Recently I decided to try another way of supporting my scrollbar sewing frame. The few methods that I had tried (here and here) were working to some extent, but I knew the frame had to be a little bit more adaptable and adjustable to how I was working at the time. Some days I wanted to frame to sit a little differently than others depending on how much pain I was in, and the frames I had designed up until now just didn’t seem flexible enough to accommodate my needs. So I did some more thinking, and then I did some drawings in a really neat app on my iPad called Notability (which is a completely amazing app by the way). Then I sent the drawings to my Dad who could make the legs for me easily and bring them with him when he came out to visit me.
I asked him to make me two frames – one that was 19 inches long and one that was 25 inches long. I have two sets of scrollbars (18 inches and 24 inches long), so I wanted to make sure that I had legs for both sets of bars in case I one day decided to work on a bigger project. Currently my Michelangelo piece I’m working on is on the 18 inch bars. Below in the illustration you can see the sketch I did in Notability that I sent to my dad.
He did a great job translating the sketches into the actual bars, and he even made them out of oak so they would be really sturdy and would last for very long time. Originally I was thinking it would be easy enough to make one set of sidebars and then two interchangeable bottom bars. What he ended up doing was making two complete sets of legs, which is great because then it’s one less thing I have to take apart when I want to switch the legs out. I’ve been trying the 18″ legs out for the last few days, and they’re working really really well. I can adjust the front leg and the rear leg angles so that the frame sits at different heights depending on whether it’s sitting on my lap when I’m reclined or when I’m sitting more upright. Some days I need to adjust the angle that the sewing frame itself sits at, so being able to adjust the legs really easily is absolutely fabulous. I purposely put several holes in the top of the leg in the design so that there was even more flexibility in the angle that the frame could sit at. I’m really really happy with it, and I’m really happy that my Dad is very handy himself. 🙂 If you have any questions about how he actually made the frame, please feel free to comment below!
6 Responses
Caroline
Hi Dana,
Really glad to have found your interesting and refreshing site, story and triumph over pain. While I am not a cross stitcher, I am a prolific Canadian free form embroidery artist and crazy quilter.
Best,
Caroline,
http://www.goodearthquilting.blogspot.ca
Dana Batho
Thanks so much Caroline! I’ve never tried quilting, but I do have a simple quilting project I bought from Craftsy years ago I’ve never started… OOPS…. 😀 I love quilt shops though, so many pretty fabrics! Your work is really pretty, happy stitching (eh)! 🙂
Stephanie
LOVE IT!! I just found your website while video surfing on youtube. I have been hand stitching since the age of 7 (over 30 years) and recently started blogging about it. I am thrilled to have found you. Thank you so much for sharing so much useful information. Oh, I also subscribed to your newsletter.
Dana Batho
Haha hi Stephanie, I’m glad you find all the information useful! That’s great you’re blogging about stitching, there’s so much to write about. 🙂
Jessie
Here I am, years later lol but wanted to say thank you for the pictures and measurements! Awesome idea!
Dana Batho
Glad it was helpful Jessie! 😊❤️