Just starting - advice on our table?

Welcome Ed The only solution I can come up with for now (apart from the 'raising blocks', is to do what I do! I cut in the kitchen - the counter height is*much* better than a table for me (but I am tall). However, perhaps your wife has the counter tops fitted to suit her height? My back takes just a very few minutes to complain, if I cut on my table.

I've just thought: there is a new rotary cutter which will let you cut sitting down. I can't remember the name, but I'm pretty sure it starts with 'M' >g< someone here will remember I'm sure.

Good luck with sorting out the ergonomics/logistic, and then have fun! . In message , Ed from AZ writes

If you are only using this desk for cutting, I'd raise it and leave it that way. Get a barstool for working there and a different chair for the sewing machine area. Rather than getting the risers for beds, see if you can put the legs of the desk into PVC pipe that is cut to the perfect height for your needs. Since there are different diameters of pipe, there is probably something you can use for your desk legs. Bending over a too short table is a killer on the back...mine hurts just thinking about it! (Well, mine has been hurting since I did some ice shoveling a couple weeks ago...but it's getting better!)

If you have the room, Joanns Fabrics has a folding cutting table that is reasonably price and goes on sale regularly. It folds to about 12 inches for storage. In my sewing room up north I have some plywood, padded and covered, on top of two dressers that were in my brothers' rooms when they were kids. They happen to be the right height for a cutting table, and provide storage as well. I use my cutting mat on the top, but can use it for a large pressing surface as well. Mine is padded with an old wool blanket. Hope this helps.

I cut sitting down. If you have space, you can make a cheap stand-up cutting table -see what Home Depot et al have to offer in the way of DIY legs and tops. Or check Freecycle or some garage sales. Get the word out to everybody you know, it's amazing what people want to get rid of! For a while, my stand-up table was an old door on a set of height-adjustable legs from Ikea. Roberta in D

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I got a worktable from JoAnns it is the perfect height for working while standing up. And it is on wheels, and has a 'gate leg' construction so two sides folds for storage in my closet.

-Irene

Welcome Ed. If you go to Walmart or Bed, Bath and Beyond you can buy bed risers. Most desks or tables will sit on these and be a good height. They are stable and handy to have around.

TAria

Ed from AZ wrote:

My usual cutting space is on top of my ironing board - I use a scrap mdf board under my cutting mat which gives support (I have different sizes for various mats) and I have found that it works best for me. The adjustable height of the ironing board works for either standing or sitting jobs and is more comfortable than having to think about bending over my cutting table or the dining table. jennellh

I'm 5'4" too. I like my cutting table to be the same hight as a standard kitchen work surface here in the UK... I have an old dining table top and a pair of adjustable trestle legs that I got from Aldi. My cutting space looks like this:

can move it round to make a shorter wider space if I need to for basting quilts, cutting things on the bias, and other 'fat' projects. You might be able to make a 'table top table' that fits on top of the desk and raises a cutting/pressing surface to the right height, but is easily dismounted and folded away by a shorter person. This is what I considered doing when I had to use the dining table for cutting out.

Thanks for all the suggestions!

I would love to eventually get her an adjustable table. The desk was given to us, and well worth the price! 8>) We moved off the kitchen table so she wouldn't have to pack up her project every time dinner was ready. We have a back bedroom reserved for "other" - my study books and her sewing - but I think it's soon to be taken over by the quilting!!

I think the separate table top that can be raised as needed is probably the way to go.

Thanks again for the help!

Ed

Office Deport, WalMart and lots of other places have 6 ft. tables for about $35. You can buy PVC pipe and cut it to raise the table to whatever height by placing pieces of the pipe under the legs. The usual suggested height is

36 in. - the same as kitchen counters. The table folds flat and can be stored under a bed. It also works great for pinning or thread basting the quilt sandwich- the 6 ft. length comes in handy. The basting can get considerable scratches on the table top- using your desk wouldn't be a good idea for that even if it was free. I made a cut-out in my 6 ft. table and used L-brackets to make a lowered platform for my sewing machine to set down into the table top so that the machine bed was flush with the table top. The table size was great for that, too, since I didn't have the quilt falling off the ends and sides of the sewing table. Maybe you need two tables??? One for sewing and one for cutting!

Have fun! And WELCOME to the group!

Leslie (formerly from Flagstaff), Missy & The Furbabies in MO.

Hi Pat,

Yes, it's on a metal frame. It doesn't jiggle...at least mine doesn't!

Got mine with the 50% off coupon, so the price was right.

I also piece standing up at the table -- I leave one of my Featherweights set up on it all the time for this.

When we have company, I fold it up and put it in the closet.

-Irene

LOL, was just thinking that the Martelli cutter would be the ideal, to use while seated. Or put a board on the ironing board at a comfortable height to cut. I have a home-made "big board" for pressing/ironing that sits on my ironing board and it is fairly easy to put a cutting mat on it to cut.

Pati, > Welcome Ed

I looked at these tables before buying mine from JoAnn fabrics.

The problem I found with all of them is they all seemed to sway too much from side to side. Does yours? If not, what brand is it?

-Irene

Nope- steady as rock. All it says is "made in the usa- indoor use only'. I got it at Office Depot some years ago. It is quite heavy and has 4 braced collapsible legs- they collapse in pairs. There's a thing like a metal tube that slides down the support to lock the legs in the open position. HTH

Leslie, Missy & The Furbabies in MO.

I do the same thing for smaller cuts -- including width-of-fabric cuts, since I fold my fabric into fourths and cut strips from it that way. When I need to lay out something on a larger surface, I clear off my kitchen island and use that, though it's not as large as I'd like for some things. If I really need a bit larger surface, it's back to the kitchen/dining table -- and a sore back. I usually only do that when I'm squaring up a quilt.

I don't know about the one labelled as a cutting table, but I just got the one labelled as a quilting table and there are no wobbles at all, the quilting one is based around a cabinet, so doesn't fold down as much, so does have a bigger base so less likely to wobble.

Anne

I do a lot of cutting on my ironing board. I have a June Tailor mat that fits quite nicely on the wide end of my ironing board.

Julia in MN

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