I didn't use a dining room table but that would be great. I used a desk with drawers. My machine has a lip about 3/4" deep around the bottom and my dad cut the hole to accommodate that. The machine sat in the hole so I was able to work on it at desk top level. I would like to know where you can purchase dining room tables cheap. Most of the ones I see - even at thrift shops or yard sales - are not as expensive as the work stations I have seen advertised but are not cheap either. I may want to go shopping with you.
Good luck. Kathy from Kentucky

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I would say that if you can find a reasonably priced table, give it a try. The worst that will happen is that you won't like the results, and you will have lost the price of the table.

The one thing you might want to keep in mind is the table leg length (how far off the ground the table is.) Before you buy the table, pull a chair up to it (one the height you would use for sewing) and lean over the table, as you would if you had your sewing machine on/in the table. Make sure the table is not too high.

That would be the only caution I could offer. I say that because I know counter tops (kitchen counter tops) are too high to use for a cutting table for any length of time. (Experience speaking here.)

Good luck and let us know what you do, and how it turns out!
Brenda

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No I haven't done it. I have a computer table with adjustable legs which I like. But here's a web site with photos and instructions (upper left corner). http://home.att.net/~kckintz/table/table.html
DixieQ from Parkersburg, WV

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Look for a table that splits in the middle to accommodate an extension. There are usually two wooden slides underneath the top. If you pull the table apart enough for your machine you can screw a sheet of plywood to the slides and set the machine on that.

Having shared all that, I have found life is easier since I aquired an old treadle base. I put my vintage (1933) machine in that and push it up to the table (in front, on the other side of the machine from me) which is then an enormous extension and exactly the right height.
Theresa

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DH got a long counter top and put it on top of 2 cabinets (one at each end). I have the right height for the sewing machine and storage space underneath.

Well if one got a wood table and it was too high couldn't you cut the legs off a bit? Or would that make it unstable? But you have a good point I never thought about height of the table.
nera

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I think you could cut off the legs to make it lower, but you would just want to make sure you got them all the same height... <g>

You might want to go to a store that sells cabinets, and measure the distance from the floor to the table to see how far off the ground the actual sewing area is. I think there is probably one measurement that they all use, but I don't know what it is.

(I went through this same exercise a few years ago when wanting a cutting table.) I had been trying to cut fabric on my kitchen cabinets, but I think they were 36" off the floor, whereas a cutting table is something like 27" off the floor. I may be off on my distances, as that was a few years ago, but there was a surprisingly large difference between kitchen cabinets and "real" cutting tables. This explained why cutting on kitchen cabinets was so uncomfortable.

My husband made me a cutting table. The size of the table is 4x5 and the height is 36 inches.

I tell you that was a blessing. The kitchen table is not fun for cutting. This table also has a metal strip down the middle so when you are cutting yardage you have a even cut all the way across. This has been one of best gifts he has given me.
JE

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I think you have a good idea there but you may want to be sure you can 'finish' the edges -- a lot of tables aren't solid wood and when you cut that hole you'll want to, at the least, sand it carefully, and preferably cut it with a router so it has rounded over edges. That way your material won't snag on any splinters.
Katherine

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Some place on the internet I found someone who made a "U" shaped metal bracket that you would set the machine on. First you cut the hole in a table then attach the bracket.

I've been dreaming about a sewing table for years now. I want the sewing plate to be level with the table top, this would make life as a quilter a LOT easier. I've thought about converting my dining room table but it has these horizontal support boards on the underside of the top that keeps you making the cut-out.

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Susan

Susan Druding

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