Thread: Basement Sewing Rooms

I have my sewing room in the basement, but I keep a sewing machine upstairs in an extra bedroom. With plenty of light I do not mind sewing there. It is also quiet and I can really enjoy doing my thing. But if I want to be with my husband, I sew in the upstairs bedroom and can be near him too. Of course all my children are gone and we have the extra room, and it is really nice with all my fabric, patterns and books out of sight.

I live in Northern Wisconsin and have my quilting space in the basement. I have a dehumidifier running all summer. In the winter, I run a humidifier.
I do have a walk out basement, so I do get lots of sunlight. Even if I didn't have the sunlight, it's a great space for me. I am in the process of reorganizing and I am having a ball. I got to move my frame into another room and am really excited.
We put track lights in for extra lighting in my studio, and they work out great! I love just going downstairs and having the space to myself. It is just my husband and me, but I really do like going downstairs and spending time there with my sewing machine and fabric.

Originally Posted by WA Vet

I am new to this board and want to ask you all, how many of you wonderful quilters have your quilting/sewing rooms in the basement? There is a possibility in the not too distant future that we will be moving from California to Washington and the only logical option for my new creative space will be the basement. Thank you.

I would love to have the walk out basement with natural light or the extra bedroom for my sewing room, but I don't. I have mine in my windowless basement that has painted block walls, then insulated and dry-walled. It's well lighted, has heat and/or air conditioning, vinyl floors (easy to run dust mop) lots of outlets, a small sink and shelving. When we painted the block walls it cut down the natural dampness of the basement and in my dry-walled room, dampness is not an issue at all. I keep the door closed (no cat hair!) when I'm not in there and it stays nice and dry. I don't have a long arm but do have a Viking Mega Quilter on a grace frame in the main part of the basement. No problems with that either. Your basement sewing area will work out fine as long as your basement does not have water issues.
Also the stairs are good exercise for me!

I sew in a corner of our basement family room. We have a walkout and my machine sits so that I look into the back yard. When we finished our basement a few years ago we painted the concrete walls with some sort of water blocker (check Lowes and Home Depot) before the framing and insulation went in so I feel quite secure about no water, esp in our drought this summer. If you don't have space for a family room maybe you can have an extra chair and a TV for "visitors" to keep you company while you sew.

In our old house, my sewing room was in the basement. It had no windows, and the ceilings were pretty low (8 ft) but was painted white and had 4 flourescent lights with 2 bulbs in each so it was very bright and not at all damp. In the summer we would run a dehumidifier in addition to the A/C. It was away from my family, but it's all I could do. When I was garment sewing, I would sew some things down there, then bring it upstairs to do some pinning. I also knit, so I did that upstairs when I needed to be with the family.

We moved last year and my sewing area is in our new basement. It's not finished, there are very few outlets, so I run stuff on power strips (probably not the best) and, due the 9 foot ceilings and the single bare bulb, it's dark. I can work OK on the sewing machine, but cannot make color matching decisions. We are brand new empty nesters, so I am thinking about having a secondary space in my son's old room with just a sewing machine and ironing board. Then I'd be upstairs. I'm not a fan of having half my stuff downstairs and half up, but whatever. It will be awhile before the basement is finished. Gotta keep sewing!!!

Any space can be fine for sewing. I'm an RVer and my friends who sew have all sorts of setups. One has a corner of her dining room as they usually eat out when with friends, lol. Another has a tidy set up in a guest room that is used for guests once a year. When I lived in California I had a basement sewing studio. The doors opened out to a garden that we built. I miss that space but now I have a portable ezi table (with inserts for my 3 machines) and an inexpensive fold-in-half 4' table that I set up in my motorhome. I cut on a credenza and I iron on a small folding surface. It's really a great space considering my views are whatever I choose, wherever I'm parked. You'll create the perfect space when you arrive in your new space. Best of luck to you.