highlylogical.com » Woodworking

Sewing Cabinet Gets Drawers

mikepigg — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 20:59:31 +0000

Having a few days free this week, I finally got back in the shop for the first time this year. The same thing happened last year – I wasn’t in the shop for the first couple of months of the year. I’m not sure why this happens. It seems like the deep, dark months of January and February would be a great time to be in the shop. Maybe I’m distracted by other projects that I’ve come up with for the new year. Anyway, I’m back.

The major result of my past few days in the shop has been the fabrication of drawers for the sewing machine cabinet. Now I feel like this thing is making some real progress! The drawers are constructed of baltic birch plywood for the sides and back, and hardboard for the bottom. The fronts are made of solid cherry with a cutout at the top for a hand hold. The cutouts have a cove profile routed on the backside to provide some additional grip.

Sewing Cabinet Gets A Knee Apron

mikepigg — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 00:22:36 +0000

I finally got back into the shop this weekend after a few weekends off, and the sewing cabinet gained a knee apron as a result. Cutting the curve on the apron was not quite as difficult as I imagined it might be. My el-cheapo bandsaw managed to do a decent job of making the rough cut, and then I made several passes with a drum sander to smooth it out. A final pass with sandpaper gave it a very smooth finish. The two pedestals are now attached to the back of the cabinet as well.

The next step is to make feet, and I’ve started machining the wood for those parts.

One, two… Two Pedestals!

mikepigg — Sun, 26 Aug 2007 16:57:02 +0000

This weekend sees the completion of both pedestals of the sewing cabinet. The edge banding on the horizontal pieces (top, bottom, and shelf) were glued in and trimmed flush. The edge banding on the back panel was also trimmed flush. The next step is to attach the back to the pedestals and start working on the knee apron that spans between the pedestals.

Sewing Machine Cabinet

mikepigg — Sun, 19 Aug 2007 12:50:03 +0000

My current woodworking project is a sewing machine cabinet for my mother-in-law. A picture of the completed project can be seen here. The cabinet is made out of 3/4″ cherry plywood with solid cherry edging. This is the most complex and nicest piece that I’ve attempted to date.

The project really got started in early July, but I’m just getting back to it after a break for vacation. Before vacation, I cut the plywood parts for the cabinet pedestals, and cherry for the edge banding and drawer guides.

I also started building a jig for trimming the edge banding flush using a router. Today I finished the flush trim jig and trimmed the four pedestal panels. The left pedestal has been glued up and is drying.