http://www.hornofamerica.com/product...s&productID=85

Havn't really thought on a price yet or how hard shipping would be.

kwendt: thank you for taking the time to be so specific. When we get back home from this trip, it's finally going to be time to set up the condo so it will be more useful for both sewing and us!

I've been sewing in the back of our dining room under a window and need to be more focused about it. I was looking thru a magazine about using small spaces and got a revelation: we have these heavy nice, but wide black shelves for display and I've taken some of it over for sewing overflow. I now want to get rid of that piece and replace it with regular width bookcases which will do a couple of things. We can still display DH's radio collection, some of my quilting books and stuff and I think we'll get back a couple of inches of dining room space!

And also thanks to the rest of you for specific websites, I've marked those for future use once I've done the preliminary work, I can't wait to get home and get cracking. It's nice to have something fun to look forward to and think about as the miles roll by.

I must make a confession. We finally found my "dream" machine a 1952 Singer 15-91 in an antique store to add to my "stable". I tried to get the guy to sell me just the machine and not the little cabinet it was in, but no go. So now we have to figure out how to get it from NH to Ga in our VW bus and camp at the same time. Life is never dull, ya know :lol:
My next message is to Billy to see if the cabinet can be taken apart and put back together.

The ideas and suggestions by Kwendt couln't have come at a more helpful time. We are rebuilding our house after the blast and fire and are starting from scratch. I will have a large bonus room for my quilting and sewing and have been searching for ideas to make it as user frienly as possible. There were lots of good ideas here. Now for the graph paper. We can even tell our architect about plug and light placement.

So sorry for your lose. I hope your rebuilding goes well. It's a shame this tragedy happened, but you will get a "Do Over"

Yes it can. I've taken mine apart before. BUT I know you know that, since you've already done it! (I'm over on the VSMS thread too!). I think it's sooo neat what you've done.

Enjoy the process of setting up your sewing space. The idea of gaining space, even 3", is important. Functionality is key. In my room, since wall space was at a premium... I changed the depth of my cabinets. I had been using regular Staples white laminiate tall bookcases to store my folded fabrics on. 2 stacks of rectangularly folded fabric per shelf. The long side of the fabric stacks faced out. Those bookcases were 28" wide each. With my new configuration, I wanted to add a fourth bookcase to display things on, but didn't have room. So what I did, was bought the white estate pantries from Home Depot.

Um, for anyone buying those pantries, here's a note: the more expensive version have the nicer door, but also the INSIDE of the cabinet and the shelves are laminated too. The fabric doesn't snag on particle board. But the cheaper, plain/flat front white pantries - have rougher interiors and will snag your fabrics. NOT good.

Okay... back to what I did. Those pantries are 16" deep, not 12" deep like the laminate bookcases were. I rotated my fabric stacks, so that the shorter side of each stack faced 'out'. I still get 2 stacks of fabric per shelf, but the pantries are only 24" wide.

Here's another tip: Think about any DOORS you have in the room, and how much outswing space they take up! Some of you may wonder why I opted for 24" wide pantries. Pantries have double doors, so the 24" wide pantry door 'swing out' is only about 12" per door. A 48" cabinet, with double doors, means each door swings out taking up 24" of space just to open the cabinet! My walking areas in my sewing room are between 38" and 42". When my body is in the isle, I still want to be able to open and close my doors, and walk around them some.

So try looking at things from different angles when fitting up a sewing room. Especially on paper, it's easy to ask 'what if I did this?'...

The difference: 3 bookcases at 28" each = 84" versus 3 pantries at 24" each = 72". Finding that extra 12" enabled me to fit in a corner shelving unit to display my dolls and things. The bottom self is curtained off and used for storage. (nice and neat).

As you sew, pay attention to how you like to move around, where you like to 'be' when doing tasks like ironing, cutting, pressing, crafting, etc. Some people like to stand as they sew, some prefer to sit. Some like the window in front of them so they can stare out at the scenery, while others want the daylight to come from 'behind' them. Make your space a fun, relaxing, interesting place for YOU. Then you'll spend much time there and enjoy it.

Oh! beautiful! If you can plan it out before they're done furbing up the inside... try to get them to put at least TWO different electrical circuits in your room, and more if possible. Irons take a LOT of electrical current to run, especially the new 1700 or 1900 watt ones. So plan on more circuits and keep your irons on one, and everything else on the other. Another idea that a friend of mine did... and wish I had!... is to put some of the electrical plugs up about 3' off the floor (counter level), instead of always at the floor level. That takes planning, but then you've got places to plug in your TV, DVD, radio, iron, mini iron, craft gadgets, etc. Leaving the machines, floor lights, etc. to be plugged in below. She used kitchen laminiate white counter tops around one side, sitting on kitchen cabinets for storage. Her room is over the 3 car garage, so it's something like 30' by 20' huge! Sounds like you'll have something similar! Whoo hoo! I'm jealous! What fun and I hope you plan to have places to have over your quilting buddies. I'm sorry about the blast and fire, of course... but I'm just sayin... !

The sewing center that I bought my cabinet from ordered the acyrlic insert straight from Horn to match my sewing machine - a Viking Sapphire. I also have the huge cutting mat, but haven't used it yet.

I use my old computer table

For those DIYers out there, here are the drawings and dims for the sewing table that my dad made for me. The lift for the serger was sourced from Rockler (about $160). There is a drop leaf on the back to handle quilts when I am doing FMQ - it was attached with piano hinge. It is very heavy but you can either put locking casters on it, or those workman slide feet. The drop leaf could double as a cutting board if you put a mat on it.