sewing table plans

[john mclane]

I want to find out if anyone has any plans for, or knows where to get some for, a fairly fancy sewing table. I'm talking about one that has a sunken well for the machine and swing out doors to support an extension table, Would like to have a plan with a few draws and racks for the various thngs like parts, needles, threads, poppins, etc. The top is usually laminated plastic to provide a smooth surface for the cloth.

Commercial ones sell for hundreds and it's always a lot more fun to try to make one even if there are a few mistakes in our stuff. :rolleyes:

[Charlie Plesums]

Rockler has a plan and the lift mechanism. Their lift is excellent (but not cheap); I built one from my own design, but don't have detail plans.

www.rockler.com/findit.cfm?page=7 (http://www.rockler.com/findit.cfm?page=7)

Be sure to use double pin hinges. The surface does not need to be plastic - in fact hardwood is probably smoother with fewer hard edges than laminate.

[Jim Becker]

I agree with Charlie that the surface doesn't have to be laminate, athough that is an appropriate choice if if matches the decorative aspects of the sewing room. My mother's sewing table is all wood, for example.

I'm interested in seeing what you come up with as I may build one sometime, too. Unfortunately, our machine was not designed to sit in a recess...it's a tabletop model. I guess we will have to cross that bridge when we come to it.

[John Hemenway]

Looking forward to ideas/plans in this thread. LOML was just talking about a sewing table project for me!

She's a quilter so we are exploring ways to do dropdown outfeed and left extension tables. Perhaps moble base, too.

Kinda sounds like a table saw setup, doesn't it! :)

[Wes Bischel]

John,

Try a Google images search. I usually stumble onto a lot of good ideas and history via these searches. I can then incorporate what I think is the best into my own design. Even if you start with a stock plan, most of the time it is easy to modify them to suit your needs/wants.

Wes

[Jamie Buxton]

Sorry, no plans, but if you'd consider designing your own, here's photos of a sewing desk I built a few years ago. The owner had many requirements for the desk. Here's some of them:

Big desktop areas to the left, rear, and front. She wanted the cloth to mostly rest on the desk, not fall off the edges and drag itself away from her.
Stow the sewing machine invisibly inside the desk. I did this by flopping it backwards to stow under a hinged lid. You can see lead counterweights in the knee hole. She planned to use the desk as an ordinary desk when the sewing machine was stowed, and that precluded the use of the straight up-and-down lifts. (As it happened, she found that it was too much trouble to clear off the stuff which accumulates on a desk to convert it to a sewing station, so she later had me build her a regular desk, and this sewing desk only gets used for sewing.)
Allow two sewing heights. (Her machine has a free arm.) You can see the two positions in the photos. I used gas struts to help lift it to the upper position.
Support a serger. (A serger is a specialized sewing machine used for knit goods.) It stows in a drawer visible at the rear of the knee hole, and in operation sits on a pullout to the right.
Have an ironing board. She needs to be able to sew a seam, iron it, sew a seam, iron it, and so on. The ironing board folds up and stows in the upper left "drawer".
Store patterns. The lower right drawer is a file drawer.
Store lots of other stuff -- tools, materials, and such. Hence lots of drawers. There's even a little hinge-out drawer right in front of the users stomach. It uses a hinge intended for a drawer in front of a kitchen sink.
Power everything. There's a power strip in the well behind the sewing machine, and there's outlets at the front of the desk for the iron and the serger. There's only one power cord which needs to come out of the desk.

[Steve Wargo]

That's a really cool design Jamie. Outstanding piece. I bet that my wife would love something like that to work with. Very cool. I also second the thought of designing your own.

[Steve Rowe]

John - Can't help with the plans but, for the insert to make a freearm machine level with the top, check with your local sewing machine dealers. Look for a dealer that carries Horn cabinets and they can get just the insert specific to your make/model of machine (assuming it is a relatively late model machine).
Steve

[Jim Becker]

Wow, Jamie, that's really awesome...and versatile.

[lou sansone]

well you guys all know that if you buy a new european sliding table saw that those companies provide very detailed plans for sewing tables. :) :)

lou

[Bob Nieman]

This topic has come up before: Has anyone built the mission style sewing cabinet from Rockler? (http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=16465)
In that thread I posted some pictures of a sewing table I built without a lift, but with a well for the machine (with an insert that allows it to be used on top of the table). I used prebuilt cabinets cut down to size. The top is a sandwhich of 1/2" mdf and 1/2" baltic birch plywood with maple edging. She has been using it for awhile and likes it quite a bit. The idea came from Dream Sewing Spaces by Lynette Ranney Black, which is a good book if you have a quilter in your life.

