Sewing room carpet floor
 

I have carpet on my sewing room floor. While its warm I dislike it for a lot of reasons. The biggest is my chair won't roll on it. My husbands says to just get up when you need to iron or cut! So much easier to roll over there! I have two office desk plastic type mats down now. One is very thick and hard. The other is poky on one side and much thinner. I'm always rolling off the thick one and its just not working. Does anyone have an answer to what to lay down over carpet to solve this problem?

Your husband probably has the best idea...I consider that my exercise while quilting. You can buy those plastic things in all different sizes...maybe google them and see if you can find a big one or two and butt them next to each other.

I also have carpet in my sewing room and it is hard to move the chair. But I intentionally have my iron board across the room, to make me get up and move. It is not good for us to sit all the time! :)

Well your hubby has the right idea. I had my cutting table upstairs and the rest downstairs for awhile so if I needed to cut and sometimes iron I would have to go up the stairs....Oh here's and idea for the hubby...have him rip the carpet up and put in hardwood tada roll away baby lolol :o)

Lots of quilters use a small cutting mat as well as a small ironing surface to use near their sewing area. These come in handy for pressing seams and triming blocks as you sew. Check out some of the sewing rooms and you will probably see some examples. I first noticed these at retreats. To make a small ironing surface: Using a board about about (20x20 or whatever size you have)cover with batting and fabric and staple down on bottom side. Sometimes you could find an old wooden TV tray in place of board. (This way the pressing surface has it's own table.) For the large pieces you could get up and cut everything out first then stack them and sew away. Hope this is helpful.

I have laminate flooring in both our hobby rooms. I wouldn't have carpet, one main reason is I'm a diabetic and am afraid of a pin falling in the carpet and stepping on it. Sorry I can't help! Your room looks real nice!
Penny

I have what I think is the best of both worlds in my sewing room - hardwood flooring with an area rug in the center. Warms up the room as well as helps with sound deadening but I'm able to move my chair easily when I need to. That said, I agree with those that agree with your hubby. Getting up and moving is the best solution. Your body will thank you in the long run!

My sewing room is upstairs on carpet. My husband went to a warehouse where they make thick plastic pads for desks and bought a BIG ONE FOR ME. I think it was about 250 dollars, but I love it. He drew the pattern and took it to the place to get it cut. He gave the dimensions.

My studio is upstairs and has a hardwood floor. I do have rolling office chairs at my machines. However, my ironing board is set up downstairs. On purpose. This way, I get exercise after each step in my piecing (I do chain piece). Keeps my back from seizing up on account of sitting too long.

I also have carpet & use the plastic mat with the pokeys.... it's okay.... not great.... BUT.... I'm not willing to pull the carpet out as this room is "on paper" a 3rd bedroom should we ever decide to sell. Today I must have tripped over the edge of that plastic at least 3 times..... but I still think it's worth keeping the carpet for the warmth & for the resell value.

Thanks for all the good advice. I do get up to do pressing at my ironing board or to cut something large. Its just a pain to "fall" off the plastic mat to just roll to the small ironing area or roll to the other side to cut a small section. I would love to take the carpet up too but will probably sell someday and keeping it the same as the other 4 bedrooms. I was just wondering if anyone had found something better to put over the carpet except the desk mats. Thanks again.

I'm like the others ... I like to get up often.

BUT you are asking for a different solution :)

One thing you can try is to replace the chair, or the wheels on the chair that you have. Wheels that are more conducive to rolling on carpet. This would be a larger size solid rubber wheel - something similar to what would be used on a rolling cart.

I also noticed that the mats you are using are the shaped mats (with cut out in foot area). You can try using multiple square or rectangle mats and butt them up against each other. I think you'll still have a problem though as most mats that I know of have a lip on the edge and you might get stuck in the lip.

A friend of mine used a piece of plywood with carpet squares on the top. She could roll around on it without any effort and didn't damage the carpet with the rollers.

When I took over an upstairs bedroom their was of course carpeting. The first thing my DH did was get some guys to put in a laminate wood flooring.

are the casters on your chair the ones for carpet? If not buy some new casters and most your problem will go away. Other option is to buy a matching floor mat to one of the ones you already have butt them together and that should work. Check the cheapest option.

try a chair with carpet rollers

I have tried the plastic mats several times and they just end up cracking so I had hubby buy a 3/4" piece of plywood - he cut it down in size to where it will slide under my sewing desk and I can move all around in about 2 feet in every direction with my rolling chair. I sanded it really smooth and just laid it on top of my carpet. Works great for me and wasn't too expensive.

