My grandmother had a sewing table, my mother has a sewing table, and I have been looking for a sewing table for so long! The new ones are beautiful and cost a pretty penny, but my budget can not afford the price So, I started hunting for a used one. It didn’t take long to find one – complete with the old sewing machine attached. I found this at a yard sale for $50. I’ll take it and make it my refinished sewing table!
I brought it home and immediately took it apart. The sewing machine that came with the table still worked, but was not nearly as nice as mine, so I took it off. I decided to paint the table with chalk spray paint and finish it with a matte clear coat.
Refinishing the Sewing Table
Everything was sanded lightly, unless it has some scratches on it, then I went a little deeper. I cleaned and wiped everything off, and then began spray painting. The paint I used was Rust-oleum’s Chalked. I had so much fun spray painting! It is kind-of hard to stop…. I was looking around my house for all sorts of things I could spray paint. Luckily I ran out of paint when this project was done!
I put roughly two coats of the spray chalk paint on the sewing table. Then finished with the clear matte finish. After that, I did one more very light sanding with a very high grit paper (220). I dusted the whole thing off and put it back together.
Reconfiguring the Sewing Table
Now… my sewing machine is not the same shape as the one that the table came with, so my husband and I had to do some re-configuring. Since this table allows for a machine to fold away into itself, we removed the bolts and wood flap that is a part of that mechanism. My Bernina would not be folding into the table, so I just wanted a platform for it to sit on, that is sunken a bit below the main table level.
We purchased plywood at Menards. Using a template and a jigsaw, we cut a platform that would fit nicely inside the table and be strong enough to support sewing at high speeds. Using L brackets, my hubby installed it so that the wood was the right drop from the main table. This allows access to the bobbin but still makes sewing easier because the machine is a little sunken down.
I love how my refinished sewing table turned out!
