Bad Blogger

I know you all have been waiting with bated breath to see what comes next (kidding). Not much actually. It actually took me many weekends to even get back in the sewing room. I think I just needed a little vacation from all my hobbies.

I also had sinus crud and we went on a lovely mini-vacation, so I haven't been feeling well and/or around to do anything.

I have now sewn one shirt and made one more drawer.

So, it will be boring stuff for a while, but I thought I would share my favorite new tool that I discovered when I started woodworking: The Architect's Scale


This nifty little ruler can be quite annoying if you don't know how to use it, but when you do, it can save a lot of time.

The most confusing part of the ruler is that it's really 11 scales in one. There are three sides, and each side has a bottom and top, and all but one of the top/bottoms has two scales on it. Here's a close up of just one bit:

The 1/4 tells you what scale that side is. Next, look for the zero. That's tells you which of the numbers lines you want to read. In the example above, we want to completely ignore the numbers 76-92. Those are coming from the other side of the ruler. Instead we're going to look at 0 - 8. It means we will have to read numbers right to left, but that's not too hard, and by flipping the ruler over we can get another scale.

The other idiosyncrasies of the ruler that make it annoying don't bother me once I understand why. For instance: why can't the zero just be on the end? That's to keep the marks on the end from getting messed up.

And what's with the marks to the right of the zero? Two reasons, as far as I see it. First, if the ruler was to have the divisions between the numbers it would become even more unreadable. Second, look closely, those dashes aren't breaking it up into 10ths (as metric rulers do) or 16ths (as imperial rulers do). Instead, it's twelve parts (as in 12 inches to a foot). So, you don't even have to convert the feet to inches or the inches to parts of a foot. Just add the number of divisions past the zero and you have your inches.

Anyway, I've found the scale really useful. I used the 3/32" scale when drawing out my room, 3/16" for the pieces of furniture and 1/8" when drawing smaller pieces (like the drawers) so I could see the joins clearly.

There are some longer tutorials online like this one (it's where I got the close up images from)

Hurrah for Pop!

If you have any say in the matter, I highly recommend having an electrical engineer as a father. While he couldn't diagnose my problem over the phone, with multimeter in hand he was able to find the problem and fix it in less than one hour tonight. He found that I had rather exuberantly screwed two screws in so far that they pierced the insulation on a wire and caused a short.

But that is all fixed now and ta da...

We've got a spiral going on.

The cone lights work very well for the table, and the opaqueness doesn't blind me!

And of course, the bug


DH was rather in awe at the completed project, but it's perfect. Plenty of light and so not typical. This room is going to be quite interesting!

Other than finishing this up tonight, I've done nothing this weekend... at all. I was feeling guilty, but s DH reminded me, there is no time limit on completing this, and I don't have to work every weekend.

Of course, now I'm so psyched about the room and that I really want to work some more!

Carpenter? Maybe. Electrician? No

I was so excited that my lights arrived on Wednesday. I took Friday off, and started to unpack them because I wanted to see how to layout the rail... that was my first problem. I had no rail. I had two 8 foot pieces of "power extenders" but I had to spend three phone calls to my rep explaining the problem. She was able to find me two pieces that day, though. So huzzah!

Layout the rail was okay. The monorail is "hand bendable," which is true, but it also requires a good bit of force.

After looking at the instructions to install the transformer, I figured I could do it. It seemed like the other light replacements I had done: take off the old one, black wire to black wire, white to white, and ground to ground...

Here's where I stand now:


After we got the transformer hooked up, and the monorail up, with supports, and one light on it (each piece contains its own separate instruction sheet and hex wrench!), I flicked the breaker and lightswitch: pop! The breaker on the transformer blew.

Turns out it blows even without any fixture, or the monorail... so we're back at square one. My dad, an electrical engineer, said he could come out to help me next weekend. So now, I'm sans light, but I do think they will be gorgeous (well, at least colorful) when they're up!

drawers, schmawers

We're still waiting for the fantabulous lights to get here, so I haven't been building anything big yet. I'm sure the electrician is going to need all the floor space, and the pressing table will have to be built in the room b/c it will be so big.

But, I have been working on some drawer boxes. Here's my schematic:
The front is to the left (there will be a face plate on it to cover the joints.
Anywho, since I don't have the skills or set-up to do real dovetails, this is about the strongest joint I can make. The sides have two dadoes in them and the front has a small rabbet to lock into the dado. All were made by the router. I also routed a small groove around all four sides to hold the drawer base.

