Lemon Tree Tales

Sewing Room Ergonomics or why does it hurt when I sew?

Yesterday I read that Tracy of Pink Purl was taking a little break from her sewing studio because her back was hurting. Often I've felt the very same way! When I was in my early 20s I didn't worry about this at all. In fact when I went to design school I often would do all my cutting and sewing while standing up! Of course I often would pull all-nighters so I didn't want to tempt falling asleep at the sewing machine. But now that I'm 40 I find that my neck, back and shoulders will ache if I sew for long periods at a time. So I've been experimenting and doing a little research on a subject that is near and dear to our hearts, uh, or rather our backs - sewing room ergonomics.

Cutting Table
The dining room table just isn't the best place to cut out fabric unless you're sitting down and cutting small pieces. But if you want to cut out garments, or to cut quilt pieces with a rotary and mat then you'll really need to stand up so that you can reach farther. Unfortunately your back will begin to ache fairly quickly while doing this. If you have the room then a separate cutting table that is between 34" - 36" high is good. Of course this is only the average measurement that may vary with your height. To find the ideal height, stand up with your hands down at your sides and measure from the floor to a point 4" below your elbow. That measures 37" on me which would explain why I still think that my current solution is a bit short at 34 1/2". I placed a folding table on plastic bed risers from Bed, Bath & Beyond, but I still want it a little higher. Another 1 1/2" should make it just right.


Ironing Board
Because irons are heavy equipment the ironing board should be about 3" higher than your ideal cutting table height. Unfortunately the average home ironing board doesn't go that high so you'll have to improvise by raising it as well. Make sure to keep it steady and safe. Another solution would be to make an ironing board with 3" legs that fold under. You'd be able to set it on top of your cutting table for an ironing station and then fold the legs and store it afterwards. Or for a quick fix go to Ikea and get a Jall folding ironing board (only $4.99!) and then make a cute cover like Jenny of Allsorts just did here. Lisa of U-Handbag also has a tutorial for making a custom ironing board cover here.

If you prefer the traditional stand alone ironing boards Rowenta makes one that can extend to 37" in height. It's called the Rowenta IB-9100 Professional Ironing Board but it's pricey at $189.


Sewing Table
This may be the most important component to maintaining a healthy back. First sit down with your knees bent at a 90 degree angle and your feet flat on the floor. Now bend your elbows at a 90 degree angle and measure from that point to the floor. That should be where your sewing surface or feed dogs rest. If you do this with the surface of a desk you'll find out that a typical sewing machine will be about 4" higher than this. What then happens is that your shoulders will raise while sewing and hours later when you should be admiring your handiwork instead all that you want to do is to take some aspirin and rest!

Solutions to this would be to raise your chair to accommodate this difference - if you have one that will go that high. You'll have to then place some type of platform on the floor for your feet and pedal. If you have the extra funds then invest in a sewing machine cabinet that's specially designed for this purpose. Fair warning that this will involve a large hit to your pocketbook!

Some people who have access to woodworking tools (or the people who use them) have opted to transform regular desks or tables with drop down sewing surfaces. Look at what Katie of My Sandbox had her husband do to a basic Ikea desk here.

A couple months ago I was fortunate enough to find a sewing cabinet for sale on craigslist. It's probably 20 years old so it doesn't have a fancy airlift that will raise the sewing machine for me. But since I like to have it out all the time that's not a problem. I do have to adjust where the lower shelf sits since my machine's sewing surface is a bit higher than the older machines. After a few measurements and a couple turns of a screwdriver that should be fixed.


Chair
Make sure that it is set to the correct height. Swivel chairs that adjust and have waterfall seats (that's when the edge gently drops down) are the best. They make expensive ones that are geared for the sewing industry but you can just as easily find a good inexpensive one at Ikea or Office Depot. If you don't like the drab black look, then recover it just like Emily of Joyful Abode did here or make a pretty slipcover like Vicki of Turkey Feathers did here.


So make your back happy and try out a few of these tips today! And if you're at a loss of what to sew, why don't you check out this post with 14 Cool Sewing Projects. I especially liked the Pretty Floral Divided Tote ... that's definitely next on the sewing agenda.


References
Creating Your Perfect Quilting Space by Lois L. Hallock

Creating Your Perfect Quilting Space Studio Planner by Lois L. Hallock

Lois Hallock's Company, Clearview Designs

Organizing Your Craft Space by Jo Packham

Where Women Create: Inspiring Work Spaces of Extraordinary Women By Jo Packham

US Department of Labor OSHA Sewing Ergonomics

Pay It Forward - Completed

Many months ago I saw that Connie of Clothmatters was hosting a Pay It Forward blog giveaway and I signed up to play. Last week this lovely little chocolate blue pincushion arrived. Isn't it sweet? Very package and cupcake like and it matches the entry way's walls and table too!

Part of playing was that I needed to offer to make and send a handmade item to the first three people who signed up. After I took Angela Jarecki's Windows class over at Doll Street Dreamers, I knew that they would make the perfect gift. It took a long time for me to get to the beading but I finally did that over the last few nights. Here they are before being packaged up:

I hope that Samantha, Michele, and Chelsea are pleased with them. I almost didn't want to send them away but since they're already in their packages I can't very well open them back up. Or can I? No, no I'll be a good blogger and Pay It Forward.  :-)

Spring Fling RR quilt: 2nd border

I'm finally feeling a bit better, not fully recovered but good enough to get some errands completed. This was sent out in the care of the postal carriers today. I took one look at the center block/1st border and thought that those lovely pale corals and blue Asian flower fabric warranted a floral applique. I wanted to use traditional needle-turn but unfortunately after I had sketched out a peony (based on various ones found on the net) I realized that the design was too complicated for my fledgling skills. So rather than change the design, I changed the technique. This is done with a raw edge fused applique. I drew the individual pattern pieces (with an 1/8" overlap) on freezer paper and ironed it face down on to the prints. Then I used misty fuse and a teflon pressing sheet to make the appliques. It was helpful to have the original drawing under the pressing sheet as I laid out the individual pieces. Now it's up to the quilter to finish this before sending it off to the final recipient.

