What a difference good lighting makes!
 

I sew in my living room, which is not well lit. It has a cathedral ceiling and the overhead light is not very bright. I had noticed this week that when I'm sewing at night I was getting agitated. Just a general feeling of nervousness. Couldn't figure out why. I started taking a look at different factors - the quilt I'm working on, other people in the house bothering me (nope, couldn't blame it on them, they've been staying out of the living room), my sewing set up. It dawned on me that it is a bit dim around my machine. Because of the machine light I could see the presser foot area just fine.

Tonight I moved a bright floor lamp over by my sewing machine. Ah! I have been sewing and feel fine.

Sometimes it's light; sometimes sitting in an uncomfortable position; other things. Good to analyze when you get agitated...makes the situation far less stressful and more productive.

I know what you mean about light! If you have a hard time seeing what you are doing, it is easy to get frustrated. It is almost like doing something partially blindfolded! It definitely slows down the process.

I rarely go to a mall, but went shopping with a friend last week. We went into a higher end department store. It was so dimly lit that I could not wait to get out of there. It was a depressing atmosphere, kind of hard to see the merchandise, and a lot of the employees were yawning (and no, it was not Black Friday weekend). I would think that more light means more energy flowing, more good feelings, more in the mood to buy.

My sewing studio is the living room of my cottage. It was quite gloomy all the time with northern exposure, front porch overhang, one window in the corner, and dark Williamsburg blue trim/closet doors and a black (!!) inside front door.

After three years I had my landlord install two cheap 4ft. florescent lights in the middle of the ceiling. Talk about good lighting!!! :shock: Whoa! I LOVE it! :cool:

The neighbors call it my (airport) "runway lights" or sometimes, my "tanning salon"! :hunf:

I think they're just jealous. :D

Jan in VA

Before picture...missing front door angle.

My Sewing room is in my basement , and for years was not very pleasant. When I finally decided to make it a more desirable space, I told the electrician how many 4 ft. fixtures I wanted. He just looked at me like I was nuts. So the day they were installed he had them loosely installed and lit them all up, and then called me to come look. I am sure he thought I was going to say take out a few. I looked at him and said "that's exactly what I want , just as bright as daylight ,without a cloud in the sky at noon". He just shook his head . I love it. The best investment I made in my sewing space.

I have a good light in my sewing room, but moved my table a couple of feet towards the far end of the room, a while back. Took me forever to figure out that the 'good light' was now casting a 'good shadow' on my cutting station. Easy fix--just moved to table back to its original position.

I don't know if you folks in the US are acquainted with Lee Valley Tools. Up here it is a well known woodworking store. My Dh got me a multi-positionalbe fluorescent lamp that clamps to my sewing table. Best of all, it has a magnifying glass in the center. I cannot count the number of times I have used it to see and remove pesky little stitches that hide themselves in the weave of the cloth.

That's funny about feeling agitated. Glad more lighting helps! Bright light with no shadows makes a huge difference in my sewing mood too. When we built our house I asked for a flouescent light in every closet, some with 2 lights. The builder said "in every single closet? that's $85 a light!" I felt like saying "so what, compared to what the whole house is costing us." Well, the lights sure make it easy to see what's in the closets now! We're not getting any younger.

My sewing room is small, tiny by you American gals standards, but at night I have on the overhead light and two daylight lamps which are diagonally opposite each other to highlight my sewing area, a bit like Jan's tanning salon. Lol

when we remodeled our kitchen I did the same thing and requested the flourescent lights all over the ceiling. The builder said " you don't want that much light" I said yes I do, and thats what I got with no regrets. I sure makes a difference especially during the dark winter months.

Throughout the house I prefer bright lights with dimmer switches. Sometimes you want bright and sometimes not. My eyes are extra sensitive to light but at the same time I don't like being in dim rooms. Getting older is only making this worse.