I am not sure if your machine sits in an actual sewing cabinet where the stitch plate of the machine is level with the cabinet top. I am unwilling to stitch big quilts where the machine is not in a proper sewing cabinet anymore Been there done that. The cabinet I have has a large drop leaf on the back which I raise when I get to stitching the rows together, so while my quilt top can still crash into the wall behind it, it has more room before it does, and I can sort of bunch it up behind the machine as I go. I also have a fairly large space to the left of the machine which handles a lot of the quilt but sometimes I will also have to keep bunching up that portion too. I have drawer that pulls out from the underside of the cabinet on my left, so I pull it out, I put the insert for my cabinet (it is a wooden piece that fits in the hole for my machine when I have it lowered into the cabinet for storage) on top of the drawer and that holds the part of the quilt to be stitched. My friend puts her ironing board in this position to help with the weight of the quilt. Before I had this cabinet, I used to enlist the help of my mom or my sister to help handle the bulk of the quilt as I stitched. I have a longarm, but if I no longer had that, I would either rent time on a long arm or simply quilt by check.

I agree with Peckish, any way to make room? I pull out my SewEz Table, set it up in the middle of the room, plug my machine into a surge protector, set up the ironing board on the side. I work in sections and try to keep things folded so there is no pull. I feel your pain and frustration about limited work space, it is frustrating!

Rhonda K., I don't have any extra space to add something of that notion. I keep a smaller sewing machine that I put at the end of my 4 x 8 cutting table when I go to add the binding so I don't have to let it drag on the floor.

There's also no other room in my house to move my machine plus I use an Epic which is around 35# so pretty heavy for me to carry plus since having shoulder surgery, I've been told to try not to lift anything more than 10-15#.

I think by pinning my folds/pleats down the middle of the quilt while I add the sashings and borders is my best bet. Was just hoping someone could suggest something that has helped them.

My machine does not sit in a table but does have an extended table which helps a lot. Problem is space to add anything more to help move the quilt thru the machine as I sew. Heck if you could see my machine room as I call it as my quilt machine, serger and sewing/embroideyr machine are in the same room and as it was I had to move the quilt frame over a bit so I could get behind it plus I moved it a little away from the sewing machine as I was tired of getting bruises on my hips just passing the frame to get to the sewing machine. It's tight down here and to think at one time I thought the basement would fit just fine. My last sewing room was only 10 x 18 and I had 2 embroidery machines, 2 sergers, a smaller cutting table and only a 10ft quilt frame and 18" machine. Now I'm down to 1 embroidery machine and 1 serger but the quilt frame is now 12ft and machine is 26" so I've downsized in some areas and expanded in others.

Thanks all anyway, just thought I'd throw out the question to see what others are doing to work around this.

Ahhh! Ok, I get the picture, everything in one room. Umm...my nephew says I don't have a house, I have a sewing studio that I happen to live in. The APQS Lucey lives in her own room in the basement. The living room holds the main sewing machine in the big sewing cabinet. The little travel Bernina lives on a sturdy card table in the front bedroom. Most of the fabric, some thread, some embroidery designs also live in this room. The cabinets that used to hold books on either side of the fireplace now hold some books, but two shelves have been cleared to hold all my long arm thread. The rest of the fabric stash and my roll batting live up in the second floor. Sounds complicated but it works as I bring my stuff for piecing to the sit down machine, when top is finished I cut the batting and get the thread and head on down to the longarm. There is a small cutting area where the sit down machines are but the backing for the quilt and any large amount of yardage is cut on the table on bedrisers also down in the basement. The quilted is also trimmed on this table prior to bringing it back upstairs for binding on the sit down. Most of the cutting supplies are on the main floor but I do keep a few rulers, rotary cutter, scissors, and marking pens in the basement also.

When I bought this house, the basement that's is separated into 2 rooms I thought would be large enough for my sewing. Since my last sewing room was only 10x18 and I seemed to manage it but that's before I started enlarging things like my cutting table went from 3-x to 4 x 8 and my quilt system went from 10ft frame/18" machine to 12ft frame and 26" machine. I've downsized as much as I could. I've stashed as much as I can under the quilt frame. I've given away totes full of fleece, lace, ribbons, rulers, thread,etc. I've stopped buying fabric since Nov 2018 until I can get that under control. I've even given away 7 large brown paper bags full of fabrics.

I've tried to keep my sewing down in the basement so the rest of the house is used as it should be......a house. As it is, I've had to move the yarn and knitting machine upstairs into the Library (middle bedroom). So I think I'm stuck with what I have and the way I've been doing it but I thank you all for your suggestions on how you do things. My older sister is so afraid I'll die before her and she'll have to deal with my sewing room getting rid of it all. I told her to just put an ad in the paper stating Quilter's Delight, fabric......$1/yd, thread $1/spool and whatever price you want to put on the rest. I'm sure she wouldn't have any problem getting rid of the majority of it. I'll be dead and buried so I won't care what she does with it. My only concern is that I will be able to finish all my quilts before I croak.

Oh Quilts for Valor volunteers will take any fabric, etc. I've left information for my son to do this when i'm gone! as it is, i had a very nice lady over recently to take some things. More must go, but not just yet.

To maximize my small sewing space, I "made" my own table (well, my husband did!). But essentially, I got a 3x3 cube storage shelf (three of them) (about 36" tall and 36" wide) and created an L shaped table top our of home depot wood. The shelves are the "legs" of the table and I use them to store my fabric and notions. You could do the same concept with only 2 shelves and a rectangular top. Perhaps that would allow you to clear out and store your stuff in a different way that would give you a bit more space.

I work in sections. I quilt each section before stitching the sections together. I've been known to hand stitch the sections together rather than doing it on the sewing machine and deal with getting all that fabric under the needle.

[QUOTE=Quiltwoman44;8584125]Oh Quilts for Valor volunteers will take any fabric, etc. I've left information for my son to do this when i'm gone! as it is, i had a very nice lady over recently to take some things. More must go, but not just yet.[/QUOTE

Yes, we take any sewing notions or fabric. If the fabric isn't appropriate for our Quilts of Valor, we make and donate quilts for CASA, Hope House, etc, so nothing is ever wasted. Thank you for planning ahead so your son will know what to do with it all. It probably seems overwhelming, for someone that doesn't sew or quilt.