Here's a closeup of the peony applique:

Cures for the common cold?

Once again I'm sick with a horrible cold. It started with a tickly sore throat last Tuesday to the full-blown symptoms Thursday on the drive down to LA for Steve's race at Buttonwillow. Then Friday afternoon I suffered from what was most likely food poisoning from an Indian restaurant the night before. It didn't help that the temperature was in the 100's. (I'm not really good in that type of heat.) By now I thought that I'd be feeling better but it's still lingering, so much that I sent Steve off by himself for his next race this weekend. Hopefully a few days of rest will finally kick this cold and I can complete some overdue quilts. Oh and it looks like Typepad has updated their compose features. When I have pictures to post I'll play with it and see how it works out.

Citrus Heart

This lovely heart quilt showed up on my doorstep (via the friendly neighborhood postal carrier) last Friday but I've been so busy that I haven't had time to take good pictures of it to share with you. It was made by Robyn of Where The Boys Are for the Doll Quilt Swap III. Robyn was so sweet and decided to use all citrus colored fabrics because of my lemons. All the fabrics on the front are luscious reproductions in the colors of oranges, limes and of course lemons. The backing fabric is a beautiful green vintage print that I forgot to take a picture, but you can see it here. Thank you so much Robyn! I love it!

What do you think of my little tableau? I was inspired by the talented Jane of Yarnstorm but somehow I missed the mark a bit. But isn't it wonderful how my family room walls match the color of the binding?!

I'll leave you with a closeup detail of the retro fabrics:

Gotta love those cute little birds.

Tea for two

Yesterday my friend Trena invited me to join her for an early tea at Lisa's Tea Treasures in San Jose while she was on an errand to buy a gift certificate for Miss L's teacher. This was such a quaint little tea room. It had the same type of molding and high ceilings that Steve and I found in little restaurants and sitting rooms while we toured the Irish and English countrysides. I ordered the Lady's Respite (traditional sandwiches, scones and quiche with Earl Grey tea) and Trena tried the Mother's Day special which had a delicious looking salad with strawberries and nuts in addition to sandwiches and scones, all accompanied by vanilla tea. Our hostess wore a sweet pink dress with a white apron modeled upon Victorian garb. Of course I think that the Victorians would be scandalized by the knee length hem. It was a delightful lunch and we're looking forward to taking Miss L and Miss J there sometime later this summer. We'll all wear our best "lady-like" dresses and have lots of fun.

Spring Flower Bed Quilt

Ah, it's finally complete! Here's what I'm sending off to my Four Seasons Quilt Swap partner for the Spring themed quilt. Originally I wanted to make a Strips 'n Curves quilt, but I just didn't have the required variety of fabrics in my stash to do that justice. And once I mastered making these little fabric origami flowers I just couldn't stop. They're popping up everywhere in my projects lately. Since they add the oomph I kept the actual quilt design simple with a classic checkerboard on point. I love how the flowers turn the green squares into X's once they were opened and tacked down.

A detail shot of the flowers. I used the directions from Rebecca Wat's book, Fantastic Fabric Folding. They needed a little something for the centers so I added a wee bit of bead soup in purples and greens. Hmm, those same colors again! I guess that I'll just have to continue with those colors until I get another color obsession. My only regret is that I was late in sending this out to my swap partner. Many apologies to her and to Margaret, the swap hostess, who has once again hosted a lovely quilt swap. Just take a look at all the beautiful quilts that were created to celebrate Spring at the Four Seasons Quilt Swap flickr pool.

Spring Bento Box quilt

I think that my backyard has been influencing my color choices lately. Here's the finished quilt that I'm mailing out to my swap partner for the Doll Quilt Swap III. At first I wasn't sure what I'd make for this swap, but then I remembered that I have been wanting to try my hand at the Bento Box pattern. I scaled it down 50% and used a total of eighteen fabrics for the front and binding plus another fabric for the backing - all from the stash. There are batiks, Kaffe Fassett, Heather Bailey and a few quilting stand-bys such as the dimples print by Andover. Hopefully she likes it and isn't too disappointed that I've managed my time so poorly.

Here's the entire pattern. Since it was with a lot of "busy" fabrics I kept the quilting very simple - diagonal going one way for half and then the remainder at a 90 degree angle. I did use a variegated quilting thread for some extra interest. This is a very fun pattern and so very easy. I'll definitely be making another one soon.

Oh dear, I'm late, I'm late ...

... I have two little quilts that I must finish. I'm so far behind because my lovely Bernina was in the shop getting a check-up. The binding is on and they just need a bit of fine tuning before being sent out. I'm afraid that I should include a little something extra because of my tardiness so that the recipients will forgive me.  :-)

A quick little peek for both of them. I'll have to tell you all about my adventure with metallic threads next week. In the meantime have a happy, lovely weekend! (That's John Tenniel's illustration of the White Rabbit from Alice in Wonderland.)