Custom Sewing Table

When we moved into our current home thirteen years ago, my quilting shared part of my youngest son's bedroom. My portable Riccar sewing machine was set up on a temporary TV stand on wheels and I had one small set of drawers for fabric. DS has long ago moved out and I have expanded into the room which is now entirely quilty. So why was I still cramped onto this little TV stand? I wasn't thinking outside the box! Last winter I asked DH if we could replace the 'temporary' sewing table with something real. "Sure."

We drove to the city and looked at sewing machine cabinets at the Sewing Machine Center, big ones, small ones, ones that included a credenza for your serger... it was too much. Actually THEY were too much. $1400.00 for pressed fiber board. DH said, "If it was real wood I might not mind so much. But I think I can do better on my own."

So we went to Friedman Brothers and bought clear pine, a set of keyboard tray rails and the rest he had at the house. He had me sit at my computer table and position myself as if to sew, elbows low, shoulders down, then measured to fit.

A week later I had the most beautiful custom sewing table, complete with two drop leaves. The front left hand leaf is almost always up. I put the back leaf up when I'm machine quilting. The sewing machine sits on a 'tray' that can be pulled out when I want to get into the back of the machine. And the whole thing closes down to two and a half feet wide when I need to convert the room for guests. I was thrilled with what he'd done! I still am a year later. My sewing time has increased four-fold because I don't get the headaches and stiff neck I used to with the other set up. Thank you DH. :D
BTW, it's never this cleared off!