Rearranging my sewing room... again

[Kathleen C.]

While at the bookstore today, I saw a special issue of Cloth Paper Scissors magazine on studio spaces. There's some great eye candy there of various fiber/multimedia artists' studios. Might be worth picking up for anyone who's redoing their space.
http://www.quiltingarts.com/shop/StudiosMagazine.html

I got this magazine in the mail and I'm enjoying reading it. Wonderful photos! I've already gotten some great tips and ideas and I'm not more than half way through.
What's really nice about it too is that not everyone has a dedicated room... some are just corners. So you get ideas for space crunched studios as well as dream suites.

Kathleen C.

[Learn to Sew]

I got a call from Unique Sewing Furniture yesterday. They wanted to make my cabinet faster than I planned. Was this ok? Sure. I had expected delivery in late May and now it is only 2 weeks away!  I am thrilled. It is paid for.

Patrick is training someone on how to build it, and will be working with him making my cabinet. The company also has a new building in the last couple of weeks. Much larger than the old one. Business is good for Unique. People do want quality sewing furniture after all.

If someone can tell me how to post a picture here, I will post one of my new cabinet after it arrives.

Carol

[sdBev]

. Here's a link to some pictures of my sewing room that I took about a year ago and posted to my blog:  http://sewwest.blogspot.com/2007/02/sewing-room.html

...
Obviously, Sterilite is my friend. The wall of bins is all made by them, and I also have a bunch of their shoe boxes under the cutting table.

Nan

I think it's nicely done.  I want my sewing room to be workable.  That means having my my tools and supplies easily reachable.  I have lots of sterilite too... all over the house as a matter of fact.  I bought the first pieces because they were cheap.  If they didn't work out I could always toss 'em.  Well they did work out.  I've moved them to different rooms, rearranged confirgurations and keep buying more.  A surprising plus, is that they last for me.  I have several pieces that must be 10-12 years, have been moved 4 times and are still functional.

to All

I'm reading this topic with great interest.  Love it when you post pics; and as with Nan's blog love the thoughts you express.  I've moved into what I think is my last home (next time I move DS will be putting me in the old folks home and he can do all the moving).  I have 2 bedrooms almost-exclusively for my use.  I call one my stash room and other my sewing room.  I want to replace the carpet in my stash room, but otherwise I'm pleased with its arrangement.  My sewing room has been a battle.  I can't arrange all the pieces in a comfortable-to-me sewing arrangement.  I suppose it would help if I had fewer machines.  But I felt really virtuous because I'd downsized to my 1630 Bernina for regular sewing, 9700 Janome for embroidery, 634D janome Serger and my blind hemmer.  (I have a second serger stashed for when my serger has to go for servicing).  In fact, just last week I discovered how to arrange my sewing area so my blind hemmer could come out of the closet and be used.  I was at the point of thinking I should sell it, when I realized I could place it on the upper left hand corner of the serger table and pull it down to working position only when needed.   I have huge closets like 3 ft wide by 10-12 foot long.  I found that my removing the doors my rooms seem enormously larger. After all these are work-rooms not show-rooms and my thought-processes benefit by having all my stuff visible. 

Keep up the good ideas

[NancyDaQ]

Nan

I think it's nicely done.  I want my sewing room to be workable. 

Thanks, I'm glad you liked it. I still need to take those new pictures and post them to the blog so you all can see how it's evolved.

[Learn to Sew]

Nan,

What size is your sewing room? I have a closet in the same place as yours. It looks like you have more room than I do. It is so clean and organized.

What do you store behind the door? I recently put in a bookshelf and this is a great idea for me. Now I do not have all my books in the closet anymore. No, the closet is not cleaned out yet, but I am getting there. I decided to close it up and sew today.

