Cutting table!

Jean M.

When wall-papering folding tables were on sale, I got two because I have a large hobby room so space isn't a problem.

I opened them out side-by-side and used braces to attach them to each other. Braces as in a half-inch wide strip of metal with 2 holes for screws. This keeps the tables from separating on me.

I covered both tables with clear Contac paper (sticky-back plastic) on which I measured out and drew grid lines at centimeter/meter increments; horizontally and vertically. Now I have an accurate measure when fabric is at end of table. I can lay out the whole length of fabric to work on it from both sides.

When not sewing it becomes an easy to clean craft table.

Sounds good, but all the pasting tables I've seen were way too low for me to work at for long. With the variable legs I can make my table as tall as the work surface/breakfast bar out there. DH has just put it up for a trial for me, and it looks like it'll work just fine... It may be too narrow for some things, but we shall see... The other thing with this set-up is that it is sturdy enough for me to set up two or three machines on it! :)

Fantastic! If we had the cash and the space, I'd have a permanent set-up that I'd never have to use for other things, and do something similar. As it is, the sewing room has to be used as a spare bedroom, the conservatory gets used for laundry, cutting out, plastic model making, eating... The dining room is also used for office space, and even the bathroom occasionally turns into a drying room!

Excellent! That's the key, isn't it? To get a table that's the right height for you, so you can be more comfortable while cutting. I cannot believe I used to crawl on the floor to cut things out, or to lean over a dining height table! When I got my cutting table, 20 years ago, it brought my sewing to a new level, in more ways than one! :)

Karen Maslowski >

A few years back, I finally convinced the Hubster to make me a new cutting table after the moving company irreparably damaged the old one he made me. Instead of just one huge table, I convinced him to make me a cart-type affair with leaves that fold down on huge piano hinges. The entire thing is about 8' long by about 4' wide when the leaves are up. When down, the shelved cart is 4' long by about 2' wide sitting on lockable industrial rollers. I keep some of my bolts of interfacing on the shelves. It's almost always up but, when I need the room, it's so easy to fold it up and shove it against the wall. Only thing is, wary of a too-low table, I miscalculated the height forgetting that something that heavy would need rollers a bit higher than normal. I didn't have the heart to tell him to cut it down so it is actually a couple inches too high. Most times it's perfectly fine since I have the short end against the wall and can work at both long sides of the table. But occasionally, I do stand on a very low bench to get at the middle.... LOL. Go figure...

My cutting table has been taken down boo hoo. I used to be allowed to put boards on a three quarter size snooker table, but since the room got divided the snooker table is now in bits in DH's workshop. However I have worked out a reasonable alternative, I still use the plywood boards that I had to cover the snooker table and I use folding crates as the legs. I use 4 in a stack which is a great height for me and if I make two stacks the table top is secure. The great thing is the whole thing can be put away now as space is now at a premium. I do miss the width of the snooker table tho' Sigh...

Claire in Montréal, France.

Some days you're the pigeon, some days you're the statue. Sounds like this was a pigeon day for you. Just proves the saying "one person's trash is another person's treasure". I love the fact that your table is height adjustable and that it has other uses (like decorating) - if space is an issue, having items that only have one use is a luxury!

Space is *always* an issue for us! We have 3 bedrooms, none of them large... In fact James's room is 5'11" wide and 8' long, plus a little bit extra for the door! He has a high level bunk in order to accommodate all his stuff, and no wardrobe. I have the second bedroom as the sewing room. As well as any project I'm working on, half my quilting stash, and most of my sewing machines, it also has to double as a spare bedroom, so it has a single bed with guest bed stowed under, and almost 3,000 books - most of our library!

The new conservatory has gone a long way to alleviate storage problems for household kit like jelly pans, pressure cookers, washing machine... But doesn't help at all with Lego (a HUUUGE stack!). It has given me occasional cuttings space and the menfolk a place to keep and make their plastic models/Warhammer stuff, and I now have an 'art cupboard' for my arty stuff and dying bits, but the 12 washing-up bowls, the Vax carpet shampooer, and the new table will have to live 200 feet away up in the shed! I can get them when I want them, but there is no permanent home for them in the house! The main part of my fabric stash lives in plastic crates with lids in the roof!

yeah, i forgot that bit. but i don't have to bend that long, or maybe i'm shorter than you. too long does ache.

Claire, if you have a good-sized dining table, you might just try lifting the table and using that surface. It's a temporary fix, but worth a try, if that's all you have.

Karen Maslowski > My cutting table has been taken down boo hoo. I used to be allowed to put

Now that I have re-arranged my sewing room I have a piece of floor space (carpeted) that I have been cutting on, on my hands and knees.......and I am getting too old and creaky for that!!!

What is the ideal size for a cutting table, would you say?? This would be an "up-all-the-time" table.......probably plywood with a thin pad and canvas cover to make pinning easy...........

Opinions anyone?? What is your dream table size??

G'day Pat

I have a Horn Cutting Table, because the side wings can be folded out of the way if I want more floor space. It's a great height for standing, no more aching back!!

Like you, I used to cut out on the floor, and was in the middle of cutting some fabric one day, back aching, knees hurting (you know what it's like?) jumped up, into the car and down to the Janome dealer and bought home this cutting table. It's THE best thing I've ever done.

They are made by the same people who make Horn sewing cabinets, I think you can get them in the US too?

H> Now that I have re-arranged my sewing room I have a piece of floor

Pat, I have a great table, 40" X 72" X 36" high. It has the capability to fold down to 12" X 40", but I keep it up all the time, and store things beneath it, mostly in Iris plastic drawers (sold at office supply stores). These have wheels on the bottom, so I can pull the whole unit out, if I need to close part of the table for some reason. I also keep a padded board that I use for ironing underneath the table, and simply haul it out and lay it on the table when I need to press something (I also have a much smaller padded board for small pressing jobs). The table has a gridded cutting mat cut to fit the table size, which is why I prefer to have a separate padded board.

Karen Maslowski in Cincinnati

Pat > Now that I have re-arranged my sewing room I have a piece of floor

"Karen Maslowski" a écrit dans le message de news:

Karen, I do have a good sized dinning table it's a 2metre diameter circle, unforunatly or fortunatly depending on your point of view there is always somthing happening on it, Homework, accountancy, breakfast, lunch, statues being felted wrapped and packed and so on so cutting out isn't realy on. I do find the stack of crates realy quick and convenient it's the loss of a snooker table I am mourning. Thanks for the thought Claire in Montréal, France.

I don't have room for a cutting table, and don't use it that often -- I sew *very* slowly; I started work on the current project a month ago; two weeks later I had it cut out . . .

When a project won't fit on the dining table even with all the leaves in, I spread the fabric out on the living-room floor, pin the pattern to it, then cut it into pieces and lift the pieces onto the table.

With the pattern pinned on, I can slide a cutting mat under the work without disarranging it -- but I don't use a cutter as often on large jobs as on small ones. Perhaps because I have to use the shears when the fabric is on the carpet, and just continue with them after shifting to the table! And a small job can be held down with one hand while cutting with the other, since the mat doesn't have to be shifted.

The rotary cutter is most useful when I don't have a pattern -- cutting along a drawn thread, a stripe, a chalk line, or the like.

Joy Beeson