Cutting Dressmaking Fabric

[HenriettaMaria]

@Renegade Sewist  If you are  in California I doubt you have fitted carpets, do you?  In the UK they're very common because they keep older houses a bit warmer than bare floors do.  Because they have underfelt/underlay, they're not that hard on the knees, assuming one is agile enough to get down, crawl around and get up again!

[Bodgeitandscarper]

I had an island unit put in my new kitchen - mainly for cutting out on, it's perfect 

[Kad]

I use the larger size (160 X 80 cm ) IKEA Skarsta/Trotten height adjustable table as it ascends up to120cm in height and I'm 6' tall. Just wish that my ironing board could raise high enough as that's what really gives me a bad back.

[Renegade Sewist]

@Renegade Sewist  If you are  in California I doubt you have fitted carpets, do you?  In the UK they're very common because they keep older houses a bit warmer than bare floors do.  Because they have underfelt/underlay, they're not that hard on the knees, assuming one is agile enough to get down, crawl around and get up again!

  Why would you think that? @HenriettaMaria wall to wall carpet-what it's called here- is as common as there are days in the week. Of course we do. It's standard in tract houses, has been commonplace since the 60s. It's actually cheaper to get installed than tile or laminate.

Recent decades the trend is away from carpet to various flat flooring. It's superior from an indoor air quality position,  much easier to keep clean and cut down on allergens. That is why you might be seeing a big increase in area rugs being advertised, especially washable ones.

But you're cutting on carpet?    That's even worse. You want good, accurate results you need to be cutting on a smooth flat surface. Preferably one that isn't filthy dirty. If anyone comes into your house wearing shoes they've worn outside your carpet is not clean. A quick vacuum won't fix that. A deep, sanitizing steam cleaning will help but still,  eww.

In the New World (wink wink) we have these things called tables and counters. I highly recommend them. 

I'm teasing at you but seriously I wouldn't cut out on the floor unless it was a hard surface. I'd also need to not have any tables at all.

[Ouryve]

I use the larger size (160 X 80 cm ) IKEA Skarsta/Trotten height adjustable table as it ascends up to120cm in height and I'm 6' tall. Just wish that my ironing board could raise high enough as that's what really gives me a bad back.

I’m all of 5’4 and the tallest setting on any ironing board I’ve had has been just right for me - I sometimes use my sleeve board on it just for the added height!

[HenriettaMaria]

@Renegade Sewist Fitted carpets - I thought you guys were all hot-weather tiled floors like you see in Mediterranean homes (and Lucifer!).  However, shoes off at the door - quite right!  I do dressmaking-type sewing rather than P&Q and the margins on seam allowances are a bit more forgiving.  I find the floor better if the size of the pattern pieces or the width of the fabric mean there is a risk of the fabric pulling itself out of true on the table due to the effect of gravity.

[SewRuthieSews]

I have an old dining table on risers, but its out in the garage with all the fabric boxes underneath it.
In the summertime I go out there to cut and its a great height.

In the winter I cut out on the dining table, or more often on a folding cutting board laid out on the bed. Clearly that's too low so I don't cut out much at a time.
For P&Q I have a table to the left of the sewing machine with a cutting mat on it, so I cut all the small bits there.
I sometimes cut things like interfacing for facings on the ironing board.

It'd be great to have a cutting table indoors with all the fabric underneath but there's not space for that, so I do what I can with the space and kit I have.

[Bumblebuncher]

I can't cut out on the table, I only use it for the odd bit but never a whole pattern as I end up with back ache for days.  I sit on the floor cross legged and lean over after laying down my huge bit of cardboard retrieved from a box (a big IKEA box).  I used to have a bit of lino but it wasn't big enough for those huge Victorian and Tudor dresses so I gave up on that.

[mudcat]

For most of the last 20+ years I put mats on my kitchen counter.  The one in Phoenix was long enough I could up to four of the large Olfa mats but when I moved last year I switched the mats to my rather large dining room table.  And the same thing at my new house now.  The funny thing is I always thought the counters were great but the lower table seems to be easier on my arms and hands so I'm pretty happy with it.  I can leave it out for multiple days since we typically eat at the counter rather than the table ... except when we have guests.

I know I did the floor thing in high school and early 20s but there is no way I would want to do that these days.

[Kwaaked]

While I have a huge industrial cutting table at work, if I sew at the cabin, I cut on the floor in the living room/kitchen or in the dog trot.  I often sew in both places, too with a treadle.  That is based on season: hot in the dog trot/wrap porch or cold in the kitchen.  Or I'll take my hand crank to the patio in the trees, but a digression (and why yes, I DO use a sad iron there).

Cutting...I use cutting mats.  The Dritz Foldable Superboard Cutting Surface...I have two of them and use pound store table cloths under the whole area.  Largely because I have a working farm at the cabin...a dog, a donkey, a mule, a goat (with a kid any day), several cats, chickens, a pet rooster (not mine...DDs, but the thing will come sit on the chair in the dog trot with her) and god knows what we all walk through between the animals, the hay, the mud, the woods, the air and the fact I am outside more than not.

TL;DR: floors are easier with a cardboard cutting mat.

[Surest1tch]

I like using the floor for cutting out, I like to stand up and look at it from a height, I don't know why but I can spot it buttercup if the patterns not laid out on the fabric properly before I go near it with the shears. I do admit it's hard work getting off my knees but hey ho I guess that's one of the prices we pay as we get older  .

[Greybird]

@Kwaaked  - Dog trot?

[Kwaaked]

@Greybird

We actually used the floor plan in the wiki article as the basis to ours...one side is living room/kitchen combo (kitchen is the north, many are designed this way in the South anyway) and the other one is the bedrooms.

Specifically, we used the one at Bell Meade Plantation outside of Nashville as to the look of it: [url=https://www.southernliving.com/thmb/zYiBb4C-Ij5aKF27YZFxH4-1Qcw=/750x0/filters:no_upscale():max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():format(webp)/gettyimages-615762786-2000-7cded45d1fba487b823fd1affca44bb2.jpg]https://www.southernliving.com/thmb/zYiBb4C-Ij5aKF27YZFxH4-1Qcw=/750x0/filters:no_upscale():max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():format(webp)/gettyimages-615762786-2000-7cded45d1fba487b823fd1affca44bb2.jpg

[Renegade Sewist]

@Greybird I'd never seen the term before either. Not a common usage thing.

[Greybird]

@Kwaaked - thank you! I had never heard that term before and it's really interesting. I can see that that layout would be a big advantage with your hot summers. I appreciate the addition to my little stock of learning!