Thanks to everyone for their comments. My basement is finished, and the half I use for quilting is pretty well-lit with recessed lighting. It's the other half that I look into that is dark and I'm very sensitive to light, so even looking at a dark space even though the actual working space is well-lit is bothersome. Not sure if that makes much sense.
Anyway, I went to Joann's this weekend and bought a little sewing table, and I brought my serger and dress dummy up here as well. I also do fashion sewing so I'm thinking I can do the quilting down where I have a large flatbed table (that I made myself with a wooden Ikea table) and clothes up here, but keep the majority of the sewing stuff downstairs:
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