I have a great cutting table but i have a basement, i bought 6 unfinished kitchen cabinets, i painted them white then stenciled them with sewing accessories, for the top, i bought a 8 foot unfinished door, stained the door and added a trim all along the outside rim, i can fit 2 large cutting mats on top and still have room for a ironing area or for accessories. i love it and it gets lots of use. the rim helps to keep the rulers in place when i am cutting fabric.

I have an old kitchen formica table with legs under it. You used to be able to get the leg extensions at Walmart. They remind me of upside down flowerpots

I use an adjustable height & angle drafting table that has padding on the feet so I can slide it over the laminate floor if needed. I wish it was larger but wouldn't have the room for it anyway--it sits in middle of the room so I can walk around it

I bought 3 bookcases from Walmart really cheap and a piece of laminate from Home Depot that they cut for me, my table is 36 inches high from the bookcases and the top is 36x59 so really a large top, I store my threads on the bookcases. My back does not hurt and I am only 5 ft tall. hope this helps

Honestly, wherever there's space. Sometimes/most the time I just put a cutting board on my ironing board. Sometimes it's my kitchen island. I've also used my dining room table.

cutting table
 

I bought a used kitchen island on Craigs list... I'm 5'6 and it is perfect height for me when cutting....also took a
board, batting & canvas and made an ironing board to fit the top...it is perfect for ironing material right off the
bolt...good luck in finding what works best for you.
Peg

I have a folding table in the garage with pieces of PVC on the legs to make it taller. Works like a charm. The table is not a fancy expensive one either. About $30 check at Home Depot or Lowes

I love the picture of the PVC pieces attached. That really makes it clear how you did it. Great idea!!

I found a pub high table at a local 2nd hand store. It is the perfect height for cutting fabric. It has a leaf that folds into the table itself so if I need it to be larger it an be opened. My cutting mat was somewhat wider so I had my husband cut the end and now it fits perfect although it doesn't fit edge to edge on all sides.

I have a very small sewing room. I bought a table that has sides that fold down when I don't need the full table. It is on rollers, so it is easy to move around when I need to get to other things in the room. It cost a little more than I wanted to spend, but I'm glad I did because it works great. Here is a link to the one I bought: http://www.walmart.com/ip/Sullivans-...Table/22223305
I hope this helps.

I love my counter height cutting table. It's actually a center island with fold up flaps for a bit of extra room when I need it. I don't think I could use a rotary cutter sitting down. My compromise is a standing height table with a swivel stool. I just move the stool out of the way when I cut. The rest of the time, I sit. My best investment has been my folding table pad/ironing board/quilt basting board. It's gridded and marked off in inches. That tool is invaluable.

I use my dining room table, often at full extension, with table pads and/or cardboard sheets to protect the surface when I am cutting or working on big things. Little cuts and trims are a green cutting board next to my sewing machine,

I use an old formica kitchen table with 1 leaf. It's on bed risers and my large 58 x 40 cutting mat fits perfectly. I'm 5' 6" and it fits me just fine. We downsized 3 years ago and I wasn't parting with that old table, no matter what. I have tote storage below.

That is cheaper than buying those bed risers and you can get caps to fit the bottoms.

I moved up from a 4 x 6 to a 4 x 8 with a self healing reversible mat. I used a 3/4" thick piece of plywood, finished it off by sanding it, adding a trim piece that sat just barely above the edge so when I added the cutting mat it laid just inside it and wouldn't be able to move around. Added a shelf below to house all my shoebox size plastic totes filled with scraps, orphan blocks and fat quarters by color and/or size. Also have a place for my trash can and too large rulers and rotating mat. Added a couple screws to the end bookcases that the cutting table is sitting on top to hold my longer rulers but easy to grab to as I use them so much. The size mat gives me plenty of room to lay a finished quilt top onto it to trim the edges. Other times I keep a small sewing machine at one end for adding the binding using the table to hold the quilt up so no weigh pulling at the machine. I normally have each of my projects all at one end in plastic cases to keep them separate. Also have my bolt of batting above the table so when I need to cut a piece I can just pull it down, lay it over the table and cut.

Getting ready to make up an attachment to enlarge my ironing board so it will fit onto the cutting board edge for those times when I'm pressing long pieces of fabrics. This way the fabric isn't pooling down on the floor getting wrinkled again.

I have our old oak table from the breakfast room of the other house. It was too big for the breakfast room in this house, so I put it upstairs on bed risers and use it for cutting. It has 2 leaves in it so it's really long and works great. I have a large mat on it and use the underneath for totes, just like you do.

