OMG - LOL - wouldn't work in my house - the animals would call PETA!!!!!

I know what you mean, I would love to be able to put a window unit in mine!

jcrow, you are not having hot flashes, you are having power surges. hehehe
Also , I have found that the tube lights are much cooler to use in confined spaces. At least for me.

I think.the ice cooler around the neck is an excellent idea.

I've been having hot flashes for a couple of years, too. Hope they go away soon. I sew linen clothing for myself because it seems to keep me cooler than cotton. I have many patterns from a company called Sewing Workshop that I like. I mostly make looser pants with a sleeveless top and then a shirt or unstructured jacket that I can take off. There is a local boutique that carries several lines of linen clothing such as Flax, Bryn Walker, Elizabeth Ashby, etc. They must get lots of business from my age group!

I moved my iron to my kitchen so I could stand at a higher counter. I never realized how much heat it generates. I think I'll leave it there, nobody eats at the bar counter anyway.

I have a goose-neck lamp on my sewing table with a curly-Q florescent bulb, which is cooler than an incandescent, but I'm going to look for the OTT bulb. I have to turn it off every time I get up to cool the room. I've been sewing lately in the master bedroom because it is cooler. I have a ceiling fan and a buzz fan to supplement the A/C. Our golden retriever loves it in there, she gets on the end of the bed with both fans pointing towards her and watches me sew. DH and DD complain about how cold I keep the thermostat, but it always seems hot and stuffy to me.

Maybe what you are "saving" by not buying more efficient lamps, you are wasting on AC and electricity on running extra fans. The type of light bulbs we grew up with throw off a lot of heat and also use more electricity to run. Walmart has a "reading lamp" for under $20 that is a "daylight" lamp with the funny shaped bulbs that provide good, cooler light.

The solution
 

You should move to Scotland. The climate is such that it is NEVER too hot. There is no need for air conditioning - in fact a nice thick cardigan is recommended. The scenery is - to use the kid's venacular - pretty COOL also. A wonderful place to sew.

J.

My sewing room is an addition that we added connected to the laundy room, also a small bath, I use a window unit in there in addition to the central unit. This works fine for me.

Estroplus from the drug store works great. It is a natural herbal hot flash pill you take twice a day. Works for me! I think they are ten dollars at walmart.

I feel for you about your lights, but, I have no idea except the curly lights. It sure has been record hot for a lot of people this year.

I work upstairs as long as I can, and bring hand work downstairs in the afternoon when it is too hot to stay up there.

I saw a pattern and instructions on how to make the "cool tie". Had I only known what summer would bring, I would have made a lot of them this spring. Right now I am waiting for the local nursery to get more of the polymer filling to put inside.
Very easy to make, good way to use up some of your larger fabric scraps...They take 1/4 of a yard and the filling. Very easy to make. Since most all of our family members are gardeners and outdoor people...I plan to make more for stocking stuffers. The pattern on >organizedchristmas.com<

I saw a pattern and instructions on how to make the "cool tie". Had I only known what summer would bring, I would have made a lot of them this spring. Right now I am waiting for the local nursery to get more of the polymer filling to put inside.
Very easy to make, good way to use up some of your larger fabric scraps...They take 1/4 of a yard and the filling. Very easy and quick. Since most all of our family members are gardeners and outdoor people...I plan to make more for stocking stuffers. The pattern on >organizedchristmas.com<

I changed my bulbs out the florecent bulbs bought at Wal-Mart not too expenxive they are a lot cooler. this really helped be. also cuts down on electric bill hope this helps.

The best thing I found for light is I had a solar tube installed. it is much like a sky light except it does not have any heat lost or gain, that makes it wonderful to have and gives a daylight effect in the whole room. Being a widow I had to have someone install it for me. Lowes sells them much cheaper if you have a do-it-yourselfer to work with it. Even it you have to have it installed it is under a thousand dollars and uses no engery so a good investment if you can get one. I sure enjoy seeing.

Those curly lights are called "compact flourescent bulbs"----much cooler, use less energy, but some do give off a bluish light.
Halogen bulbs are VERY bright but hotter than blazes and the new LED lights (remember the new tiny Christmas light bulbs?)..are much whiter...no heat and VERY EXPENSIVE NOW...but the cost will be coming down in the next few years..
Perhaps you could replace a few of the bulbs with CFL (compact flourescents) for now so it would be cooler---just remember to look at colors in the sunlight...maybe one LED--it will last forever...

(I actually have learned something at my new job--wow! LOL!)

The ice and fan will put lots of humidity in your room. Not good as it will make the A.C. work that much harder. A.C. works by pulling humidity out of the air. It defeats the purpose to have wet items drying or water standing in rooms you are trying to cool with A.C.

I've had the same problem, and I'm about to start replacing bulbs with fluorescents, as much as I dislike them. Discount stores, a few at a time.

We have gradually replaced every light bulb in our home with the more energy efficient ones. We just replaced as the old ones burned out. They produce no heat, last about 10 times longer and are very energy efficient. They are expensive to buy all at once, so we just bought a couple at a time and replaced as they died.
In the sunroom/sewing room, we have pot lights in the ceiling, plus a ceiling fan. They even make the bulbs (like spotlights) in the more energy efficient ones. Helps reduce the heat tremendously since that room is on the west side of our house.

Ceiling fan installed in my sewing room has made all the difference in the world.

Go to Wal-mart and look for the herbal yellow on box medication which will help with your Hot Flashes and night sweats too. Next time I go there will get the name for you and e-mail you privately. This is over the counter product.