Carol

[sewknitdoc]

Hello everyone

I am a new member here.  I found the site when I was searching the internet for Unique Sewing Furniture, because of my own experience.  I would like to share my story with you.  Back in September I did extensive research to buy a cabinet for my Bernina Artista 630, which I use for quilting, embroidering and sewing.  I had a few great conversations with Patrick at Unique, and ended up ordering one of their large models (472L).  If anyone would like the long story, I will be happy to provide the details (unfortunately there are many!), but the bottom line is this:

I ordered the cabinet in Sept (at which time I paid a 50% deposit) and received shipment in mid-Jan (that's 4 months instead of the 6 - 8 weeks promised; I too was initially told it was "ahead of schedule").  That day my credit card was charged the remaining 50%.  Lots of frustration, but I was so happy when it arrived.  However, it had a major manufacturing defect and, less importantly, some minor shipping damage.  The hinges that attach the large leaf in back to the cabinet could not be screwed in - all the holes were drilled wrong.  Initially Patrick was responsive; "I know exactly what happened and why; we had to fire 3 guys last week because they weren't doing good work" (gee...wasn't anyone checking the products before they left the plant??!) and assured me the new leaf was on its way.  So, here we are in mid-April, and...you guessed it, I am still without a new leaf.   The only way the cabinet can be used is if the leaf is up and propped up on lots of stuff, and even then its not secure.  Its a mess.  We need a new leaf with new drill holes, and that was promised and never delivered.

As before, Unique does not return my phone calls or emails.  (When Patrick originally he heard my description of the problem, he immediately offered to replace the leaf; he didn't even want to see my photos, so there was never any dispute about the problem.  And in case anyone is wondering, I have been not been nasty.  Quite the contrary, I think, given the amount of time that has elapsed!  I was calling or emailing once or twice a week, asking nicely/begging/asking firmly for them to deliver what they had promised.)

I have now notified VISA and put the charge in dispute, and notified Patrick of the steps I am taking now. 

There is another story almost exactly like mine that I found on the internet, that occurred with a shipment in January as well.

So PLEASE - IF YOU HAVE ORDERED FROM UNIQUE - do not let the second charge to your credit card go through until you know everything is OK with your product.  And if you haven't ordered from Unique, be cautious.  The unfortunate thing is that otherwise it is a quality product.  They have the potential to be a great company, but they have some serious flaws to address.

I normally would not write anything negative about a company, but I spent a lot of money on this product, and I would hate to see someone else have the same experience without having the chance to know what happened to me.  Again, there are great things about this product, but please - BEWARE.  Does anyone have more questions??  Hope I provided the right amount of info...

Best regards to all of you.  This is a great site - I'm glad I found it!!

Catherine

[quilteddogs]

Catherine,
That is just terrible what you are going through with your cabinet.  I have heard of Unique but opted to buy Koala and Horn cabinets.  I'm very happy with them.

[Learn to Sew]

I got my Unique Sewing Cabinet last Thursday. The cardboard box had 1 minor spot where it was ripped. The delivery man checked it out and we took the box apart. No damage to the cabinet. It is lovely!

My husband moved it into the house an hour later from the garage where I had it delivered. We took the wrapping stuff off it and checked it over good. We had looked it over in the garage, but wanted another look-see. We opened the leaf in back and moved out the support legs. Everything is fine. The drawers open and close nicely as well. 

It has a smell to it, but it is going away. Probably the sealant to protect the wood. I am sensitive to smells, and we had the window open for a few hours and most of the smell was gone in 5 hours. It still has a slight smell to it, but it will go away. I have not sewn on the new cabinet yet, as I am deciding where I want it to be and how to rearrange the rest of the room. I am glad I bought the smaller one at 48 inches wide and not the larger one at 65 inches. That one would be too large for my room. This one is 'just right'.

Carol

[sewknitdoc]

Carol -
I am so happy for you that everything worked out with your cabinet.  My cabinet is well designed and the basic construction is good quality.  Unfortunately I am still left with the leaf that cannot be attached to the table, and a gauged top...     Fortunately I saved the email Patrick sent in January, right after the shipment, telling me he would replace it.  I am determined to get this resolved; it was just too much money to let it go.
 
I have learned my hard lesson, though; I will never again let the final payment for something get processed until everything is satisfactory.

Enjoy, and Happy Sewing!