It's been a week since I've started and I've only got three drawers made. Here's two:


Right now I'm wondering why on earth I decided to make drawer... but then I remind myself 1) I like using drawers more than cupboards or open shelves, 2) I can make them the size I want,
and 3) it's good for me, right?

These drawers are the right size for my patterns, which I store in manila envelopes. I made them a little bigger than standard file drawers b/c I'm always feeling like I'm squishing the envelopes.

I've also got some sewing done. The curtains in the sewing room are finally hemmed to the correct length (finally, almost 2 years after we moved in!).

I have to say I love having all my machines on one run of counter. I just roll where I need to go. The serger was a little bouncy, though. I think I installed the bracket on the edge of the stud not the middle of it. So I've installed another one in the middle and it seems to help. However, if you do a lot of embroidery, you may want to put legs on your table. I still may end up putting a leg at the front, but I'd rather not have to.

Other than that, everything is working as planned!

My babies have a home!

I'm so excited that at least one part of my sewing room project is done. Ta Da!



My wall isn't square so there's little bit of a gap behind the table at places, but I'm okay with that. I've mounted the surge protector onto the wall, so at least nothing but foot pedals are on the floor. The mounts of wires are beautiful, but I guess I can't be too picky.

I did something I saw in a workbench book: I drilled little holes in the back for my lamps. That way I have one less thing to take up counter space.

The most important thing is that it fits! I can swoop my chair to any of the machines and they all feel like they are the right height!

Now that I've done the absolutely easiest thing in this room I'm going to try building drawers. If I can get them square I will be so happy.

Actual Progress!

Yep, I've done something. Quite a few somethings, actually.

I've ordered the techlighting, which should get here in about a month.

I sold my old computer desk Craigslist, and the lady picked it up on Sat. 15 minutes later I was marking a level line to make my sewing desk. DH came in asking what I was doing.
"Installing the brackets to hold up my desk."
"But you haven't built anything yet."
"Yeah, but I like ratchets."

I decided to buy heavy duty brackets so I wouldn't have to figure out the right size for my table. I used two for the short part of the L and 3 for the long part because plywood tends to warp over 36".

They feel very heavy because they are installed into the studs. I found a good trick for finding studs: Measure 16" from one side of an electrical box. Most are secured against a stud. Worked well for me.

I suppose I should talk about my choice of countertops. I decided that the laminate countertop was too expensive. I found some good pieces of countertop at my local Habitat for Humanity ReUse center, but they weren't the right size. So, I almost went with melamine, but then I looked at my bookshelves and remembered why I hate that so much. So, I decided to go the plywood and paint route. At least this way I can sand and repaint it easily if it gets scratched up.

Plus, with plywood I can "easily" cut holes for grommets. Ta Da!

I say "easily" because it does seem really easy, but you need to be patient. Buy a special drill bit that allows you to attach whatever size hole saw you need. Point and drill. What I didn't realize I would have to stop so often and clean out the cut, and clean off the gunk sticking to the saw. Once I realized that, no problems. The grommets I got from Rockler. The recommended hole size is a perfect fit.

So, that's what I got this weekend. Tonight I primed the back of the wood. It will be boring for a while, but I hope I will have the sewing desk done this weekend... then the hard stuff!

What's going on

I know I haven’t posted much, but I am still working on this… there’s just not much to show for it yet…

Here’s a big pile of plywood. Now I have to do a lot of cutting!




If nothing else, this has made me committed to do this thing... I've spent too much in wood to not. My next goal is to get rid of my current computer (sewing) desk so I can build my sewing table. That should be easy since I'm not building any storage into it.

I am also thinking about my lighting plan. At first I wasn’t going to change anything, just leave the one big fluorescent in the middle of the room. BUT, while I was playing around one day I realized how much shadow I would create while cutting or pressing.

I can do the “easy” thing and have an electrician install two can lights over each table, but my parent’s in law have this cool monorail lighting system that looks like it could be perfect. They went with Techlighting http://techlighting.com/default.asp?page=products&subpage=systemselect&sysid=1

Who wouldn't love a 5" bee light in her sewing room?



Okay, okay, I know a lot of people wouldn't, but I do!!

So, I’m trying to figure out how much light I need. Black says 2500 lumens. I want to use LED lights (yes, I know they’re really expensive, but they are much cooler and better for the environment). This would mean 13 bulbs, assuming a lumen rating of 200/bulb. I’m going to see if I can find a distributor and go see what they think!