I built a similar cutting table which she started using before I could finish....

[Andy Haney]

SWMBO is the proud owner of one of these Koala Cabinets for her quilting operation. It was quite expensive, and would probably be fun and challenging to make. This site http://www.koalacabinets.com/Koala.ivnu has links to some of their designs, and the manufacturer apparently has no website.

If you wish to get this sophisticated, you might want to visit a sewing center that carries these products for some ideas, as I believe they are a sigificant engineering success. There are some routed "tracks" for doors and panels to follow as they open/close, and other (possibly difficult) design details.

SWMBO's cabinet closes to 24" deep and 48" wide (tabletop height). Inside are the sewing machine, the serger, several locations for storing supplies and accessories, and ALL of the cabinet components. It opens to consume a space over 7 feet deep and 8 feet wide. It looks like the bridge of the Starship Enterprise!

FWIW I'm glad SWMBO "bought" hers. Good luck with whatever you decide to do.

Andy

[John Gornall]

Jamie,

Can you give a source for the ironing board in a drawer?

Thanks.

[Jamie Buxton]

Jamie,

Can you give a source for the ironing board in a drawer?

Thanks.

I got it from Hafele, but I think I've seen it at Rockler.

... yeah.. http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?page=57

[Allen Bookout]

Andy Haney was talking about the Koala cabinets and I agree that they are very well designed. Here is another web site to take a look: http://icanhelpsew.com/koala_outbackplus.html

It is hard to tell what is what on line but like Andy said if you could find a dealer where you could see one live may be you could copy the design features that you like. You would save a bundle over buying one. To bad that you do not live around hear as you could come over and see it at my house.

Good Luck! Allen

[Norm Belleville]

I completed the sewing cabinet plan from Rocklers last year. Here are some photos. First during pre-finish fit. then during assembly after finish, in the wifes sewing room and finally. set up with sewing machine and surger on cabinet. As one of the pics show you can see where machine sewing area is flush with cabinet. I got the lift and hardware from Rockler. The door nobs were found at flea market. It was a nice project and my first piece of large funiture, took me about 3 months weekends and nights. Red Oak stained with MinWax Honey Oak and with Deft top finish.


http://www.woodworking-galleries.org/gallery/data/thumbnails/2/Picture_001.jpg (http://www.woodworking-galleries.org/gallery/details.php?image_id=2378&mode=search)http://www.woodworking-galleries.org/gallery/data/thumbnails/2/Picture_005.jpg (http://www.woodworking-galleries.org/gallery/details.php?image_id=2379&mode=search) http://www.woodworking-galleries.org/gallery/data/thumbnails/2/Picture_006.jpg (http://www.woodworking-galleries.org/gallery/details.php?image_id=2380&mode=search) http://www.woodworking-galleries.org/gallery/data/thumbnails/2/Picture_008.jpg (http://www.woodworking-galleries.org/gallery/details.php?image_id=2381&mode=search)

http://www.woodworking-galleries.org/gallery/data/thumbnails/2/Picture_009.jpg (http://www.woodworking-galleries.org/gallery/details.php?image_id=2382&mode=search) http://www.woodworking-galleries.org/gallery/data/thumbnails/2/Picture_013.jpg (http://www.woodworking-galleries.org/gallery/details.php?image_id=2383&mode=search)

[Larry Craft]

Bought the wife a really nice desk at Office Depot. Looks like cherry with a black laminate top. Cut a hole in the top to fit the Phaff sewing machine, such that the machine sat just where she wanted it, installed a Rockler lift kit, used the cutout for the lift platform, and remodeled the center drawer to miss the lift. Wa-la, instant sewing table with all the storage drawers she could use. And it only took 3 weeks to complete!!!!!

[john mclane]

Thanks to everyone for the ideas. After seeing the picture from Norm on the completed project, I'll order the Rockler. I will look at the Kola tables and see if there is anything there I can borrow and adapt. I'm glad I don't have to laminate plastic. I have never done that and do not think that it looks like fun for someone who seems to get wood glue everywhere. Just call me thumbs. :cool:. I also think this will take more then 3 months at my pace of wood working projects.

