Sewing Outdoors?
 

Does anyone drag their sewing machine outside to just piece or quilt? I think handwork would be easier. It sounds like on a pretty Spring day it would be doable and possibly enjoyable. Has anyone done it?

*Crispy*

Not yet, but it's a goal of mine!

I don't have a place to sew outside at home, but when we go camping I take a hand sewing project with me and sew. It is very nice to sit and enjoy the breeze and the sounds of nature while sewing.

I have when we are travelling with our 5th wheel in Arizona in the winter :). It's like the best of both worlds!

I have also sewn outside and cut fabric outside when out in the caravan. It is so refreshing to be outside or in the awning in the weather.

i quilt outside...it's beautiful and the best of both worlds!

I sew on my deck. I do both hand sewing and take my machine out...it is wonderful. : )

No, I haven't but I hand piece and hand quilt so I should, the weather has been beautiful lately and natural light would be a benefit too. Thanks for the suggestion.

I open the window, does that count?

I have a Singer featherweight machine I carry in our 5th wheel. I sew outside with it whenever possible. However, it is hard to really accomplish too much since so many others stop by to see what I am doing. It is so much fun. I cover the picnic table that is provided with a plastic tablecloth and sew away.

I sat outside yesterday on the porch working on hand piecing hexes for an ongoing project. It was an absolute beautiful day. Just sewed and watched the boats going up and down the river. Hope to get a few more days in before our awful humidity kicks in for the summer.

Don't know if this counts but I have screen porch, no glass at all. There are outlets, so I do take my machine out for the day. Here's a photo of my sister a couple years ago. Spring is still several weeks away here in Michigan.
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I open my huge sliding door. Does that count?? I enjoy having the television on playing old series while I sew.

I have done that.

Yes. I love to sew outside and have done it on numerous occasions... both hand sewing and machine.

I've thought about it, but the mosquitoes would drive me cuckoo.

I have set up on my front porch and sewn. Did it a lot when the kids were little.

As others have mentioned, I just open the windows. However, I do hand work out of doors. Love doing that!

I will do some hand sewing out on the patio on a nice day. Would love to bring my machine out but not electrical outlet outside.

I would love to and have thought of it often! I do however take my braided rugs outside and work on them in the spring and summer. They are very heavy and I don't have to be concerned about a breeze coming up and blowing away my work.

Only time I did that was when I needed to replace a zipper in an older, heavy canvas tent.

I use to set up the quilting frame outside to baste the layers - only place with enough room. It's what my Mom and Grandma had done too. set up the boards so it was the correct size, lay out the backing and tack it to the boards with thumb tacks, smooth out the batting, then put the top on. Start basting with thread and rolling up the quilt as you go.

Where I live now, a calm day is a rare thing - so sewing outside would be difficult. Not to mention dealing with the attentions of the barn cats LOL!!

I take a fold away table to the deck and see if it is not too windy

What a beautiful porch, PaperPrincess! That would be a lot better than my open deck in the sun. I can't imagine sewing with sunglasses on. I make enough mistakes as it is. :)

Hugs
Charlotte

You bet I sew outside. Mostly hand work. Sitting in a rocking chair enjoying nature AND sewing = wonderful!

No sewing outside for me. Too windy, hot, bugs, etc. No way do I want to haul stuff back and forth. I don't even open the window. We put a room AC in the window for summer, we will soon do it.

Very fortunate here to not have bugs other than the occasional fly. I'd love to take my treadle out on the covered deck
but that is a two man job and Rob is often out of town. My concern is we do have rain here and I'm worried about the machine or stand or irons drawing moisture. I'd feel terrible if I damaged it by misuse, it was a gift from Dick Wrightman, the treadleon list head.

I should ask this question over in Vintage machines!

Yes, I have a Singer Featherweight that I can easily adapt to use a hand crank instead of electricity so sometimes when the mood hits, I switch my featherweight from electric to hand crank and take her outside.

Rob

I had an outlet put outside on my deck for just that purpose. hopefully, someday I will.

i dont take my machine out but do hand work or crcocherting on the front porch

Too many mosquitos in Minnesota!

Oh, my dear. Many a day in my youth I had to piece under the open skies. While the light was preferable during day hours, the wind and elements reaked havoc on my work. I can't reccomned a return to those days.

I don't sew outside very much but if I do, I usually have some hand work to do. Hand stitching binding comes to mind. I don't take my machine outside.

LOL! A friend of ours who moved to Minnesota used to call them "the Minnesota state bird" because they were so big!

We have a large back deck making that possible if I decided to. But living in Iowa and how the house is situated we get strong southeast winds that would just blow everything away. Fortune smiles on me though because of a large sun porch with 10 windows and two ceiling fans. That's where I sew in the summertime!

Oh, sure. In FL, sewing outside is during the winter months. We had a covered deck when we lived in Seattle area, and that was my go to place in the summer for sewing. When we are in PA in the summer, we sometimes see the Amish sewing on their machines on the front porch. Love being outside.

We have a screened porch, too, and it is lovely to sew out there in the summer. I have had a few friends over on a summer afternoon to sew and chat. We do handwork and enjoy the flowers and birds and summer sounds. Heavenly! And no bugs to deal with. The first few years we were here, we couldn't eat on the deck because of the yellow jackets. So the screened porch was the first thing we added on. It gets morning sun and afternoon shade, which is just right. But I haven't tried using my machine out there yet. I'm not sure the table is strong enough.

When I go camping for the summer, I sew outside on the deck. It is very peaceful and relaxing. Folks at the campground will come ove and ask what I am making. I do cut everything before I travel to make it easier.

I quilt on a screened in porch, not much of an outdoors person. Bugs are not my friends.

Your porch is beautiful PaperPrincess. My DH built a screened house on the pool deck last summer so once he get electricity installed, it may be doable. Sounds peaceful and fun.

We had a porch that Dad had enclosed with glass in the 40's. Now we would call it a 3-season room. I would move the electric sewing machine in a cabinet from in the living room to the other side of the wall, which was out in the porch. I could open all the windows I wanted. But in March it would get to 100 degrees out there because of all the south facing windows. Then the cabinet would be bumpity bumped over the threshold to the living room where it was cooler. I'm surprised that cabinet held up.
Sometimes I would sleep out there in the porch because it was much cooler at night than the upstairs bedrooms.