Darn, I thought I was being so clever using my folding Ott light under a sheet of plexiglass from Home Depot - now I find out everyone's doing it!

I prop the plexiglass up on whatever's handy, usually plastic shoe boxes holding fabric pieces. It all sits on my cutting table, so it's a good height to work standing up. Previously I tried using a window, but the angle was bad, and you can't use that method at night or if it's not a sunny day.

A piece of Plexiglass on a folding TV tray and my Ott light work well for me! I like stuff that has more than one use, so I can have more room for my fabric! :? :lol:

I too thought I was really clever. I usually tape and trace using the sliding glass door. But that doesn't work real well at night. (LOL) So when I was trying to finish the label on DD19's college quilt late at night, I put my plexiglass Viking sewing table on the cutting table and tipped my flexible Ott floor lamp on its side and slid it under the table. Worked like a charm!!! Now I see it wasn't an original idea.....then again we quilter's learn to use what's at hand, don't we?

~Monica

I've used the window...put a lamp on the floor and prop my big square clear ruler over it with the image I want to trace taped to the underside. I've also used my computer monitor as a light box and just traced the design off the screen.

They all seem to work for me. Somehow I get it figured out..save the $$ for more fabric :wink:

Well, I needed one in a hurry and so I found an old drawer put some flashlights in it and turned them on. Then I put a piece of plexiglas on top and Wa La! I worked just fine.

In a pinch the other day I used a clear storage tub with a desk lamp.
Worked great turned box upside down and bent the lamp upward.

If you have a glass top, kitchen or coffee table they work great also.

If your going to use it alot I'd invest in the real thing but if your going
to use it only now and then. Save your money buy fabric and make due....

my 1 cents....lol

Texasquilts

I have a very large light table.. called my dining table.. it has a glass top and I put a table lamp with no shade on the floor under the table.. works amazingly.. I also have a light table that I bought, it's about 24" square and the frame is white plastic.. the top appears to be plastic also, you just sit it on a table , put a light under it and go to town.. I got it on sale for around $20.00 on sale, and have not even taken the sticky protective cover off of it...lol

I want to thank you all for your great ideas!
Having no money to buy one, last Christmas I struggled with my tracing to copy my small landscapes ... mountains, lake, foreground. Now, I never will struggle again!

I bought one at a quilt show years ago. It is basically an opaque piece of plastic on molded plastic legs. It is about 20x20, then you put you light of choice underneath.

i use my windows too. i've even used our big sliding glass doors for my larger quilts.

i use gaffer's tape because i can leave everything taped up for extended periods of time and it never leaves residue on the windows or the fabric.