I just took over the dining room for sewing and use the dining table to cut and sew on. Machines on one end, cutting boards on the other. For quilting, I don't have to stand and cut too long at a time.

In past homes I've lived in, I have used old kitchen tables and put empty paint cans under the legs. TACKY, but it did the job of raising the table to a comfortable height. I used to have my own bikini business and spent hours standing at the table and cutting when I had wholesale orders to fill.

http://www.quiltingboard.com/images/misc/quote_icon.png Originally Posted by tranum http://www.quiltingboard.com/images/...post-right.png
I use an old formica kitchen table with 1 leaf. It's on bed risers and my large 58 x 40 cutting mat fits perfectly. I'm 5' 6" and it fits me just fine. We downsized 3 years ago and I wasn't parting with that old table, no matter what. I have tote storage below.

I have a similar set up in my basement, only with a 3' x 6' conference table that I bought at the thrift store for $20.00. Instead of risers, I bought some big cinder blocks and set it up on those. It's about 41" from the floor to the top of the table, and it's just perfect for me.

I don't have to lean over at all to cut - I can stand very comfortably and do whatever I have to do, but I do have a couple of stools down there too, though I hardly ever use them.

I'm thinking about getting a 4 x 8 piece of plywood and covering it with batting and fabric to make a REALLY BIG ironing surface to put on there when I have to iron wide backings. I made a "big board" for my ironing board, but it would be nice to have one that's bigger.

Two ideas. When I was fulltiming in a motorhome, I used a screen tent with a rainfly over the picnic table as my sewing room. We usually parked in one spot for 2-3 months at a time. My combination cutting/ironing board was a bi-fold closet door set up on adjustable height sawhorses. That even provided some storage underneath on a shelf. Now that I'm in a house, my cutting table is two kitchen upper cabinets (resale store) put back to back with the doors taken off, tied together top and bottom with pieces of plywood and mounted on castors. My ironing table is a 2' X 52" piece of padded plywood mounted to the top of another resale kitchen upper cabinet and also on castors. Works well and I find I don't need to use the locking mechanisms on a carpeted floor.

I use an Ikea table that can be found in their office section. The different size/colour tops can be used with different styles of legs, all bought separately. Some legs are adjustable in height by just twisting them which is easily done in situ.

The added bonus for me is that the larger size perfectly straddles a UK double bed. As I use a spare bedroom for sewing, this means that the cutting table is using the same footprint as the end of the bed.

I have the same table in a smaller size for the sewing machine. I chose shiny white table tops which means that quilts slide easlily on them.

I have to figure something else out for cutting because my table is too low. It's one of those Koala or something like that where my machine is in the front and the height is perfect but the back of the table is where I cut and it's too low. I get a backache when cutting.

We found a wonderful old table that my huge cutting mat completely covered. DH cut pieces of 2 x4 wood and raised the table. I always planned on painting everything but I was so eager to start cutting, it’s still not painted.

I found a Pub height dinning room table 50 x 50 with the leaf in, at a 2nd hand shop for about 70.00. It is the perfect height for cutting and is sturdy and strong. Love it! Will not go back to the cutting table I bought from Joanns, that one collapsed on me before I had it for a year. Too much presser while cutting I guess.

I was very fortunate when 25 years ago DH's workplace was throwing away a workstation table - it's 30" by 72" with adjustable (not easily) legs for height. Ugly as sin but works fantastic for a cutting table. But occasionally I do have to move it - Furniture sliders are the best for this, the table doesn't accidentally roll and it's stable but moves easily when I want it to.

I have a Joann’s table which worked great for both pinning and cutting but even though it closed the 12 inches I didn’t like the space it took when opened. I was gifted a lower kitchen cabinet with a granit top and I used it for all my cutting and most of my ironing and I love it. I wish it was a little bigger but otherwise it perfect, the height especially works great! Now I only pull out my Joann’s table when I need to cut large pieces of fabric or to square up my quilts.

I used 2 bookcases I didn't need elsewhere for the ends, added brackets underneath to hold another piece of plywood for a shelf, then added another piece of 4 x 8 plywood on top with a piece of simple trim placed just a hair above the edge to hold my new to me cutting mat which is also 4 x 8. This way the trim will keep it from sliding though I doubt it will as heavy as it is. This cutting mat has a green side with markings and a black side with markings and is self-healing. I keep a small sewing machine at one end to attach long borders and bindings so there is a place to keep the quilt from hanging over the side or getting all bunched up. The shelf below holds my containers of fat qtrs and scraps, some stablizers and fabrics I'm using on a project so I don't accidently cut into it until the project is finished. Also keep my trash can underneath too so close enough when I need it but out of the way when I don't.