Alleviating The Physical Stresses of Quilting
 

I love to quilt, especially piecing, but sitting for hours, hunched over a sewing machine and shoving a large quilt around can make my body hurt and my legs start to swell. I try to get up once in awhile to move around, but I think that I should do more for my poor, old body than that. Got any tips, or ideas?

I have to limit my time just sitting. When I'm quilting a quilt, I set the timer on my phone for a 1/2 hour. I get up and walk around then. Usually I go downstairs, put some clothes in the washer or dryer and do something else for a bit. I often alternate sewing on one project with cutting out another project. My body seems to be happier with me that way.

I also try not to hunch over my machine when I'm working. Sitting up straight seems to help

I have found using a chair with adjustable height helps, and then really finding the most comfortable height. Also stopping to stretch and get up to do other things periodically.

I'm fortunate to have a quilting machine on a 12 foot frame but still standing for long periods of time can become stressful on the poor old body especially the feet. I have one of those rubber mats that looks like a jigsaw puzzle along the front of the frame and that does help. I'm also drinking lots of fluids and munching on fresh veggies, at least this week. That means lots of trips to the bathroom with all the fluid intake so I do get some breaks. Plus I have my main computer down here also so I'll check my emails from time to time plus I keep my Ipod singing away also.

Quoting yourself, Tropit .... "... sitting for hours, hunched over a sewing machine and shoving a large quilt ..."

You've already identified your problems ... now to face them ...

* don't sit for hours ... get up and move around ... I usually manage that by getting up to press or cut or a bathroom break or to get a drink, etc. Best to set an alarm ... and obey it!

* hunched over, says the ergonomics are not right causing you to sit too high/low and/or the table/machine are too high/low and/or the machine is too far away from the table edge. Ergonomics is about positioning your body to the right position, and adjusting the environment to you!

So what to do? As already mentioned by someone, switch chairs and have adjustability. Likewise, adjust the table/machine height from the floor. Also the setback of the machine can make a huge difference, good and bad! All three, can make huge differences as to how our bodies cope.

Good Luck!

There are many quilting sites and YouTubes that suggest stretches for quilters. I find this one has stretches for whole body https://lindas.com/blogs/tips-and-tr...UMBN7fGy0V3Hzs. I try to break my sessions into small fragments and get up & move a little. Doesn't have to be a long exercise session just a few minutes. I also utilize a FaceBook site called Easy Fitness Over 50 and she is on YouTube with mini sets up to 20 minutes all for free. I do various ones while I'm in kitchen cooking along with between quilting.

A few months ago, our guild brought in a presenter who led us through a session of chair yoga tweaked to support quilters. I'm not a big fan of yoga in general - I appreciate it, but I'm not very flexible and I don't like being upside down - but I found the session she led was really helpful and I left the meeting minus a few aches and kinks, especially in my neck and shoulders. As Three Dog Night mentioned, there are lots of good videos for stretches for the different parts that tend to stiffen up when we spend a little too much time in the quilting room.

One of the things that I do (not necessarily by choice, but it's worked out well) is I walk a lot between piecing units, simply because my ironing board is down the hall in the laundry room. :-)

Like QuiltE says, you've already identified many of your issues. I'm big on ergonomic stuff and cannot stress enough the importance of a quality adjustable chair with the right seat depth for your body. If you are on carpet, a mat makes a huge difference. You need to be able to adjust your chair if not your table and our needs change greatly from day to day, week to week, and even hourly. It is not set once and forget.

When choosing a chair at the very least you want up/down height. You should have an adjustable back support. Arms are up to you, I find I like having them but they often get in way of the table and then I'm not sitting correctly. The seat depth needs to work for you -- watch out for chairs that create a pressure point mid thigh. Be aware that cheap chairs are for smaller people (150lb and under) -- if you are a larger person you need a chair rated for your size. It was super hard/expensive to get hubby a gaming chair when he was big.

For friends with lower leg issues, some find benefit by using start/stop buttons and not foot pedals. Some have ramps or those bicycle type exercise things under the table.

Vary tasks. I used to have my quilting room set up very efficiently, I could sit in one spot and twirl from cutting table to sewing to ironing without getting up. I also became very sedentary, seriously under 500 steps a day during covid. I kept my sewing machine in the sewing room, moved the cutting stuff to the dining room table, and the ironing board to the living room. helped to have a supportive husband. Almost immediately I was over 2k steps! Plus I turn on energetic music and do what I call the "stompy dance" at the ironing board.

I prefer to do every piece at a time while quilting, that can mean hours... now I look at 15 minutes a time at a task. 15 minutes of cutting leads to 15 minutes of sewing which leads to 15 minutes of ironing (all more or less) and then I do another round.

Fooling around with not quite right stuff is not worthwhile to our bodies. Change those rotary blades often! Get handles for your tools that work for you, I recently bought an expensive custom made wooden seam ripper because I can't handle a lot of the cheap ones any more.

I have my sewing (piecing) machine on a height-adjustable table, and I usually stand to sew. That is tiring, too, and I can switch to sitting when necessary.

I have a bad back, bad hips, I have a large electric sit-stand desk and I stand to sew, I have a couple of floor mats, I don't sit much anymore, I don't sit at work hardly either, sitting makes my back & hips angry LOL