Since moving in to the new house, I have been working diligently at putting my sewing room together. I love to organize, so this has been super fun for me. I even have things to the point that sewing has commenced - I have already turned out a dress, two pairs of work pants and several pairs of exercise pants. I'm a mad woman!Today we will take a gander at my cutting table that doubles as a pattern and notion storage cabinet. Originally, I was going to cobble together a few old bookcases and a piece of plywood to act as a cutting table in my sewing room. However, hubby said (and I quote),
"Why don't you design something and the cabinet maker can build it?"
Hmm, let me think about that for a min---...wahoo, new sewing cabinet, here I come...
So, I sat down with my trusty graph paper and a pencil and got to work on a viable design. I wanted an ample cutting surface - enough room for a long length of 60" fabric to rest nicely on top. I ended up with a 3'3" x 8'4" (39" x 100") laminate counter top that has rocked my world so far. Ah, the joy of having enough room to cut out a complete pattern in one go. I used to use the pennisula in the kitchen of our old house and it was too tiny to be really useful. I had to cut out pattern pieces in sections, while trying to keep the fabric from falling off the edge. Can you say PITA?
So, I sat down with my trusty graph paper and a pencil and got to work on a viable design. I wanted an ample cutting surface - enough room for a long length of 60" fabric to rest nicely on top. I ended up with a 3'3" x 8'4" (39" x 100") laminate counter top that has rocked my world so far. Ah, the joy of having enough room to cut out a complete pattern in one go. I used to use the pennisula in the kitchen of our old house and it was too tiny to be really useful. I had to cut out pattern pieces in sections, while trying to keep the fabric from falling off the edge. Can you say PITA?
I also wanted storage for all my patterns. I have a ton of mainstream patterns: BMV, Simplicity and New Look. As well, I have a large assortment of independent designers, including Loes Hinse, Textile Studios, Jalie and Kwik Sew, among others. In addition to my envelope pattern collection, I have several years of Burda magazine, a few Ottobre Woman and several Japanese pattern books. Finally, I have a large collection of vintage patterns (mainly spanning the 50s, 60s and 70s). So, obviously I needed a few good sized, deep drawers. I ended up with 6 drawers on one side of the unit and 3 drawers on the other side, for a total of 9 deep drawers, each with inside dimensions (length, width, depth) of 29" x 14 3/8" x 12". These 12" deep drawers accommodate any size pattern, including my Burda mags standing up in holders.
My last desire was for easy to access notion storage - elastic, zippers, buttons, trims, etc. I have 6 drawers on one side of the unit - each drawer measures 29" x 4 5/8" x 14 3/8".
I even have a drawer for UFOs (although I purged most of my UFOs for the move, I did hang on to a few of them - now, I just need to complete the little rotters) and patterns that are next up on the docket.
The cabinet maker did an amazing job turning my design into reality. I could not be more pleased with the resulting cutting table unit. It is highly functional and it is also a gorgeous piece of furniture. Le sigh...
