Lighting
 

I have a converted attic space that I am using as my fabric stash storage and pressing station. The space is great but has no windows.

I need very bright, strong overhead lighting that mimics daylight.

Has anyone got a ceiling light fixture/bar they use and can recommend?

I found these and they have made a massive difference in my sewing room.

I have these too. One over my cutting table and one over my sewing machine. They are wonderful. But can't find bulbs for them except through Grace company. The bulbs don't last as long as stated. I think I will have the fixtures removed and put regular fixtures in for light bulbs as I posted above.
https://www.graceframe.com/en/produc...ness-led-light

Look for high lumens (brightness), high CRI (color-rendering index) of 90+ if possible

We use these in my husband's shop and they are good, just not high CRI

Without seeing your space's setup, it's hard to recommend a light fixture. So much depends on how and where you can install or hang it (free-standing lamp vs overhead lighting?), how much space you need to light, how you are able to power the fixture (hard wire or plug in?).
However, I think the *temperature* of the bulb will be most important to you, rather than the fixture itself. There are a range of temperatures, from warm white (think of traditional incandescent bulbs) to bright daylight (think office spaces). On the side of the box of every light bulb is a temperature scale. Once you choose a fixture, look for bulbs that are in the 5000 range. That is what's considered bright daylight.
I have a lamp over my sewing machine that actually can adjust from warm white to bright daylight. I love it. I prefer the bright daylight during working hours, and the softer, mellower light in the evenings.

CRI is critical - a 3000K bulb with a high CRI (90+) is going to show fabric/thread color much more accurately than a 5000K bulb with low (82 or less) CRI.

I have 3500K 90+ CRI thin-profile LED disk/wafer lights in my sewing space but that style isn't appropriate for a pitched ceiling that is likely in an attic space.

Just a word of caution. The fixture needs to be able to support the wattage of the bulb that you use. Otherwise it becomes a fire hazard. Just because the bulb will screw into the fixture's socket, doesn't mean that the fixture supports that wattage.

Ask me how I know....

I have a bunch of windows in my sewing room, but once the light drops (3:30 p.m. in winter), no amount of light from overhead works. There are shadows everywhere. That's why I don't sew at night.

Maybe I am the only one experiencing this?

hugs,
charlotte

I have overhead lighting, plus 3 large windows on two different walls, so that is a big plus.

But as charlottequilts mentioned, shadows tend to bother me as well, so I also use pole lamps that I can move and adjust as I need them. I have pole lamps that each have 3 adjustable lights on them and have enough for each of my stations so I don't have to move them around the room, just move and/or adjust them a few inches or feet at each station. I pretty much have them set up now that I just need to adjust the aim of the adjustable lights once in a while. Each of the adjustable lights on the poles, can also be turned on separately as well. I can turn one/two/or all three lights on the pole on as needed.

LED bulbs uses less wattage and produce less heat. The 150 watt equivalent LED bulb uses 24 watts. of power. I like halogen bulbs the best but they produce heat, use a lot of power, and don't last very long. I was changing them out ever few months.

I have a lot of vintage and antique lights. I've learned to be careful with this. Other than that, I don't have any suggestions. The lighting in my sewing room is not optimal which was okay 20+ years ago when we moved here. Now I'm having trouble seeing well sometimes and have to move my tabletop and floor lamps around to get enough light.

We used Visual3D lighting design software combined with HomeDesigner to figure out fixtures (all specs) and placement for my sewing room, my husband's shop, and our RV garage. We have HomeDesignerPro, but the $249 version, Architectural, lets you do lighting shadow renderings as well, and the basic Suite for $129 does some lighting.

My husband made something almost identical to this for my long arm, and a half size version for my cutting table, using LED light bars (4 foot ones over cutting table, 2 x 4 foot ones over longarm). They are wonderful and because he was able to build the framework himself ( 1 inch channel spray painted with enamel paint) they were very economical.

Ru, I am liking the pole lamp idea, since they are adjustable and can be positioned lower than overhead lighting.

Peckish, could you share what kind of bulb or fixture can be adjusted for color rendering? I had no idea those existed.

hugs,
charlotte

I purchased the lamp online a couple of years ago, the name on it is "Miroco". It has 4 brightness settings and 4 color settings. These pictures show 3 out of 4 of the different color settings, you can clearly see how it goes from warm white to bright white.
Hope this helps.

Thank you for taking time to do that. This is really worth looking into.

hugs,
charlotte

Stella Lights also have different settings for color and brightness. When my old Ott Lite floor lamps die, I'll replace them with Stella Lights

I should have said that the lights will be overhead. There are two poor fixtures there now, single bulbs, that I want to replace with larger, lighter, brighter to mimic daylight.

Aha! Well in that case I can recommend these LEDs. We replaced 2 single-bulb, incandescent fixtures in our garage with these and they are SO much brighter!

I think Peckish has the winning solution...now to see if the home wiring job done for the two overhead sockets can be converted to install this light bar.

FWIW I use these floor lamps for my cutting table and machine area (where I also have a machine-side pressing station)...they are great!
https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B01...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I will add a couple of those if the overhead upgrade is not enough!

Glad I could help!

Asked hubby about the conversion. He said the wiring is simple and straightforward, the 3 wires in the ceiling correspond to the 3 wires in the light fixture (hot, neutral, and ground). Attaching the fixture to the ceiling was also simple, all screw holes lined up with the existing setup and the screws fit. There were also 2 additional screws included in the kit for attaching both ends of the fixture to the ceiling. It took him maybe half an hour to install it, and he needed one person to help him hold it up while he screwed it in, but otherwise installation could not have been easier. The fixture is not heavy at all. He loves it - when we first moved into this house, he had installed fluorescent tube lighting where the builders had put incandescent bulbs, then about a year ago he took those out and put these LEDs in. The LEDs, at about 9000 lumens, are much brighter than the fluorescents were.

For both conversions (from incandescent bulbs to fluorescent tubes to LEDs) he didn't have to do anything to the structure or wiring of the house.

Check to see what all is wired on that circuit and what size breaker controls it.

Normally going from incandescent to LED allows more lighting (due to significantly lower wattage for equivalent illumination), but even so, you might want to add up the loads and make sure you don't exceed the capacity of the circuit.