My sewing room is in a finished attic eave, on the west side, with dark roof (never again). The central ac quit upstairs, and right now I keep kool by using a fan on a tall pedestal that occilates, and a ceiling fan. I use limited artificial light. My suggestion would to use only the lights that you need in the area that you are working. Unless you are doing close work, you do not need bright lights. I get hot when using my sewing machine, so I only sew in the morning.

I had a solar tube installed in my attic sewing space, I love it, it brightens up the entire sewing area with natural light. I do have some heat gain in the afternoon (it is on the west facing roof), but the mornings are okay (even with 100 degree heat), using a floor pedestal occilating fan, and a ceiling fan. The upstairs central ac is not working right now, we will call in a repair when the heat wave is over. The only space we use on a regular basis is my sewing room. The rest of the rooms are guest bedrooms.

All the advice to switch to CFLs will not work for some light fixtures. I have halogen bulbs in my sewing room. You can't replace those with CFL. That is fine with me because I am rarely hot. As a matter of fact I am on here right now because I had to leave my quilting machine in the basement and warm up a little!

For the OP, are you sure you need all those lights? I find people use way more light than they actually need. While sewing at a machine I only use the light on the machine - even at night. I turn on more for cutting but turn them back out when I am done. It is not the heat for me but the light itself. I am very light sensitive and I consider CFLs an evil invasion.

These cooling scarves really help. http://sewing.about.com/od/freeproje.../coolscarf.htm

I have the same problem in my sewing room, it is the hottest room in the house. I'm way past hot flashes. All I can do is turn off all the machinery and lights. That still doesn't solve the problem cause I need to be sewing.

My overhead lights are killers after about 1 hour. I find that the Ott light is more defined area of lighting--and a whole lot cooler because I am not under the light--the fabric is!

I had my Vitamin D and Iodine levels checked. Jury still out on Iodine, but I miserably failed the Vitamin D test. About 50 is good and 30 is deficient and below 20 is cause for concern and I got an ELEVEN. With some pills I do feel better but mine was a total fatigue and burning sensation.

Use Florescent Bulbs. My hubby installed florescent bulbs in a unit where a chandelier over the table used to be. It is a lot brighter as well as cooler when I cut something out.

Having been born and brought up in Scotland I totally agree..... I miss my family .....BUT..... since I'm living in the middle of the Appalachian mountains now I'll suffer the heat with the rest of my American cohorts.. Probably not as hot here as in some places!!

My personal thermostat is broken so I feel your pain. There are lights at Big Lots that are very similar to Ott lights and the desk version is under $25. You can also find cheaper ott lights at Lowe's.

That is what I use to they are a much brighter light when they get warm it takes about 2 minutes for them to warm up but the light is great I even have them in all my ceiling fans I know they don't match my un match decor lol.I really like them alot they put out less heat and use less energy and give more light.Can't go wrong with that one.

Oh! Idid not think of that! Thanks for the heads up.
Sandy

Vitamin World has a wonderful product called "Flash Fighters". It has helped me tremendously. It has evened out my mood, no more extreme mood swings. Knock on wood, I have not had any hot flashes. Best of all it has made me regular instead of one lasting for a month or two or three at a time.

Amazon.com has a bendable gooseneck light for $18.95 plus shipping that you stick on the back of your sewing machine. I have one somewhat like this one and I love it. Also, I bought a clip-on fan (Walmart) that cost about $10.00. At some point, you might think about an overhead fluorescent light. Those don't heat up like regular lights and give good lighting. They aren't expensive. If you don't have any serious health issues than you might want to visit a health food store and talk to someone about some herbal supplements to help with the hot flashes. Good luck!

I haven't read all the posts. I have purchased OTT light bulbs using my 40 or 50% off coupons from Joanns. It makes a huge difference in the lighting and keeps the room cool, there is no heat from them at all. I do have track lighting that I have to keep off when it is super hot outside b/c yes it gets super hot over the light bulbs.

Bed bath and beyond sell something called a "chill pad" that looks like some kind of non woven fabric and you soak it and out it around your neck. It retains the coolness. Something like that might help. I have a tower fan along with our central air that seems to help.

You have a lot of great suggestions here. My sewing room does have a wall a/c unit, but I also keep a larger fan oscillating on top of my bookshelves, and I use a tiny little round fan right next to me at the sewing machine, blowing in my face. I know it's our irons that throw most of the heat, but I have to keep mine on ... I hate waiting for the darned thing to reheat if I shut it off!

try floresant lighting.

Try my hot flashes treatment. Got this from a friend and it worked for me - sage tea made into ice tea. I made it with sage leaves from my herb garden, but health food stores and some of the chain vitamin stores have it in tea bags.

I used 20 leaves, washed, rolled up and chopped. If you're using teas bags, use tea and for both, use the following directions.

Put them in a large tea pot or a 2 quart pyrex measuring cup and poured boiling water over them - like making regular tea. Let it steep about 10 minutes. Pour over ice cubes. Sweeten if the taste is too strong or bitter, just like you would regular ice tea.

Have a gooseneck desk lamp aimed at sewing needle, with an ott light bulb which I bought at Hancocks during a 50% off sale, so bulb cost 2.50, the bulb seems to be lasting a long time. I have curly day lights in lamps if needing to work at night.

Seems a lot of sewing rooms are the most uncomfortable rooms in the house and are just accepted as being so.

As for hot flashes, they are very treatable.