Creative Sewing Machine Surfaces
 

We are moving in a few months and I am trying to come up with a good idea for my sewing machine surface. I am not at all interested in sewing machine cabinets. Our current house has a 10-foot wall-to-wall countertop that my dh installed over 4 sets of drawers (two work stations). Thanks for your ideas or sharing your setup!

You know what worked for you in your current home, so could you do that again?

Without us knowing what limitations you have with your next home, it really is hard to know what to suggest. There are so many unique and workable solutions.

In my previous home, I built my sewing machine into the laundry room cupboards, complete with a flip up lid, so I had full countertop when I was doing laundry, and the machine was protected, but ready to sew when I had the time. The cubbyhole below held a pull out seat with storage, that I used when stitching.

I like white melamine
 

There is a beautiful white melamine sold in 4 X 8 sheets at Lowe's and Home Depot. They also sell matching edging that is pre-glued and can be ironed on with a hot iron. My DH built a center island in my studio by gathering together some misfit desks from a different house and floating a huge table over it using this material. I can have as many 5 machines set up at once or just enjoy the big surface for laying out my quilt, etc.

Can you move the current set-up to your new home? Do you know the size of the new room? Check thrift stores for tables that will work for your space.

I keep a notebook of the room layout so the measurements are easily checked when I find something that might work.

I have formica and love it. It's great for my sewing room countertops, and the tops my machines are set in, I wax with car wax...quilts slide on them so easily when quilting.

Donna, Are the countertops standard depth? Do you have room behind the machines for the quilt. My table is against the wall so the quilt has to be re-adjusted.

I've used some of those heavy duty tables with folding legs like you used to see in church rec rooms. They work well and I like the height. Also they are moveable so if you decide on another configuration for the room, you can easily move things around. I bought mine very cheaply at a used office furniture store years ago.

No..not standard..my favorite one was the last one we did because we had done another before that..it worked great, but found I needed more depth, so what we ended up doing was a long table that was 2 feet deep, and a long piano hinge along the back with another 2 feet that I can fold down when I'm not using it. I ended up with 4 feet deep. If I remember right, we used 2 feet as a depth because it was cheaper to buy it in a precut roll than having it custom cut to 4 feet. 4 feet against a wall holds even my biggest quilts and I don't have to cram them into a space. If I had to do it again, I'd just go for the solid piece and use the whole table...in my dream room, the back would be a series of cabinets and drawers, with the whole thing on wheels so that I could access the back when I needed to, but put against a wall when quilting!!!!!

I just posted (in organization - abt 30 min ago) the 3x6' table I built - i put it on furniture sliders, so I can pull it away from the wall if I need 360 degree access. All my tools hang on the sides, so everything is handy. I'm sure your DH could do a much more refined version... but this works beautifully for me - plenty of room to sew/press/cut.