Best lighting?
 

Hi,

My sewing space is in the basement, where there is some recessed lighting but not very good for sewing/quilting. What is the best type of lighting for this? Track lighting? Fluorescent? I've never been a big fan of fluorescent but I went to a friend's house who has her basement finished into a hair salon and she had fluorescent lights and they looked pretty good.

Thanks for any advice.

Karen

I have track lighting in my home office. While it lights the room adequately I don't know that I would use it in a sewing room. I think that style fixture can cast too many shadows. Fluorescent lights are long lasting and relatively cheap (think 'shop light'). With the changes in laws re incandescent lights though, I don't know how long they will be readily available. Might want to check that info before making big investment.

Perhaps use LED bulbs? I love the daylight LED bulbs as they as so bright and don't cast colors like incandescent (yellow) or florescent (green). LED is a bit more of an investment up front but they use less kilowatts to burn and last a long time. I use them in my sewing room and love them so much I don't even have to open the blinds to get a nice bright work area.

I'm a fan of the GE Reveal brand bulbs. They are a nice white light, and still just a standard incandescent bulb that will fit into any standard lamp. I think the bulbs themselves are the important part, more than the fixture. There are daylight spectrum florescent bulbs available that give off very bright white light.

I don't like florescent bulbs because I can hear the buzz and it drives me mad. I married a guy who makes electronic music so I value my rare moments of silence and a buzzing light fixture ruining my quiet time is NOT something that makes me happy!

I have an assortment of table and floor lamps I use the Reveal bulbs in, and I have a couple of small LED gooseneck lights right at the machine so for task lighting I am very well set. I still need better overall room lighting and found a funky vintage brass swag lamp at the thrift shop that takes 4 bulbs to help with that, I just need to get DH to hang it for me and I should be very well set.

To me fluorescent bulbs are not the best for seeing true color. I prefer the Reveal bulbs.

I have LED track lighting in my studio. I use daylight led bulbs. I love all the light in there and would buy them again. I have ott lights at my work areas to help see the things I am working on when at the machines. Luann

I checked with our lighting store on the best task lights, florescent was their answer. I have one 4 ft (4 bulbs) over my sewing cabinet, one over my cutting island, and three over the longarm. It is like broad daylight in there. No buzzing sound I can hear. It's great!

sewnoma ....i chatted with an one of the guys at work .... he said ballast is bad if they buzz ...........i think he said there is a new one out maybe a F18 that is supposed to be good

Whatever type of lights you go with ... choose daylight bulbs.
You will get a much cleaner, clearer light that will let you see your true fabric colours better!

I have fluorescent in my sewing room ... lots of them, so that the room is well lit, and with few shadows. That's one good thing about a suspended ceiling as you can always add more ... and yes, I keep thinking I must might do that!

No matter what type of lighting you choose, the trick is to make sure you get the coverage where you are working ... height of the fixture, type of shade, wattage, # bulbs, etc. are all factors that can get you more or less light.

Thanks everyone. I think I'll start with the daylight or reveal bulbs in the four recessed lights in the ceiling. Now there are those twisty ones which my husband likes because they are "green" but they take forever to get bright (OK, a few minutes but it seems like forever) and I do have a few Ott lights.

I have 2 Ott lights next to my machine. ALso the regular room light. The lighting just isn't right. I have been trying to decide what kind of light I want to suspend from the ceiling above my machine area. It seems the older I get the pickier I get about my lighting.

My sewing room is in the basement. I had regular old shoplghts but they were always fluttering or going out. We went to lowes and got the led bright light ones. They look like enclosed shop lights. .make sure you get the ones that say daylight or bright light.

Whatever you chose, don't get anything that runs HOT. I had florescent standard fixtures you find in the garage but I bought the best tubes to give me natural lighting.

My sewing room is a spare bedroom. I have a goose neck Ott light that clamps onto the sewing machine cabinet. I love it as it can be redirected when I need more light to thread the needle. I have a 2nd Ott light that sits on the chest of drawers beside my Big Board which is also my cutting table. These have been working fine for me since the 1990's.

I have replaced all of the fluorescent bulbs in my sewing room with LEDs. The room is as bright as daylight even for sewing in the evenings. I have an overhead light, 1 gooseneck floor lamp with 3 positional lights, 1 goose neck floor lamp with 1 positional light and an ott light I move around.

Here is what I put in my room and it is like sun light in there.
 

I bought 6 of these lights. They are low wattage and are extremely bright. I just love them.

This is the lighting I have in my quilt building. I love it, it is like being in an operating room.
http://www.lowes.com/pd_1345-43921-M...r|1&facetInfo=

Thanks, everyone!

Really like these as well. The daylight ones show the fabric well to me.

LED lights also don't give off the heat other lights do so I will go with them in my dream studio. My eye MD recommended them for my mom who has glaucoma and the beginnings of macular degeneration to help her see better to read.

I have the same light as psthreads posted above from Lowes. It's amazing, I turn it on and it's like sunlight in my sewing room. The LED does not get hot and it saves energy. Yes LED bulbs and fixtures are expensive to buy but they last forever. We have replaced all the bulbs in our house with them and even bought a new LED TV, the LCD TV was an energy hog, you could walk by it and feel the heat from it.

mjhaess , where did you find your lights?

Bought them at Lowes. They are LED and the life expectancy for them is 25,000 hours. I paid 80 dollars each. They make a world of difference in my room.

I have track lighting with LED bulbs (daylight ). Also have First Light desk lamps with daylight bulbs on my sewing table. Love them!