On the "down" side - I've been doing my cutting downstairs - on the dining room table. This affords a certain amount of enforced exercise - which is OK, I guess, but it's inefficient. As I'm cutting out quilt pieces I find myself running up and down the stairs - and it's annoying to have to shift my gear at dinner time. And, well, it also means I'm spreading my creative "mess" all over the house.
So I decided to get a card table that I can store in the laundry room - where it's at the ready, but out of sight, and when I'm in "cutting mode" have it in my office here right next to the desk where I put my sewing machine. I'm thinking this is going to cut my cut-and-piece time down by at least a third, as I can just leave it all up as I'm working.
So here it is: my card table:
As you can see in the photo above, my cutting mat hangs over the edge a little, but that's OK. I've never had anything that was that wide - the grey fabric you see in the photo is half-folded 45" calico - and that's how I cut my pieces out.
And how does it work? Hm...
Not that great, really. I've cut the first strip for Katherine's quilt - and found that although I was able to do it, the table has a bit of "give" to it when you press down. That makes accurate cutting a little more difficult, as the fabric wants to slip a little. I was able to cut accurately, but had to go a lot slower than I'm used to moving. I've just changed the blade in my rotary cutter, so I don't have to press hard - so this still may work out - or I may have to look at getting a better table (I do have other uses for the card table, so it was something I wanted to get anyway).
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