Catherine

[sewknitdoc]

I have a reasonably happy ending to my story.  I finally decided to file with the Better Business Bureau, in the region that covers Unique Sewing in Wyoming.  Wow - the BBB is an amazing, efficient system! - all online, very easy to use, and extremely responsive.  Two weeks later I had a new leaf.  We still have to do a fair amount of labor ourselves, and all the problems did not get addressed, but as long as the leaf can get attached in a satisfactory manner, I will be OK with it all.  My order was placed 09/10/07, and the new leaf arrived 05/08/08....eight months! 
So, thank you Better Business Bureau, for helping to resolve this!  I think I will use the BBB more often now to look up businesses that I am considering dealing with; they have records of complaints even for businesses who are not members of the BBB.  I also wanted to post here that Unique did eventually resolve the most major issue.

Happy sewing, everyone!  I am working on a quilt for a friend with a newborn boy, and am almost ready to start the most fun part - the free-motion quilting! Just a little bit of the outer border left...

Catherine

[Liana]

Catherine,  I'm so glad you finally got your problem (mostly) resolved!  It's just so disheartening when problems like this crop up, and it's hard to stick with it until you get what was promised, but thank goodness the BBB was able to help.  They usually are a good resource, and I suspect they're getting better and better at dealing with problems that began with online sales instead of having both parties close at hand.

Carol,  How nice that everything turned out well for you.  I know you've spent a lot of time researching, deliberating, and finally choosing a cabinet.  I'm glad it is just as you'd hoped!

[fzxdoc]

Yay, Catherine!  I was hoping that you would have a satisfactory resolution.  It's hard to know why a vendor is responsible to one customer and totally irresponsible with another.  Did he honestly think you would just take your complaint and quietly go away?  It's good that you were so persistent.

Kathryn

[Learn to Sew]

Hi Kathryn,

I am reading Dragon Lady's directions for making a link to PR, so I show my new sewing cabinet.

http://www.friendsofpr.com/learntos/IMG_1054A.JPG   front view

http://www.friendsofpr.com/learntos/IMG_1053A.JPG   top view

http://www.friendsofpr.com/learntos/IMG_1051A.JPG   Mocha Mix in the front 9 months old puppy

Carol

[Learn to Sew]

Catherine,

I am glad you got your cabinet finally fixed properly. I would love to see a picture of it when you have time. What stain and wood did you choose? I choose Natural Birch and I so glad I did. It is light and airy in my small room.

Carol

[fzxdoc]

Carol, your new sewing cabinet is really pretty!  No wonder you're so pleased with it. 

Kathryn

[Robin]

Carol, your sewing cabinet is very pretty and so is your doggie!

[Judi73]

Very nice s ewing cabinet and is that a dappled daschund I see? What a great sewing companion.

[Learn to Sew]

Yes, Mocha is a Chocolate and Tan Dappled Dachshund. She is 10 months old and still wants to "help" me by stealing anything she can find from my sewing room and making me chase her though the house. She loves fabric scraps. I am as careful about pins as I can be, as she would steal those too and that is dangerous. She does not get to join me in the room unless she is in her crate. If she wants the run of the house, then she can still see me in the sewing room, as I have it blocked off with a 12 inch high piece of cardboard. She is done teething now, so she is not eating it. The cardboard is held in place in the door frame by 2 gallons of water, one gallon at each end of the door frame. She can see in, but can't jump in to help me sew.

Carol

[WesternWilson]

I really liked this room, from the Yahoo D1 group, Glenna's sewing room:
http://ph.groups.yahoo.com/group/Designer1/photos/view/8dce?b=8
http://ph.groups.yahoo.com/group/Designer1/photos/view/8dce?b=9&m=f&o=0


Don't know if those images will work for you. What I like is that the work area is clear but all tools are hung on the adjacent wall spaces easily reachable for the sewer.

Regards,
Janet

[DottieMae]

Images did not work for me.

Dottie

[WesternWilson]

Dottie, you probably have to be a member of the Yahoo D1 discussion group. Worth joining just to see the sewing room photos!