[John Keane]

Sewing Cabinet Plan # 887 from U-Buildit IN Van Nuys. I built it out of Birch ply. Wife loves it. Koala is great but too too expensive. I incorporated the Rockler lift. Great device. Easy install and adjust. I think this outfit is at U_Buildit.com. Good luck with your project.

[Charlie Plesums]

... Unfortunately, our machine was not designed to sit in a recess...it's a tabletop model. I guess we will have to cross that bridge when we come to it.
The type of lift available from Rockler, used in Koala cabinets, etc. has three levels...Push down and it latches inside the cabinet. Push down again, and it rises to an intermediate height (adjustable) that is normally set so that the needle/foot is even with the table top. Push down slightly again, and it rises flush with the table top. Most machines need the latter position to support some of the features, even if routine sewing is at the intermediate level.

The commercial tables have a custom plastic piece that surrounds the machine in the intermediate level, to make it seem like a built in machine level with the table. When I built Jenny's sewing cabinet (oops... no pictures, so it doesn't exist), I expected to have to build that plastic piece and find a place to store it. Jenny likes the intermediate level, and doesn't want to bother with the plastic "bridge"

These lifts work well but they seem awfully expensive. You also have to feed the power cord through the rising table that holds the machine, so the machine can stay plugged in as it is moved back and forth between the intermediate and upper position.

Charlie

[Dave Walker]

I got the plans from an issue of Wood Magazine which I believe is the same ones that Rockler offers. My wife had me make a few modifications to the plans by having raised panel doors and turned feet. Also, I had to make the top to accept her fold down sewing machine instead of the lift mechanism.

http://home.wideopenwest.com/~dgw1/images/sewcab01.jpg

http://home.wideopenwest.com/~dgw1/images/sewcab04.jpg

[Jim Becker]

Dave, that's a really nice version! I'll have to check that one out.

[Art Mulder]

Interesting that it is only men posting about their wives here. I guess none of the female woodworkers on the creek also sew?

There's been a few lovely pictures posted -- I especially like Jamie's with the pop-out ironing board. That is *extremely* handy. My wife has explained to me how important ironing is to the sewing process.

But if I can be a bit teasing, I must say I'm amazed at all these "fold it up and put it away" designs for sewing desks. So all your wives allow you to have a shop (basement, garage, or separate building) where you can spread out your tools and benches all over the place for your hobby. But 0 her hobby gets a fold-up bench where everything has to be tidied up and put away? :D:confused:

Maybe my Mum and my wife are more hardcore, but they got sewing *rooms*, not corners. I get a shop, my wife gets a room.

She looked at the desks in this thread, and said that they looked nice, but weren't particularly usefull. No way she is putting away her sewing machine or serger after use. Just like I work on my ww'ing projects in small chunks of time, she works on her sewing the same way. So she has bits of shirt strewn around her ironing board and cutting table, just like I have bits of woodworking projects strewn about my basement shop.


On the up side, that means I never have to fork out big bucks for one of those sewing machine lifts. We just need a reasonably sized table - maybe with a cut-out so the machine can sit lower when needed. But on the down side, this means that if we ever move not only will we need a house with a better shop, but also a better sewing room :eek:. (The kids are getting bigger and she dreads the day when she has to give up her bedroom-sewing room and move the sewing room to a room in the dungeon (basement).

ttfn
...art

[Allen Bookout]

THANKS A LOT ART! Now I am having to put a "parental" lock on my wife's computer so that she cannot see this thread. If she does see it I will have to tell her that the woodshop is necessary for my mental health but since she is more stable she does not need her own room.

Allen

[john mclane]

My wife is also a quilter and sewer and has been looking at these different desks. (She loves them which is why I started this thread). She mentioned even though she has a room larger then my shop and much better storage area that the advantages of the fold-down designs is to get an extra surface although she admits she would not put the sewing machine down very often. She already has two tables in the room so I'm not sure how much this desk surface actually adds. The other reason I think she likes them is to have all the sewing machine accessories right there and having a desk at the right height for sewing comfortable. We had been looking at them at sewing supply houses but many of those are built out of particle board or other cheaper building material.

I said I would try to find a paln as long as she has patience in my time to build and ability for it to come out perfect.