What do you want in a sewing table? You have a list of requirements that your ideal table should meet, and you have a budget for how much you can spend on the table. The actual shopping means making that list somehow mesh with the budget; and that, sometimes, is very hard. It’s important, however.
Your Sewing Table and What You Need
You may not have a generous budget for a sewing table, but you still want what you need. You need a certain amount of table space for cutting, basting and organizing, and you need drawer or cubbyhole space for putting away sewing supplies and half finished projects. You need sturdiness and stability; a table that shakes when you are trying to sew is less than useless. And you probably want a table that isn’t an eyesore: after all, you’ll have to look at the thing, and so will everyone else who lives at your house.
The Best Sewing Table that Meets Your Budget
In my researches I found just one sewing table for under $200 that fit my ideal of what a sewing table should be:
The Sewing Craft Cart from Sauder.
Don’t let the name worry you; this is anything but a little pushcart; instead, it’s a heavy duty sewing table with lots of storage space. But though it has the storage and work-space you need, it folds up into a cabinet that can hide both your sewing machine and your half-finished creations and look as innocent as a cupboard of fine china when the guests come to call. It also moves beautifully on easy-roll casters, so if you need to reorganize your work-space or would like to sew in another room for a change you won’t have to break your back.
The actual dimensions—in case you want to measure off a section of your sewing room and make sure it fits—are 38 ¼” x 19 ½” closed, 62 ¼ inches wide open. The table is about 28 ½ inches tall.
The top is melamine; a stable surface for your work that is also heat, stain and scratch resistant. The rest of the table is engineered wood, but not cheap plywood: this is high-quality carpentry that will last.
This particular piece is American cherry; a beautiful wood color. But you have options here. If a dark wood will better fit your home furnishings, the same piece of furniture is available in dark Cinnamon Cherry finish. If your sewing room is white and pastel, you may prefer the soft white.
What are the downsides to this piece? A bit of assembly when the box comes; expect to take an hour if you’re good at this kind of thing, more like two or three if you’re not. In fact, if you aren’t much of a DIY-er you may want to ask a friend or you to come and help you battle with the instruction booklet.
The only other downside I could find was that the storage is not infinite—but, at under $200, that can scarcely be expected. You may need to get additional storage, but this sewing table will certainly be able to hold your essentials and will also provide you with a stable, ergonomic surface on which to work.