If it's on a flexible cord like a regular (nonindustrial? consumer?) machine's is, just put it on the floor. If you're using the cutout platform idea, you'd need to have the cutout big enough for your feet anyway.

The only issue would be if your cord weren't long enough to reach the floor, but cords can be replaced. It's not even all that difficult, usually. They are expected to wear out eventually. Or you could put it up on a slanted block so the back, where the cord attaches, is higher off the floor but it's still easy to push with your heel resting on the ground.

That makes a lot of sense! Of course, you wouldn't want your industrial peddle *too* high off the floor, but now you've given me some great ideas.

Cinderblocks! Or wooden leg-lifts, or a platform with a cutout for your chair and feet! There are lots of ways to raise something up.

I wonder how many other seamstresses aside for myself start a bout of sewing with good posture and then gradually find their face creeping ever closer toward the machine! I even tried to counteract this problem by getting a sewing table with telescopic legs so I wouldn't hunch over the machine. I wish there were such a solution for industrial machines because it's nicer to have the machine closer to my face than my bum.

This is a very true point!

Every so often a couple of my friends and I joke about charging extra for black given it's so tiring on the eyes... But it's not really that funny! I'm short-sighted began wearing glasses when I was about 22 I think, and the prescription gets stronger every few years. We joke about these things and carry on regardless, but yeah... if we want to continue making beautiful things we need to look after our most important tools, our hands and eyesight!

A trade arrangement I was working out with a friend really got me thinking about injury lately. I was trading my corsetry skills for her massage therapy skills which I was desperately needing for a repetitive motion injury in my shoulder. I was having a bit of trouble reconciling that she would have her end of the bargain wrapped up in just a few treatment sessions, whereas my work could take many more hours than that. Another friend remarked that that was fair, because they not only go through an awful lot of training, but their careers are short-lived because they work with their hands so much. It occurred to me that while I agree very much to a point, our careers in corsetry are not immune to the development of physical ailments directly associated with the work. My own injury that I was seeking treatment for was due to a specific sewing task that I had to replicate over and over again many times each day, and then exacerbated by inserting boning and such. A lady who worked lingerie production in the studio I worked in could no longer even put the underwires in bras because she had a similar repetitive motion injury from so many years of doing it.

So the TL;DR sum up is, it's no joke! Taking the time out to stretch (back when I worked at the studio, we made a fun break of it at the same time each day) and develop strength in your hands is so important. Those old school hand exercisers that you squeeze are great for warding off wrist and elbow pain. Even if you're not able to actually squeeze them closed, just gripping them firmly does seem to help a lot with those flaming wrists. Even a bit of a "warm up" when you know you'll be doing tasks that tend to make things sore can make all the difference, even if it seems rather silly.