clevermanka | Cutting table idea

Did anyone else hear about the organizers of the Iditarod changing the race route due to sprawling development and warming temperatures? That, my friends, is bad news.

The sewing room furniture-building is on hold while I consider a different option for the cutting table. I'll still use the wood we cut, but I'm thinking about possibilities for a different finish. I had two requirements for a cutting table surface: Hard enough to draw on when I'm tracing patterns, without denting the surface; White to provide a light background when tracing.

Since the rotary mats sit on top of the table when I'm cutting, the surface doesn't matter for that. This weekend I was realized: Wouldn't it be cool to use magnets instead of pins to hold patterns down on fabric? Can I find a metal that will provide enough pull through the layer of 1/8" cutting mat? I'm willing to shell out the $$$ for rare earth magnets if that would help. Finally, can the metal be painted (white) in a manner that won't chip?

I'd love to hear ideas from any handymen/engineer types out there.

EDIT: I know about magnetic paint, but is it strong enough to hold through 1/8" of rubber mat?

I want to be able to cut most fabric/patterns without using pins. I know certain multi-layer garments, like bodices, will require the use of pins. But if I could use magnets for 80% of my cutting, that would make a huge difference in time and effort. Not to mention kinder to my right index fingernail, which always takes a beating when I'm pinning a lot.

UPDATE: Someone on my Sewretro Yahoo! group just told me that using magnets can distort the fabric, which, now that she mentions it, makes total sense. So I think I'm going to scrap the idea of using magnets and just make some small beanbags with very heavy weights. So, back to using the laminate!

An email conversation with

roya_spirit sparked a craving for beef and barley soup. Watch this space for a recipe. I expect I'll be making up a batch within a week.

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Susi uses a mat with weights and a rotary cutter to hold down her fabric while cutting and it's wonderful and so much easier than using pins and scissors! A magnet would be fabulous unless it interfered with the rotary cutter or the scissors...

S~

I don't think the magnets will interfere with the metal cutting tools. I don't like to pin/weight the fabric that close to the cutting line because it makes the fabric bubble.

I've used weights with the rotary cutter, but they sometimes are a little bulky and hide pattern notes or get bumped. Using tiny little quarter-inch magnets would be faboo.

I don't sew so I'm mostly completely not helpful in this arena :)
I like the 1/4 inch magnet idea a lot. It would make things so much smoother and easier to cut.

And it would look cool!

S~

Magnetic paint (http://www.rustoleum.com/CBGProduct.asp?pid=127)
or Magnetic sheeting (http://www.lyt.com/)

Edited 2008-02-12 17:06 (UTC)

Yes! I just commented this, too, without the handy link, before realizing you had!

Have either of you used this stuff, though? Will it hold through the rubber mat? It's the perfect solution, but I don't know anyone who has used it so I could test...

They make magnet paint. I painted my closet doors with it and then painted over *that* with chalkboard paint, turning my closet doors into giant magnetic chalkboards.

Oooo! So you have used it!

Ok, do me a favor and hold a piece of 1/8" thick rubber and see if a magnet still holds through it! LOL!

Hm. Somebody just told me that I shouldn't use magnets to hold my fabric down, so never mind. Darn.

I have always loved that magnetic paint, though. Someday I'll find a good use for it...

I love my cutting table with the big rolling cutter mat but I don't think I'd like a completely magnetic table. I have enough of it with my two magnetized pin holders; one that was a gift purchased from a fabric store and the other which is a magnetized bowl from the auto parts store. I love it 'cause I can just sorta throw pins at it while I'm sewing. But the down side is that everything that comes near it gets magnetized; the bobbins, the scissors, the seam ripper...I can imagine that might be more of a problem if the whole table was magnetized.

I have small weights that I use to hold the fabric and patterns down; I've not used pins to hold patterns down for years...much quicker and easier. I've never found it necessary to do anything more than just weight them down...even for layers of fabrics or heavy fabrics.

Hm. I hadn't thought of things that weren't magnets sticking to it. There's a reason to go with my first instinct to use a standard metal sheet (like a refrigerator door) and not magnetize the table itself. Very, very good point.

Good, happy to help. I was also thinking what all that magnetism might, over time, do to your sewing machine, too.

Mine is a slab of walnut, stained and then about a dozen coats of varnish on it. Bruce literally 'cut the corner' so that it juts out of the corner of the room, diagonally to my sewing tables. Makes it so that I can get into the cabinets in either side of it (we used the garage cabinet units from my old house) and also so that I can get around three sides of it. There just wasn't enough room in my room for it to stand traditionally. This way, it's still way crowded in there but I can use the whole thing.

When I've got the room cleaned up (ha!) I'll take a pic and post it.

my mom used to use curtain weights for cutting out patterns. heavy enough to be effective, but nice and small with an extremely low profile. 'course, i have no idea if they still make curtain weights like that (hers looked like large washers with a bar across the middle).

Thank you for the idea! I'll call around to home dec stores to see if these items are still made.

Cutting table idea

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