 years, and I still like Army life better!!! lol lol. Don't tell her.


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## tonyennis (Oct 24, 2009)

Here's a dead simple quilt rack I made for the wife last year.

http://tony-stormcrow.blogspot.com/2009/10/quilt-rack.html


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## tonyennis (Oct 24, 2009)

"I tease her that it's like me cutting out a project and sending it out to be assembled "

Careful there partner, a long-arm quilting machine will cost you around $15,000.

Like this one...


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## dragginbutt (Oct 30, 2009)

Believe it or not, I have actually thought about getting one of those long arm machines, But I think I'd be fighting the wife to play with it as often as she would. Something about the technology that is appealing to me. Yep they are expensive. but anything you do these days is. My lovely spouse has about 20K sitting in "HER" room right now, and I certainly am not one to talk about money spent, that is for sure. Over the years, I have accumulated 6 ATV's, 2 Snowmobiles, too many Dirt bikes to count, and now I am starting my wood working tool collection. Hopefully, I can do most of what I want to do with my free shop. (I inherited my fathers shop… a Shopsmith with all the attachments, including the band saw, planer and jig saw, and a handfull of router tables, routers, bits etc. I know a lot of real wood workers will turn their nose up at it, but it was my dad's, so I am honor bound ot keep it in the family and use it.)
As for the sewing room, I think I am going to be able to work with much of what we have in place. She has a corner computer desk that works fine, but with a return added on one end, I can set her up in a horseshue configuration so she can have all her machines set up at the same time. The room is large enough for her to keep her cutting table set up too. By adding some storage for material, patterns, thread, I think she will be very pleased. Already painted the room too. I am also looking at mounting a built in ironing board setup for her too. Still planning and gathering ideas. My project in progress right now is completing my 16×24 workshop. Once that is done, and all my toys have found their new homes, it will be time to really make some dust.


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## dragginbutt (Oct 30, 2009)

For those of you that have wives with the sewing machine bug, what do you do when she gets that gleam in her eye and says she is off to the cloth store. Now I've been accused of spending a lot of money over the years, but my wife is cut from the "She who dies with the most cloth wins" mold. When returning from Europe back in 1990, I shipped over a thousand lbs of just material… and this was all cut goods mind you, not whole bolts of cloth. Don't even get me started on Belgian lace. I have the stuff in boxes, in closets… everywhere. I don't need insulation in my house because we have so much of it, we don't even need to turn on the furnace some winters. But anyone who can put up with me for over 40 years deserves the best right?


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## kim1188 (Dec 26, 2011)

as a fiber artist, i do a little of this and that from all sorts of traditional "sewing" traditions including fine handwork, quilting, tailoring, and dyeing my own fabrics in addition to some old forgotten stuff and things from the far east. usually these pieces leave the "clean room" w expensive sewing and felting machines and go to the painting studio for more layers of color in paint or dye or dipping in wax depending what the project is and the message being sent. unfortunately, we are having to redo all my studios to take a wheelchair now. i can still stand for a time, so all of the regular tables are being replaced by ones w electronic lifts to raise up and down to be workable height no matter how i'm feeling that day.
one of the first things i learned after my first 'close to real' quilting (or any sewing) is that a very large cutting/ironing table was absolutely essential in addition to the small ironing i did while sitting at the machine.. quilting fabrics are generally 44"-45" wide, upholstery 54"-60". when using primarily quilting techniques the ironing board needed to be 48" wide with space that the ironed fabric can go off the back side and not bunch up against a wall. i made my own "board" from a 48" office table with lots of drilled holes in it and topped with wool quilt batting and the silver teflon material one can find by the yard at sewing stores. i raised it off the ground by finding PVC pipes slightly larger than the table legs and cut them to length and slipped them over the legs for a nice tall and wide ironing surface. the same was done w the legs on the cutting table and a cutting matt was attached.
now that i will be ordering a lift table i plan to get double duty from one table. i'll find the widest hollow core door i can and will prepare one side for ironing and one for cutting. the door shouldn't be too difficult to flip and possibly i can add a gate leg on one side of the table and simply have a giant cutting matt rolled nearby to do large cutting. 
i'm planning on using the other side of the room (a long wall about 18'-20') to design and have built a sewing station for 3 machines in addition to storage for tools. 
hope that helps with measurements and scaling your projects. 
kim


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## terrilynne (Jun 24, 2010)

Ask your wife what would be the ideal sewing room for her. I'm sure your shop is set up for you, everything placed just right. Her input on her space will be the most helpful and she will appreciate it so much when it's finished. Just a little advice from a womans viewpoint.


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