DH and I started doing sewing/scooting vacations when we still had a houseful. Those were often just a 3 or 4 days away. I could sew uninterrupted, and he could ride someplace different. Those weekend getaways got me ready for the times he had to travel for work, and we would be in hotels for months at a time.
This year we've taken three big trips. Two of those times I brought a sewing machine, one I did not. At this point I've sewn in dozens of hotels, and I learned a thing or two about packing for these types of trips.
If you have a choice of hotels, old hotels are often NOT a good choice to sew in. DH loves kitchy Route 66 type hotels, and though they can be fun to stay in, they are NOT fun to sew in. Old hotels usually have much smaller rooms than modern hotels. They also tend to not have enough electric sockets. Sometimes even charging a phone becomes an issue when there are multiple phones and devices to charge.
No hotel I've ever stayed in had adequate lighting for sewing. There are ways around that, which I'll get to.
Most hotel rooms in the USA have an iron and ironing board. Even in hotels where there isn't one in the room already, a quick check with the front desk usually gets you use of both. How good said iron and ironing board are vary from hotel to hotel, but at least it will be something.
My first sewing machine trolley was from a big box store, and although it was inexpensive, it still wasn't worth it. I only used that for one trip, and after two broken zippers on that one trip, I learned why sewists who travel invest in a Tutto. I'm sure there are other good brands of sewing trolleys, but Tutto is what I am familiar with, and they get rave reviews from quilters. I bought my first Tutto on a Black Friday sale, and I bought a medium sized case. At the time I was traveling with a cheaper Brother machine, and it worked ok with that. When I started bringing my Bernina on longer trips, my 440 barely fit in it, so I had very little extra space in it. This year I snagged an XL Tutto on clearance, and I'm so glad I did!
You might think I loaded my machine first, but I didn't. First thing in were my rulers, which I placed under the false bottom.
Two of my travel rulers are Fiskars folding rulers. The orange one can be used to cut triangles or squares. It's 8x8"
The other is 6x24". The "hinge" is some really heavy duty adhesive plastic. It's thicker than tape.
I also put in a couple other rulers I use the most, but by putting them under the false bottom they lay flat without much weight on them.
In the medium sized Tutto this machine barely fit, but in the XL, I've got lots of space to add projects and accessories.
Foot pedal and power cord, don't forget those! I also have a travel iron which I prefer when pressing units over a full sized iron. Under the iron is a power strip. I always travel with a power strip so I can plug in all the things I need. All the remaining space in this section went to packing projects, plus my ikea lamp.
I have a June Tailor Press and Cut in here, but I also travel with a folding cutting mat.
An 18x24" mat will be large enough to cut anything I'm doing in a hotel.
The front pocket holds my extension table for my Bernina and a thread cone stand. I have a plastic container that holds my threads and extra needles, plus I've got all the regular sewing notions in here somewhere.
I have travelled without a sewing table before, but if at all possible, I bring my folding sewing table. Putting a sewing machine on a hotel desk is a disaster ergonomically, and although I can do it for short periods of time, I prefer to bring a sewing table and a folding chair from home whenever I can.
In Arkansas, this was my sewing setup. The hotel chair was decent so I didn't bring in the folding chair, but we had to bring folding chairs for other parts of the trip anyway so it wasn't a big deal. This hotel room had no desk, so if I hadn't brought my sewing table, I wouldn't have been able to sew at all. You can see my white ikea lamp on top of my press and cut. I know a lot of women travel with clip-on lamps, but I don't, because I have learned that there isn't always a good place to clip it on! I couldn't have had my Press and Cut on the edge of the table if my lamp was a clip-on. The only plug open in this older hotel was right next to the door to the outside. If I hadn't brought a power strip, I would have had to put the sewing table directly in front of the exterior door. Even with the power strip, I had to have DH knock so I could unplug the power strip every time he got back, but at least I didn't have to move the sewing table!
I brought five projects with me, and they all fit inside the Tutto. I only ended up working on a couple.
I had pre-cut this Spring Twist quilt from Sharon's scraps, but the green was mine, leftover from a backing. I really wanted another border on it, but this was as far as I got at the hotel.
Now that I'm home, the top is finished, and I had the perfect border fabric in my stash, but it was originally in my mom's stash! I liked this quilt so much, I've already cut another one in a different colorway, again from Sharon's scraps.
I also played around with my Burst template. I only got a couple of these blocks done, but at least I know how to use the template now! The hotel room ironing board was adequate, I lucked out that it was height adjustable, not all hotel ironing boards are.
The iron was a bit of an adventure I have no idea what setting the iron was on, so I only used it when pressing the quilt top, other than that I used my travel iron. I'm sure if I had asked I could have gotten a different iron, but I just made do with what I had.
Why didn't I work on the other projects? I really needed a desk to work on the other projects. They were not quilting projects, and I needed space to mark and pin on a hard surface. This hotel did not work out for that. I tried pinning on the bed, but that did not work well at all. It was a really long seam, and I needed a flat hard surface to keep everything lined up. The carpeting was filthy, so no way was I going to put anything on the floor. This was an old hotel, but we didn't choose the hotel, it was the scooter rally hotel. At least it had larger rooms than a lot of old hotels, so it could have been worse.
If you are going to be sewing at a hotel, my best tips are these-
*Bring extra lighting and a power strip with a long cord. In my mind, these are non-negotiable.
*get a good sewing trolley, it makes a world of difference.
*if you can, bring a portable sewing table and a chair, if you end up sewing on a desk, get and and stretch frequently.
*bring more than one project. Sometimes your set-up won't make working on certain projects easy. I try to bring at least one easy project, something I've already cut out, or strings or crumbs, that don't have to be super accurate.
I've had to sew on desks, I've forgotten a power cord, I've had to have my sewing table in the center of a very small room, because it was the only space available. I've cut out entire quilts, sewn dozens of quilt tops in hotel rooms, and even done some FMQ in a pinch. Not everyone has the need or desire to sew in a hotel room, but it can be done, and it can be a lot of fun. If bringing a machine with you seems daunting, try bringing handwork, or a box of squares that need lines drawn on them. I've even brought quilt kits and cut them out at a hotel, but didn't bring a machine. Getting all the prep work done for a project and getting right to sewing when you get home is huge win!
In case you wondered, I only sewed in Arkansas while DH was riding in a scooter rally. The rest of the trip we were doing things together. I would not bring a machine for a road trip where we are in a different hotel every night, but when we are one hotel for several days, sure! BTW, I can draw lines on squares in the car too! Just bring a clipboard!
I hope this helps someone! Surely I'm not the only quilter on the move without an RV.
