Crafty Homestead Bedstead

What were my son Brian, SIL Lucas, and the guys from our food facility hauling onto the second floor of our building yesterday?

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Why, my very own crafting …

bed!

Years ago, I found a gorgeous brass bed in an antique store, but when I got it home to put into one of my B & B units, it was an odd size. Sized in between a twin and a double bed, I couldn’t find a mattress to fit it. Planter box? Nah, too gorgeous to be outside. As I was finishing up my new Pay Dirt Farm School classroom where I plan to teach sewing classes, I thought, “Why not turn it into a crafting table on wheels?”

Right after it was put into place (it wouldn’t fit up the staircase—the reason my husband lifted it with the tractor to the height of our guys waiting on the roof), we received an order for a pair of our Raising Jane knickers. So Saralou, our resident seamstress, crafter, and graphic designer, gave my idea a test run.

I figure a bed is all about dreams, right? I dream a world in which I teach dozens of young women the joy of sewing, including my grandgirls. How and when did you learn to sew?

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  1. Laurie Dimino says:

    Love the bed/table! I know very little about sewing, but oh so want to learn! How I wish I lived closer…

  2. Winnie Nielsen says:

    This is a great way to use an antique bed with the limitations you discovered. I learned to sew with a needle and thread when I was about 8 years old. By the time I was 12, and entering the teen years, madras shift dresses were all the rage and I wanted one. My Mom used the opportunity to teach me to use the sewing machine and I made my first madras jumper. It was an easy pattern and I was thrilled! I so remember proudly wearing it to school with a yellow peter pan collared shirt. There were compliments and I was hooked on sewing. Your idea of a sewing school is a wonderful idea!!

  3. CJ Armstrong says:

    That is beautiful!!! Great idea and great plan!
    CJ

  4. Terry Steinmetz says:

    How fun! And a great way to repurpose a bed. The best part is that you can make the table to your height. Hmmm. I’ll be bargain shopping soon!

  5. Nan Roberts says:

    I think it was in home ec, in junior High and High School. Then later I took a 5credit, 5 day a week class in college (Cal Poly, fondly known as Cow Poly). I haven’t sewn much since, but I want to mend things, and make aprons. I also want to make flannel nightgowns with PRESHRUNK MATERIAL. Apparently the clothing industry doesn’t know about preshrinking flannel (@#*&%).

    I’m inspired now to try other things too.

  6. Delores Salin says:

    I learned at about 8 yrs of age from my Mom was a 4-H leader and an amazing woman who knew how to do almost everything besides being an accomplished seamstress.

  7. Gail springman says:

    I began I’d guess around the age of ten making clothes for my barbie. Then it was home ec in grade school four years, then all through high school and soon after began sewing for others as well. Although I think I was born with a needle in hand. I remember making my own dresses all through grade school.

  8. Kathy Cain Foster says:

    Took my first sewing lesson in 9th grade home economics class…..so many years ago. Been hooked ever since.

  9. m lewis says:

    Love this idea…awesome! My grandma, where I stayed quite often, had a box full of scrapes and sewing stuff we could play with whenever we wanted to. Later when I was like 12 she showed me how to do a 9 block quilt. I have my great grandmothers sewing machine. Wish I could use it more 🙁

  10. JAN W says:

    I took sewing in high school but mainly I learned from my Mom who made everything from bed sheets to Bras. Sewing was my salvation after my husband had a heart attack followed by a stroke and I couldn’t leave him alone. Now I have given up sewing, but I did that one other time as well. I will pick it up again at some point. (Darned computer takes up all my time. haha)

    I love your idea of using the brass bed for a crafting table.. Perfect. I too have a brass bed with wierd rails but the right size. The rails are upside down so the springs set on top instead of down in. Son-in-law came up with the idea of using L brackets to hold the springs in place. Works like a charm.

  11. Beverly Ellis says:

    I started sewing in the 7th grade hom ec class and I’m still sewing. Have been sewing for over 50 yrs and its one of my favorite things to do. Love what you did with the bed frame. I agree it is much too nice to keep outside.

  12. Judy Acker says:

    Love the bed and the table idea!! I was 9 yrs old when I begged my mom to let me so something for me. She had already let me use the sewing machine to work on doll clothes. She finally bought me blue and white check material for a blouse and a pattern and said ok here it is. She would check on me but let me do it all by myself. Wonderful memories.

  13. Chrissy says:

    I learned to embroider at an early age. It’s a funny story. I must’ve been been a precocious child. My Mother ironed on designs to several tea towels. I still remember the look on her face when I finished them in one day. It was a look of horror and surprise from one who’d hoped to keep me busy for a lot longer than that. As for sewing, I learned in high school and make scrub tops to wear to work. Wonderful work table.

  14. Carol Hansen says:

    I love it! You can hang quilts on the head and footrails while creating new projects. Lovely!

  15. Pam Randolph says:

    I learned to sew when I was about six years old, at my mother’s knee, so to speak. I started by hand (and still have one of my first projects – an apron for my dolly), and later learned to machine sew on my mother’s old Singer blackhead machine. I took summer lessons at a Singer store for five years, from age 10 to 14, then took a class my senior year in high school, where my teacher encouraged me to make a 3-piece, plaid wool suit. Later, I took some college courses in Home Ec, taught it in a high school and an adult sewing class at a college, spent two years as a Home Economist for a fabric store chain, and now teach lessons for a sewing store and in my home. I LOVE passing along my love of sewing to others!

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