Sunday, February 5, 2012

I have good news and I have bad news

 

The good news is that I found an inexpensive way to turn my sewing table into a cutting table.  I use a standard 6-foot folding table for my sewing and cutting.  It’s the perfect height for sewing, but even as short as I am, it’s too short for comfortable cutting.  After lunch and as I was heading to my sewing area to do some more sub-cutting, it occurred to me that I could raise that table by the use of … standard bed risers.  Our Home Depot had them … 4 for less than $10.  I couldn’t believe the difference they made!  I was able to finish my sub-cutting by mid-afternoon … I was sure that it would take me until tomorrow to get the sub-cutting done.

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Here’s my little sewing area … with my table raised thanks to the bed risers. 

 

While I was taking this photo, I thought I’d share my sewing/cutting table in the middle of my sub-cutting this afternoon.

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Yes, I need extra task lighting … accurate cutting is critical in achieving accurately-sized blocks/quilts … and my eyes aren’t what they used to be, and plenty of good lighting helps. 

 

The bad news is that as I was just getting ready to start sewing the first block together this afternoon, I realized that I had cut twice as many white-blue-white strips as I need and half as many blue-white-blue strips I needed.  Which means that I have all those strips sub-cut that I cannot use … and worse yet, I’ve used white fabric for those sub-cut strips that I need for the 6 1/2” x 6 1/2” solid blocks and for the border strips.  Surprised smile  So, now I’ll rip out those mis-sewn sub-cuts and resew them into blue-white-blue sub-cuts.  And I’ll have to get some more white fabric for my solid white blocks and border strips.  What aggravates me most is the time wasted – the time I spent charting out how many strips to cut (my calculations were accurate … but had the colors reversed), the time I spent sewing strips together and sub-cutting them, and the time I’ll spend ripping apart the mis-sewn sub-cuts.  Sad smile

 

10 comments:

  1. Great idea using the bed risers! When I mess up cutting which I've done more than once ;( , if I have enough fabric I leave the 'mess' and cut new pieces. The 'mess' then becomes the basis for a donation quilt. Of course if you don't have enough fabric, then let the ripping begin! Good luck! -Jeanne

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  2. Sorry to hear about your cutting mishap but I love what you did with your sewing table.

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  3. So sorry but it looks like a great sewing area.

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  4. Sorry to hear about the "mess" sigh....soo frustrating when I do that. But what a good idea on the risers. Looks like you have a nice working area. I am always looking for ways to add more light too. Have a good day!

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  5. Great idea with the bed risers. Sorry about the cutting mishap.

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  6. What a great idea! So sorry you cut the wrong fabric :(

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  7. Oh I am so sorry, how many times I have done this. I really like your idea about the bed risers. I have the hardest time cutting things out too. being so short. :)
    I bend at just where the catch is and standing at that angle just kills my back. I never thought about that before. That is a good idea. Well, I will be thinking about you.

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  8. Sounds like a lot of work to un do everything but you have a great place to do it all in!

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  9. I hope that everything worked out! sandie

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  10. Hi there, Firstly what a great idea using the risers for your table so it is the right height for cutting; I've worried about that issue myself. I'm sorry you miscut, sounds like something I would have done but I know you'll make it work. Maybe you can save the strips for another quilt.
    Hugs today.
    Noreen

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