Written by Laura Chaney, daughter
Welcome to Throwback Thursday! Every Thursday we’ll feature a post from the blog archives that we think is still useful today! This post is part of our Quilter’s Tool Chest where we share our favorite quilting notions, tools and gadgets.
Our first ten posts will focus our top recommended notions, tools and gadgets for new quilters. These are the perfect items to help a new quilter start building her quilty tool chest. If you’re already a crafter these could be great tools to add to your arsenal to crossover and try a new craft.
This week we’re continuing our Quilter’s Tool Chest series with the final piece of the rotary-cutting trilogy (rotary cutters and acrylic rulers), the self-healing cutting mat.
As with rotary cutters and acrylic rulers, self-healing cutting mats come in a variety of sizes. Small ones can be great if you’re looking for an easily portable system for cutting small pieces, but if you have the space for a larger one I’d recommend getting the largest that will fit on your cutting surface.
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| 7×7 Omnigrid Portable Cutting Mat and Pressing Board |
One tricky thing about these mats is that they do need to be stored flat when not in use. I’ve ruined a mat before when I left it standing up between a bookcase and the wall. The slight bend in the mat from being upright caused the mat to permanently warp. Sunlight shining on the mat exacerbates this problem. These mats aren’t exactly cheap, so it was definitely a costly lesson for me to learn. If you have a dedicated cutting table, that’s the best place to store your mat. I’ve also had great luck storing them on top of my refrigerator or under the bed.
As with the rotary cutters and acrylic rulers these self-healing cutting mats are easy to find at any crafting/sewing store or online at Amazon. I use both the larger Olfa and the smaller Omnigrad mat all the time.
All product links are Amazon affiliate links which help support Prairie Sewn Studios. No additional compensation was provided for this post, just sharing some products we love to use to sew, craft and quilt!
This content was originally published on Prairie Sewn Studios on February 2, 2015, and is being reproduced here for Throwback Thursday. #TBT
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