I am starting a series on my sewing room and all the things inside it. I get asked a lot of questions about machines and irons and everything else and I thought this might be a helpful place to direct people to when they come to me with those questions. It will take me a bit to work through my whole space, but I do plan on showing you all my machines, ironing station and everything else that comes along.
Today I’ll be showing you via video of my brand new Aussie 2 desk (affiliate link).
Just a head’s up, I do not work for, collaborate with, being gifted any products or discounts on this desk. I paid full price for it and this is just a helpful review.
Reasons I bought this particular desk
Last year, when I was looking around for a sit down longarm machine, I had sat at a 4’x4′ sewing desk and absolutely fell in love. I’ve been quilting for a long time and I know what my “computer” desk that I use as my sewing desk is lacking. ALL QUILTS FALL OFF OF IT when they get bigger. They fall off when I’m sewing rows together, when I’m quilting, and when I’m binding. I work around it, like we all do… but after sitting at that 4’x4′ table, I couldn’t stop thinking how if I had something like that, I wouldn’t have to work around anything.
But long before this, I wanted my sewing machine to fit inside the table and offer up to me flat surface sewing. I wanted this for my piecing, but if you’ve ever free motion quilted on a flat surface than you know too how helpful it is for that part of quilt making.
I’ve been searching for desks ever since, but I got serious about a month ago. I’d been saving up my dollars and then BOOM, Sewing Machine Plus dropped all their prices and I knew it was time!
I have purchased from Sewing Machine Plus many times including the majority of my sewing machines. Everything ships free and they were very helpful to me recommending machines at the very beginning of my quilting journey.
Arrow Sewing / Kangaroo Kabinets
I looked and looked and looked at all the different Arrow Sewing desks. I wanted Arrow Sewing because they had a lot of options and they were mostly within my budget. They seem to range between $1000-$5300. They almost all close up to just a counter surface, hiding your machine and everything inside your desk. I’m not sure what the deal with that is. I don’t understand why that is the only option offered. It seems after all my hours spent searching I’ve not found an ideal sewing table that DOES NOT close up. I feel like the prices they charge are BECAUSE it will close up. So I feel a bit shorted. I have no need for this option
That being said, there are parts of the “close up” features that I do like.
They also offer “add ons”. I can later go back and buy sets of drawers and many other add ons that will fit snugly under my desk.
Find all the Kangaroo Kabinets here (affiliate link).
The Aussie 2
I went with the Aussie 2 because it had the three features I wanted most in my desk.
- It had that 4’x4′ foot from where I sit to where the quilt can lay behind my machine. I don’t think it’s actually 4 feet. It’s definitely a little shy of that, but it has enough space for me.
- My machine sat down into the tabletop. This was my main goal with a new desk
- The majority of the other space was on the left side of the machine (when facing the machine). This is important because that is where my quilt is laying most of the time. They had several desk where the space was on the right.
The table comes in white or teak (like mine). It has lots of little cubbies and spaces, drawers, and it can get bigger than what I normally use it for if I need it too. It can also shrink down and offer me more floor space if that’s what I need.
There were two changes I would make if I were to have designed the desk:
- I would have given myself a little more room for my foot pedal to get a little further away from my chair. I feel a tiny bit squished in the foot area. It will take me some time to get used to having my foot pedal so close to me.
- I LOVE the custom insert around the sewing machine. It was custom made to fit my sewing machine. BUT I wish they had given me a little bit more space on the left side of the machine. The way they made it, gave me a bit too much space on the right side of the machine in my opinion (a little thing…).
All in all, I am a very happy and satisfied customer. I wholeheartedly recommend this particular desk to you assuming you are like me and spend most of your days quilting.
Get the Aussie 2 here! (affiliate link)
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