I would like to tell you a little about my workspace. This summer we finally got around to making me a sewing/craft/office-room. And in future posts, I’ll give you a tour of My Room (yes – it’s written with capital letters! I feel very lucky to have it – and it is almost sacred to me. It’s also very small: 1.8 m X 4 m ( 6 feet X 13 feet ).

The first thing you notice, when nearing the room, is the cutting/pressing table. Not-sewing friends ask my why I don’t get rid of it, because it is very dominant to the room:

The light is so bad today – I had to turn on the lamp. But you get the idea.

We made this table in December 2007 –  since then, I’ve added another layer of cotton fabric (only because I got tired of the old one, and didn’t want to tear it off. I just stabled this on top of it.)
It’s working out great. I use it for almost all my pressing, and to cut out smaller items (it’s big enough for shirts and skirts, but a little too small for dresses and trousers.) I also store a lot of stuff on it – and the cats love to sleep there – under the light.

Here is the original post that explains how to make a cutting pressing table:

I (and by “I”, I mean Dennis) have made a cutting-pressing table for my sewing area.

I’ve been wishing for one for quite some time, but haven’t had room before. But now I have a corner of my sewing area to use (even though I don’t have a real sewing room, I do have quite a lot of room).

The table isn’t big enough for cutting fabric for trousers or jackets, but will work for most home dec projects and t-shirts. And even though it doesn’t completely replace the ironing board when it comes to ironing large pieces of fabric, it will be great for most things – especially with my pressing tools.

Well, How was it made, you might wonder…

Here is how:

You need

1 table top (I used an old worn one, that I used as a desk several years ago)

The old table top

4 table legs, that are high enough for standing height.

1 large piece of pressing felt or table felt (I used table felt in a double layer)

The table felt

1 piece of fabric

duct tape

stables and stable gun

——-

The first thing we (my husband) did, was to place the table top on top of the folded felt. He then secured it temporarily with duct tape before using a stable gun to stable it in place. You might need to be two people to do this, as it is important that you tighten the felt.

Table felt secured

Then he stabled the felt to the table top all the way around the edges before we removed the tape and cut the remaining felt off.

Trimming the felt

Then we placed the table top with felt on top of the fabric (I chose a somewhat childish design – mainly because I love the colours), secured with tape and stabled the fabric in place..

Stabling the fabric in place

Then we (he) put on the legs. They are from IKEA and are adjustable, so you can get them in your perfect working height and not hurt your back.

Putting on the legs

As you can see in the first picture, I still have the iron holder from the kitchen department in IKEA (my favorite store:-)) .

I love my cutting/pressing table. If I had more room, I would make another one, and stand them next to eachother, to have even more cutting/pressing space. Do you have a cutting or pressing table? Tell me about it!

Read more:

Lesson 3: Sew a Freja Blouse Lesson 7: How to Sew an Invisible zipper without a special presser foot. Test: How to Sew with Seraflex Elastic Thread 5 Centered zipper 2 Tools and Equipment for Zipper Sewing