I have read and heard many quilters say they can't sew in their sewing room when someone is sleeping in another room because it will wake them up. I don't understand that. If the bedroom door is shut how can anyone hear you sewing? None of my machines are loud enough to wake anyone. Cutting and pressing doesn't make any noise. Just curious why someone sleeping would stop me from sewing. A white noise machine works great to block all outside noise from a light sleeper.

My older Singer sounds like a machine gun. My Bernina is very quiet.

I have seven sewing machines - from antiques to 2008 - my Janome 1600P is the noisiest - especially the auto thread cutter - CHUNK - but you're right, a white noise machine (room air filtering) would work for drowning out any sewing noise drifting through the walls!

LOL........... I thought you meant how NOISY DO I GET when I am sewing. I hand sew so there is no machine noise but when something goes wrong you can hear me yelling all the way to Guam. Lets just say the words are not fix for young ears!!!!!!!!!

My machines are pretty quiet... I don't think anyone would hear them in another room or downstairs.

My DH doesn't seem to be bothered by my using my sewing machine (Brother CS-6000i), and certainly handwork or cutting are generally quiet activities, unless something goes wrong and one needs to vent :) (such as a bird landing on your head or a cat nudging your hand at a bad moment).

DH kept saying he could hear kitchen noise after he went to bed, cabinets opening, dishwasher, ice maker, microwave, etc. We replaced the bedroom door with a solid steel door with no gap under the doorway. It was like soundproofing the room. No sounds at all disturbs him now. My FIL used a white noise machine when he was here with us. He slept in the afternoons when the house was full of kids/pets/visitors and no sounds bothered him with the machine on.

If I forget to oil my machine regularly it gets pretty loud because it's getting some wear on it. The new one is pretty quiet, but I sew fast so it makes extra noise. No one's complained about it though. I don't know that it would do them any good to complain. I'd probably just say, "I put up with everything you do so deal with it."

I love the idea of changing out bedroom doors. Great. I wonder if that adds to firebreaking as well.

I have several loud machines and two quiet(er) ones. The loudest is a Brother. The quietest is either a Bernina or a Janome made machine.

I've sewn right next to someone watching TV (had the machine on the coffee table) and didn't hear any complaints about it. I think some people are just sensitive to machine noise. I can relate because noisy fridges and vacuums drive me bonkers.

We live in an apartment that I would swear has no insulation in the walls. We can hear everything that goes on in the building so I keep my sewing to the day light hours.