Sewing Center

Rich Aldrich

Member
Messages
296
Location
Manistique, Michigan
A friend from work sews quilts and was looking for a good sewing center. She wanted it made from real wood, not MDF. She had one made from MDF and it was in bad shape from moving. She had some ideas from some manufacturers catalogues. From here old sewing center, I got ideas of dimensions that worked for her and some that she wanted to change. The biggest need was a large table top so the weight of the quilt doesn' pull while sewing. It is difficult to make a straight seem while pulling against the weight of the quilt.

The main center has a 3 position lift we bought from Rockler. The center is basically a desk. To double the flat area, there is a wing that folds out the length of the desk. Photo #1

The sewing machine is in the normal sewing position. She bought a clear insert that fills in around the sewing machine. The machine sits on a platform I made and is screwed to the sewing machine lift.

The tops, shelves and drawers are all plywood covered with formica and edged with solid wood. All of the wood is oak.

There is a little cabinet of drawers for storage and is on wheels. It fits under the two top drawers. Photo #2

I ended up making this cabinet with only two drawers, but they are deep - 9 1/2 inches.

You can see the formica and wood edged top. I used biscuits to help align the wood edging to the top.

This next shot Photo# 3 shows the cabinet under the drawers with a top extension over the drawers. The little drawer cabinet helps support the drawers and top extension which just sits on top of the drawers.
This shot also shows the insert that goes around the sewing machine and fills the hole made by the platform that holds the machine.

I did not have a piece of formica large enough for the extension, so I had to make two smaller pieces and put them together with a piece like the edges. One is the size of the large drawer on the left and the other is the size of the small drawer on the right.

The toughest part of the project was figuring out the cabinet to the right shown in Photo#4. It supports the surger and is only 16 inches deep. This cabinet goes all the way back to the end of the main desk and has a wing so it is as deep as the main desk with the wing. The tricky part was figuring how to mate this piece with the main desk.


The Photo #5 is the whole sewing center. The main top is 49" deep. The length is 97". The drawer cabinet is 37" x 25".



I started the project in late March and finshed the end of July.

Photo #6 kind of shows the wing support on the back of the main desk. I made some 1 1/2 x 1 1/2 supports and supported it from a kick board on the main desk to the under side of the wing on the top. I used a piano hinge where the tops meet. The top can actually swing down if needed, but there are a few screws to remove in the supports to do so.

We used a lot of different ideas to come up with a good solution. I used AutoCad to pull all the ideas together into a design that she really likes. She made a quilt over Thanksgiving that really proved how well it is working for her.



Thanks for looking.
 

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well rich you goter dun:):thumb::thumb: looks like a fine job to boot.. so is the one piece a drop in on the two pullout drawers?

Thanks, Larry. The one piece is a drop in on the two drawers. I should have taken a picture of it separate as well. It would have been more clear. On the other hand, it sure blends in.

This is the project that I broke in the EZ Smart saw guide. I broke down 5 sheets of plywood.
 
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