Morning honey badgers. I know you just don’t give a damn and you can run backwards, but put down your delicious snakes for a minute and take a look at what came to live in our basement this week!
Yay! I finally got a cutting mat and it makes everything so awesome I’ve already sewn a dress AND a sweater since Monday. Perhaps I’ll actually take some photos for you one of these days… The mat is 35″ wide by 70″ long. With the extra space on the short ends where the numbers are printed that makes the mat about an inch and a half too long for my 69″ table, but it’s not as annoying as I thought it’d be.
Oooo… I can’t wait ’till we paint that terrible floor!
The mat came from Joann’s and at 40% off was $120. Sigh. The cutting table wasn’t that much more than that! It was so fun to have a perfect height, all protected surface for cutting my jersey and sweater knit the other night, though. Totally worth it. Of course, I cut all my pattern pieces with a rotary cutter which explains why my new cutting mat is so much more satisfying than my just-replaced 18 x 24″ mat!
Oh! And quick check. How messy is the sewing nook after living in it for the last month or two? Thankfully, not very. Having the space to spread out and lots of organized, LABELED storage has been so very helpful in keeping things orderly. And on the evenings when I don’t get whatever I’m working on finished, it’s so very awesome to just leave everything sitting without having a mess in our main living space.
Oh! And it’s true what they say. These self-healing mats STINK to high heaven! Dan thought our pipes were leaking, I thought perhaps there was the leftovers of a honey badger snake treat abandoned behind the cozy chair…
Alright! Back to your badger fun. My cheater, short-stuff post is now officially over!
Oooooh…..I didn’t know cutting mats came in that size. How wonderful!
Love what you’ve done with your space! Wish I had room to do something similar. My space was a small bedroom which is becoming so overcrowded it’s getting claustrophobic. Maybe I just need to sew more 🙂
Your table/mat are wonderful. when I did the same, I found my whole sewing process moved more smoothly. It is also nice to have such a large space to lay pieces of any project out, in sequence. Cutting is my least favorite chore, so I tend to do a few projects at a time. Then I like to set up a project in those Ikea fabric-like drawer organizer boxes. I pre-cut, pre-fuse etc and place everything in a box. There are 3 of the large “”boxes” on the table now. One has a quilt in progress, one has a dress another has a fall tablecloth project. That way it is all there, ready to go to fit my available time. The box stores the project in progress and the table is used effectively without clutter when not being used for cutting. .
Yay! You got a cutting mat to fit your table. And, your nook doesn’t look untidy to me at all :). (P.S. My own sewing space is v. nearly finished. We’re thisclose to finishing the decorating of the walls/floor – they get completed this weekend. Then the furniture goes in yipee!).
Now all your tools are in place and you can do ANYTHING! It’s like the cape on your superhero costume, only you don’t have to worry about this cape catching on trees and strangling you!
amazing job! now can you come to my house?
Amazing! A good cutting table makes all the difference. Congrats on such a fun sewing room!!
so jealous! how wonderful to have a cutting table AND a cutting mat! yay for you 🙂
Why don’t you stick/nail a bit of square-edged beading to the ends of your table? It would solve that overhang and take about ten minutes to improve you peace of mind….
Wow can’t believe how expensive that mat is!! But I bet it’s worth it considering how much you use it. And I didn’t know they smelt either 🙂 is that all self healing mats? I have one and can’t say I’ve noticed but I have a toddler so dodgy smells are quite common…….
I’m jealous of your sewing space. I’ve got a dodgy Joann folding sewing table taking up a corner of the living room.
I had a smelly mat (same brand), too. I washed it with dish soap and warm water, and it helped cut the smell down a lot. It eventually stopped off-gassing and now no worries.
The huge mats are awesome. Congrats on the new addition to your wonderful sewing room. When I brought my mat home, it also had a horrible odor. It was making me sick. I put it out on the deck for a week. That wasn’t enough time to air out and the weather changed so I put it in the garage for another two weeks. I didn’t think the smell would ever go away but it finally did and it hasn’t come back.
Congratulations!!! I love the nook! And, contrary to the Honey Badger – I can tell you give **** and really have your **** together:)
That smell may be hazardous, please check it out. The rule is if it has a chemical smell, you should let it off-gas outside until the smell disappears, especially in such a small airless place as a basement. It’s just like opening windows for paint or new carpet. Otherwise, you might find yourself lightheaded and nauseous. Take care.