LIGHT up your studio! My ridiculous journey to finding the perfect work light.

Slimline lights up my new Polygon Play Quilt using my Black&White Collection with Kona Cotton.

Part of creating is about having excellent tools to aid you in working to the best of your ability. Today I am sharing my experience of my quest for good studio lighting. It can be overlooked by many makers (me included!) as we spend time researching sewing machines, tools, rulers, batting, mats, buying lots of awesome fabric (wink wink) etc. Yet every fine workspace must have GOOD LIGHT at all times of the day.  I don't care if you are creating at you're dining room table, bedroom, designated studio or your very own she shed. Proper lighting is essential! Right? Yes, I am right. Why didn't I heed my own advice?

HERE'S MY STORY:
Sometimes I am a real cheapskate. And I put things off. So, I squinted through "the bad lighting period" in my studio, scratching my head many a morning about some horrible color choice, sore (whaaaa!) eyes or iffy stitching executed the night before. Don't even get me going on the annoyance of cast shadows as I pulled additional desk lamps from all over the house to my studio space to rid the problem! I had become pretty fed up. OK... NOW It's really really time to do the work to find the best task light and to solve my problem once and for all! No more partially lit work table that was using outdated bulbs that weren't energy efficient anyway! The thing is, lighting can be expensive, especially compared to other important tools such as rulers and rotary cutters. My first attempt "by the seat of my pants" quick solution was a trip to the local hardware store and in an hour I happily erected two huge, cheap, duo painter's lights and was blasting light everywhere! I felt kinda smug thinking my problems were solved! But they were cumbersome and threw off tremendous heat as well as bulbs that burned out every 3 weeks. Plus they weren't task oriented and I still had too many shadows over my work. My family was wondering when I was going to don a paint suit and open a gallon of Ben Moore or go up in flames due to the heat!! Plus the price of my electric bill skyrocketed, not to mention I stumbled over the #$%@#* stands more often than I care to admit!! Bad choice. I got what  I paid for.... and it was a waste in the end. (They are boxed back up in the garage waiting til we change wall colors or when Satan ice-skates to work!)

Big Bad Mama of lights! The LUMINOS!

25" light span. 44" reach with 3 levels of brightness. Good for my old eyes!

So, to cut to the chase: About 18 months ago while browsing the booths at QuiltCon in Pasadena, I discovered a sleek, easy to maneuver, attractive line of lights by  DAYLIGHT COMPANY that were beautifully designed, full spectrum, LED (no intense heat!) and made for people just like me. Instant love! They were dazzling my aesthetics as well as having the most powerful, true light to enhance my professional work! I have been happy ever since while using my two favorite Daylight lamps and want to shout them out to you. Top picture, I am appliquéing under the SLIMLINE and also use it at my sewing machine. It is such a pleasure to finally have good light in my studio! I feel special. I also rely on the LUMINOS lamps daily for my cutting and design tables for their broad scope and ease of movement (see below). If you have a favorite light source, or other studio tools you can't live without, share it with us! We all love hearing about great products that make our sewing spaces a wonderful place to be. 

Also I am using my Black&White Collection a lot lately pairing it with mostly Kona Cottons and have a brand new Polygon Play Pattern that has extended pattern options coming out with STASH BOOKS this Fall 2017!
Happy Creating!
xo