Sewing room lighting
 

We are trying to make a quilting room for me in the basement and I need some input on lighting. I had originally decided to go with practical four tube fluorescent lights to be sure there would be enough light. Now I am wondering if I should be considering LED can lights, since they are cooler to touch (safety considering). This has been a low budget project but lighting is so important for old eyes. I would appreciate any feedback from you nice people that have some experience with this. Thank you.
Barb

I have found that bright, overhead, florescent lighting is about the worst. No matter what you're doing you'll probably cast a shadow over what you're wanting to see. Plus it glares down in your eyes and obstructs your vision that way too. I like a soft general room lighting with added task lighting for each work area. That way you can have good lighting on what you're doing without casting a shadow over your work.

To me the practical four tube fluorescents are the way to go ... with daylight bulbs to give you clear and bright colours!

Install more than you think you need ... better to over light the area, and be able to turn off a few if it is too bright. The better coverage, the less shadows. Plus it allows you more options for furniture placement (or when rearranging later).

When the lights were installed in the basement, I had no idea it would become a quilting room. When I started sewing there, I had a dark spot where my sewing machine was and added an extra fixture. Also when I rearranged things, I now have a shadowy area when cutting from one side of my cutting table, and will be adding another one there too.

Looks like you posted while i was typing!

As all will see we have different opinions on the fluorescent lighting option.

As mentioned in my post ... if you have enough lights, you will not get the shadows.
I have had no problems with glare. Of course, that could be a problem if you had a lower than normal ceiling that you were dealing with. All of my fixtures are in the T-bar ceiling, with the plastic sheets covering the bulbs.

Task lighting is good ... though again, you have to make sure you have enough, with enough spread, or you can be right back into the murky shadows and dark spots.

Do you have any natural light that comes into the basement at all? How high are your ceilings? They do now make energy saving and low heat bulbs. Good luck!

Do you have any natural light that comes into the basement at all? How high are your ceilings? They do now make energy saving and low heat bulbs. Good luck!

My ceiling will be about 7' or so. There is one egress window in the room.
Barb

Whatever type of lighting fixture you decide on, I would get the daylight bulbs. Went to those in my kitchen and quilting room and the rooms seem brighter plus you are getting true color on your fabrics.

Do you have any problem with the full spectrum lights making it so you can't sleep at night? When I work at my machine in the evening, with my two full spectrum lights on, it seems like those are the nights I have trouble sleeping.

I like my fluorescent lights but also use a task light and a magnifying lamp
when necessary. Just can't have too many lights. :) :thumbup:

Is it the lights? .... or just that your brain is active and it needs to slow down a little before trying to go to sleep?

I know for me, if I am in my family room (dull lighting) and can be very sleepy very early ... whereas if I go to my sewing room, I am wide awake and can sew/quilt late into the night. If I go to bed, and can't sleep, it's usually because I am continuing to quilt "in my mind" with the creative juices failing to stop flowing. That being said, that when this has happened, I have been able to learn how to turn my brain off ... and be able to set things aside til the morning, after that good night's sleep!!

In the room where I do my piecing and cutting, I have: the ceiling light, a light directly over the ironing board, a light in the corner of the room, a light over the sewing machine, and another light in that corner. They are all CFL's with daylight color...and I could still use some more! I guess these "old eyes" are hollering too! And the room is not that big...I think 10X10 or 10X12...

Hummmmmmmmmmm and I'd prefer florescent tubes

I have a basement sewing room , and really like my flourescant lighting. If you place the fixture in the center of the space , you will get some shadowing , as the angle of the light can't travel through your body. Lighting around the perimeter will give better results as far as shadows. I found LED's to be much more irritating in prolonged use.

Get daylight/full spectrum bulbs, and they can be used in the longer fixture (usually for fluorescents).

This is interesting. I have florescent lights in my basement, but have never heard of the shadow thingy!. I like my lighting.

You won;t have the shadow thingy ... if you have enough to let the light spread overlap from one to the other..
So you must have enough!! :)

Regarding the "daylight" bulbs.... I recently purchased 2 CFLs and 2 reflector lamp shades from Home Depot. This was based on Holly Knott's recommendations for lighting your quilts for photography. The CFLs are rated at 5000k and have the absolute best light for getting true colors. I LOVE these bulbs. They take half a minute to "warm up", which originally annoyed me, but they're so good I'm willing to wait. I've since repurposed them and have them over my work area next to my sewing machine. I prefer them over the 4' tube fluorescent bulbs in my kitchen, which admittedly are most likely not the right "temperature".

In a nutshell, I'd recommend CFLs rated at 5000k.

I have the 4' fluorescent bulbs, no shadows and great light. I put them in as replacement for track lighting that produced a lot of heat, shadows, and burnouts.