This was my summer project in my un-air-conditioned garage shop in central Virginia. Judy requested a sewing cabinet for her quilting work. She liked the basic idea of the plan from Rockler, but the leg room space seemed too cramped. Instead of building the two plywood boxes for the base per plan, I built a base of legs, mortise and tenoned stretchers and plywood panels. I also added a back leaf to expand the work area. The one plywood box for storing a serger and the drawers is just screwed into the base. The Hohn lift is solidly built and works as advertised. I finished it with 4-5 coats of Arm-R-Seal Oil and Varnish Topcoat.
In the end, it all came together well although I would do a few things differently (and correct a few errors) if I ever reprise this project. The important thing is that Judy loves the look of the piece, appreciates the customized work height, and enjoys having the extra space. And best of all, our dining table no longer has to do double duty as a sewing station!
Dave,
Great design. I’m new to woodworking and would love to build this for my wife. Anyway you could go into a little detail on what changes you made to the plan so I could follow suit? I’d greatly appreciate it. Like the dimensions you ended up with. I’ll be buying the plans so if needed you could make reference to them.
Thanks,
Todd
Wow. Very nice. I love how compact it is when not in use, and how much working space it gives when in use. Great job.
Dave – I purchased this same plan to build for my daughter. So in terms of legroom, did you increase the height or the depth? Love the addition of the back leaf. Definitely pirating that idea from you. Very, very nice work!
An excellent job of packing an expansive workspace into a compact, attractive package!
I better not show this to my wife, she will want me to build her one. Very nice job
I think this just made it to my honey-do list. I’m curious what the total price of this project came to?
Beautiful work!
Would you happen to have the plan i.e., dimensions of the each of the components?
Dave – Awesome craftsmanship and redesign.
What did you use to support the drop leaf?
Very cool. I’ve looked at several lifts in the past for my wife’s machine but wasn’t confident about any if them as most were online sources. I have a feeling one of these is in my near future and now I know the lift to use. Like the amount of work surface you were able to put into such a compact piece when closed up. Great job!
My wife would love something like that. Beautifully done.
Wow! Look at all that work surface. I can imagine how nice it is, if you’re seriously into sewing, to have a dedicated work station that is designed just to your needs. And where you can leave everything in place if you need to break-off in mid-project. Looks like you did a fine job.
DD
Good work. I like the drawers with open handles and the way you made the top workspace.
Awesome. My wife would love this.
I love it when people take basic plans and improve upon them.
Looks great.