LED lights
 

I'm thinking of changing all of my lights in my quilt room to LED because they are so much brighter. Anybody know how these affect fabric? The man that does this says it's the heat that is the problem with florescents but I'm not sure that is the whole story.

LED lights are bright, cool to touch, and very very economical to run.

I've never heard of any lights fading fabric, just the sun.

I’ve had LEDs in my sewing room ( & most of the House) for a few years now. I’ve not noticed any issues concerning my fabrics or anything in the sewing room due to the lighting. They stay cool which is nice- especially in the summer when having numerous lights on can really up the temperature in a room. My longarm has a bank of leds too. I love having leds. They last for years, which is nice.

We have changed almost all the lights or the light bulbs in our house including exterior ones. It does save money overall.

I don't tolerate the ones with the blue tint well and need the warm color ones. Be sure to check the numbers.

This is an uneducated opinion - I think that a fabric that is exposed to any lights over a long period of time will fade. Having said that, about the only time most of my fabrics are exposed to light is when I am cutting, piecing or quilting them.

Florescent lights have mercury, which is toxic to humans, in them. That is one of the reason that they have to be handled so gingerly when transporting them or changing them.

LED lights, on the other hand, can be disposed of like an incandescent light because they contain no harmful chemicals.

Found this on superbrightleds.com : https://www.superbrightleds.com/cat/...versal-finder/
Unless an LED is specifically infrared (IR) or ultraviolet (UV), it produces little to no IR or UV radiation, which can be damaging to fabrics and artwork.

I had all LEDs installed in my new sewing studio and love them. I do get a lot of sunlight through the many windows so I keep my fabric behind closed doors.

Look for "Daylight bulbs" it was a game changer for me. Beautiful white, not yellow, glow. Wal Mart sells them. A lot of quilters use them back east because they sew in the basement where lighting isn't the best.

Just a caution on using ‘daylight’. These light sources are in the 5000 degree Calvin range which is very cool. Most retail LED sources are 3500 - 4000 and old style incandescent was around 2700. Colour temperature does effect how colour is rendered and so consider where the quilts will be used. Most people would never use daylight sources in their home because of the way it renders colour....particularly skin tones. If you are a pasty white chick like me you don’t ever want to look in a mirror where daylight sources are being used! Anyway to each their own but I would advise trying one before you change everything to daylight. One more note is that if you live in a northern climate, warmer colour temperatures are recommended......strictly from a psychological standpoint!