How about going to a flooring place and buying a remnet of vinal flooring.You can tape the ends with silver tape to keep the edges down. Hope this helps.

I tried everything here with the carpet. I tried putting vinyl over it, I tried putting a short loop rug over it. I cannot pull it up so now I just live with it. I try to be careful with pins and such. If it were my house the whole thing would be wood floors.

If you still want carpet for warmth, use a berber. I have it in my sewing room and I roll around on it with no problem.

Oh I totally understand as I have carpet too! The reason I don't like carpet is the threads become attached! It is warm and my room is upstairs! We talk of maybe moving in a couple of years so I won't change it now, but gee I really don't like it . I guess either change it or learn to live with it like me! I just use those office mats under my chair, I get by with that.

Maybe a change in furniture arrangement? I have 2 tables in a L shape in the center of my room. One with the machine and a small cutting mat, one with my pressing board. I don't even have troll, I just swivel my chair. :thumbup:
I have kids though so I'm frequently as it is and need to maximize my sewing time. My recent project is 1" squares so if I had to get up to press between each seam I would never get it done.

If they are all on the same wall (straight line), you can get one of the 3 ft wide rubber mats as long as you want it from Uline or some other commercial supplier. It is the mat used in restaurants and workshops where one has to stand a lot, but the chairs roll real nice. I pulled up the carpet and put Dupont laminate down in mine. Son #1 gave to me for christmas last year. Love it!

I see that you do have plastic mats for your floors, but some of the plastic is butted up to or under furniture, and therefore not useable for your chair. Pull the matt out into the area where your wheels would travel on the plastic
and would give you that extra space that you require for your chair movement. I had mine like that as well, and once
we moved them out, I didn't need to change or purchase any other flooring - worked well for me .

Gotta agree about getting up and down. My cutting and pressing board are in the utility room and my sewing machine is in the spare bedroom aka sewing/quilting room. As long as I am moving about, I can work much longer with out fatigue and back and shoulder aches. Unfortunately, I have carpet in that room, and am always concerned about a needle getting away from me. I never sew in there barefoot. Would love a wood floor.

Your husband???:thumbup:Sorry could not resist

I have a 4 x 8 sheet of plywood thaty I use on the carpet in front of my hand quilting frame. Works out great with either my rolling office chair of a small plastic "lawn" chair I sometimes use.

I actually have laminant flooring on top of my carpet. My son had some left over pieces from his house so I just click them together and lay them right on the carpet. They do shift sometimes, but you just push them back in place and you are good to go.

That's a good idea to lay laminate planks over the carpet. Easy to remove if you ever need the carpet to show. Make a laminate area rug!

I had one of these bamboo chair mats at my last house, had 2 of them next to each other. I consider them better because they do not curl up for me to trip over them. I still had to lift my feet up upon approach, but had fewer stumbles. This one is on Amazon but google bamboo chair mats.

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/...FL._SY355_.jpg

Most regular ironing boards have a variety of hights, so just raise or lower it to the size you need it to be, and plug the iron in at the same receptical you plug in your sewing machine. Then you will not need to move too far that you move onto the carpet. Hope it works out for you, lol

Cover the top of an inexpensive wooden TV tray with batting and fabric. You can put it right next to your machine for pressing seams when piecing.

Go to an office supply store and they have clear mats that are made to go under your chair. They have little "spikes" on the back to make them stay put on the carpent. I've had mine for about 15 yrs so they really hold up and are only about $30.

Sorry, just read you have this; why not try to get another one that is like one of the ones you already have so it's the same height. Or you could get a large piece of vinyl floor covering.

Oh, that's too bad. I'm afraid I don't have a solution. At least your chair swivels too! Did you want the carpet in your sewing studio? We have hardwood. I wear thicker winter socks when cold.

Its best to get up now and then and move your legs and muscles.

I have berber carpet and my chair rolls fine on it.

I also have an office mat for mine. It works pretty good, but I am with you, I would rather have hard wood floor in there.

I also have to get up to iron and cut but consider that a good thing - Otherwise I can hardly walk when I finally move away from the machine after sitting 3 -4 hours in the same position.

I too have my ironing board far enough away from my machine so I have to get up to iron. Exercise is good for us!

What about buying a 2nd mat same height and attaching them together. Or move so can sew and iron. up to cut. I've also used a piece of thin plywood to raise 2nd mat so all level.