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About Cutting Table
Those of us who do not have a cutting table make do somehow, utilizing perhaps our dining room table, a kitchen table or there are times when the best that can be had is simply the floor. The problem is with each of these is that yes, that’s fine for laying out the fabric perhaps, though uncomfortable, but when it comes time to tracing patterns there’s nothing to secure it to and worse nicking the table with the needle sharp tracing wheel is always a worry.
Proper cutting tables allow you to not only stretch out your material, but also make it very comfortable to work with which is quite a step up from having to work on the floor! In addition you can use those heaver silver push pins to hold down your material, and when using that tracing wheel, you need not worry about what it’s doing to the table, as most of them will be covered with brown paper anyway. By the way part of the reason why you use the paper underneath is that it’s a great place to make any notations that you may have with regard to the present project.
The majority of good cutting tables are covered in ½” cork so that the pins can go into them without a care, but they will stay where placed. Sometimes they will come with fiberboard, or some other such material as cellulose based fiber wallboard, but either way, you’ll find that covering them with brown paper will keep them from being marred by any substances placed upon them. Also the suggested size is approximately anywhere from 6 to 8 feet in length, and approximately 50” wide.
Although the table should be waist high, it is often best to search for one that has adjustable legs, so that anyone can use it at the proper height. Some highly expensive cutting tables will even come with drawers underneath for storage of sewing implements.
If space is not always available for a cutting table that is always the same size some mental giants have designed a cutting table that actually folds up into a small bureau type of affair with drawers, and hidden gate legs that provide the utmost of stability when you do have it open. It opens up into a wonderful cutting table that has 20 square feet of table. Although having seen some excellent pictures of this type of cutting table, I am still bewildered how someone could design something with that much ingenuity!
Most cutting tables also come on casters. This is so that the table can be moved easily from one side of the room to the next, as sometimes sewers wish for the cutting table to be near the sewing machine. Also, due to most of the construction of a cutting table, they are built very solidly, and thus are heavy. Casters sometimes come with locks so that the table never moves unless it is desired. Others put the fold up cutting table into a closet for instance, which also necessitates rollers or casters.
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