Donnamarie

OMG, how can you not have tried OTT lights. I own 3 floor styles, 2 desk styles, and one travel size. They are the best. We replaced our light in our den with on OTT and my husband has one in his man room for reading the newspaper. They are the wonderful. You have got to buy at least one and try it yourself. You won't be sorry.

featherweight

Ditto!! They are very awesome!!!

quilt3311

I have fluorescent lights--the double bulb kind with cool white bulbs. Also have an ott floor lamp and an ott desk lamp and a portable ott for when we will travel. Motels just do not have enough light to see to sew. I have heard that some people cannot tolerate the fluorescent light though. Have a friend who gets headaches when she works with that lighting.

Chip

I have a floresent (sp) shop light. Works Great!!

Wunder-Mar

We planned our retirement home start to finish, and lighting was THE critical element for both my quilting room and Bill's workshop (he does miniature clipper ship modeling, woodworking and general tooling around). We selected 4' "day light" tube lighting - this is different from "full spectrum" in that I actually got sunburned using full spectrum lighting; we have "day lighting" inall our light fixtures; these 4' tubes cost about $4/$5 each at Home Depot.

Each of our workrooms has plenty of full southern exposure natural light coming in from one wall and each is just a few feet under 300 sq.ft., so we installed two ceiling mount units of two tubes each. There is NO cover of any sort over the tube lighting so as not to distort colors or strain my eyes; covers themselves discolor over time and thus distort the colors of my materials; patterned clear colors refracts light "oddly" and also influences color perception. It may not look sexy or "finished" but my eyes are sooooo happy when we work in these properly lit spaces.

For what it's worth, our selection was endorsed by several other professional (long arm) quilters who have the same installation. Of course, the number of tubes lighting your room will depend on total square footage AND the height of the celing - our ceilings are 10ft. for reference.

Whatever you do, DON'T GO CHEAP ON THE TYPE OF LIGHT (bulb) YOU BUY. Husbands typically like to "go cheap" on such things, but remember that it's YOUR space, YOUR craft and ... YOUR eyes. Buy what makes YOUR EYES happy and nothing else. Also, I have a small tabletop OTT light (~$80 usually, half-price at JoAnns with special coupons) that helps me more carefully gauge colors and, when focused on the sewing area of the machine, helps me finish projects during occasional late night sewing.

user15356

What ever kind of light you decide on, get the coolest temperatured ones and make sure they are "NATURAL LIGHT"!

vcinwa

My hubby put a 48" fluorescent shop light over my cutting table and it's absolutely wonderful!! If you're concerned about looks it may not be for you, but the function is great - I can see! My next request is for two of them over my quilt frame. I also have two Ott Lights that I move around as needed, one with a magnifying glass attached to the pole for hand stitching.

Wunder-Mar

Amazing what happens when you look up ...! I notices I also have a centrally placed ceiling fan - with 3 40-watt day light light bulbs, too. Here's a photo in case this helps.

Bobbin along

My sewing room is in the basement (a.k.a. dungeon) so good added light is essential. I have 2 shop-light type flourescents and also some track lighting. I like both systems--the flourescents for best sewing/cutting area lighting, and the track lights are great for when I need to have extra lighting in a different place because they are moveable. :thumbup: good luck on your project!

catlover

S D G
Would you send a picture, please? Thanks,
Cynthia