ARRRGH! Warped cutting mat

Oh nooooo. I'm so sorry to hear your mat was a casualty of a sleepover. Maybe I'm a little tough, but it sounds like total disregard for your things by the guilty party. A cutting mat does NOT look like a hotplate. I'd be pretty upset at HER carelessness too, and I imagine your DD felt badly about it. Is there enough of the mat left straight that maybe you could cut it down, and make a smaller mat? Sometimes the small ones can be quite handy, when you need to swivel a block and you don't have to turn the fabric, just the mat. Little prayers sent that you find the mother of all sales on big cutting mats. They're quite an investment. Sherry

I agree! Maybe a hostile takeover of the dining room :-)

Sherry

I've read some creative ways to flatten a warped cutting mat here but don't remember that anyone was ever successful. The most determined was the quilter who put hers out on the driveway in the summer sun thinking it would bake flat. It did not. Then she backed the car on top of it. That didn't work either. We really do need to find a solution to this warped mat problem; they cost way to much to be so fussy. Polly

Oh nooooo. I'm so sorry to hear your mat was a casualty of a sleepover. Maybe I'm a little tough, but it sounds like total disregard for your things by the guilty party. A cutting mat does NOT look like a hotplate. I'd be pretty upset at HER carelessness too, and I imagine your DD felt badly about it. Is there enough of the mat left straight that maybe you could cut it down, and make a smaller mat? Sometimes the small ones can be quite handy, when you need to swivel a block and you don't have to turn the fabric, just the mat. Little prayers sent that you find the mother of all sales on big cutting mats. They're quite an investment. Sherry

Yuck! Don't you hate it when those little cascades of events end up someplace you could never have imagined -- almost always not good? Before you send JoAnn any of your money, check out WalMart. And not just the fabric section, if your local WM even has such a thing anymore. Check the craft section. I've seen big cutting mats at the local Wally World on sale and clearance and .... whatever. Worth a check.

Sunny

IF I remember correctly, somewhere I read that you need both a flat surface to put the mat on, plus a flat something to put on top of the mat. (like a large piece of glass) Once the mat is flat between 2 firm flat surfaces, add a bit of heat/sun to warm the mat. then let cool between the flat surfaces. I understand a hair dryer can be used for the heat part. I have never tried it, but it makes sense. But the key is that the mat must have flat surfaces on both sides, and weight the top too.

Good luck with the mat...... Pati, > I've read some creative ways to flatten a warped cutting mat here but don't

If you end up ordering a new one from Jo Ann's, I just got an e-mail with a coupon for an additional 20% off an online order including the sale price. If you can use it, e-mail me and I'll forward it to you.

Losing a mat like that is bad enough, but isn't ironic how these things always occur when you're in a hurry to get something done?

I use a piece of plexiglass on my craft/sewing table. Also put little felt dots on the edge underneath to keep it from scratching the table. My cutting mats are stored under this plexiglass, on top of table. Voila! mats kept flat, and a handy dandy measuring device right there under my nose ;)

G> IF I remember correctly, somewhere I read that you need both a flat

I used the 2 flat peices of glass to fix mine worked have used it for 10 yrs now. Good luck. It does have to cool slowly I added weight on top after it was heated.

Did you buy JoAnn's brand of cutting mat? I bought one last summer and absolutely hated it. I've already replaced it with an Alvin cutting mat -

The JoAnns brand wasn't self healing and in just a short time it was so full of slits it was miserable to use. It would feel like my blade was dull when it was just the mat putting a drag on the blade. I cut lots and lots of fabric and fleece for Project Linus and need a decent mat.

Donna in SW Idaho

No, I've never bought Jo Ann's brand cutting mat. I've got an Olfa mat that works great even though they seem to have an odor when you first get them. L just mentioned that she might order one from Jo Ann's so thought if she did she could use the coupon.

It is so easy to do something like that. I have an L-shaped sewing table. My TV is in the corner of the L. My machine sits on the short leg and I have a small 12X18 cutting mat on the long arm of the L in front of where I sit. I have been known, on occasion, to take my dinner plate to my sewing room so I can watch TV while I eat. DH likes a quiet dinner and he is usually reading the paper. I like to watch TV while I eat. (I know, I know, but we've been married for over 35 years and it works for us).

Did you know that if you set a dinner plate on your cutting mat and your food is really hot, it can warp your cutting mat all to heck?

No? Me, neither.

Cindy

Do you know that you can fold an old blanket at least 4 times to use for a pressing mat on top of your cutting mat and warp the cutting mat all to heck? No? Me neither. Polly

"teleflora" Did you know that if you set a dinner plate on your cutting mat and your

I do. One of my big mats now has a seersucker quadranr because I put a pressing mat on top of it.

Chopping the mat up just seemed like too much hassle, so I save it to butt up against the other mats when cutting long clothing projects.

My big mats live under the sewing room bed, in the cool and dark on the floor. The little one lives under a drawing board with a serger resting on top to try to press some of the seersucker effect that oneacquired when I left it out in the sun in the conservatory for too long.

They both still work, and I never used the marks for measuring, so the seersuckering doesn't bother me too much.

Did you know that if you use a stem iron and a vented (not solid) table top ironing board on top of your cutting mat WITHOUT extending the legs the steam will silently warp your cutting board without you noticing....? Nope? Me neither.

Lizzy

^ steam

Ginger in CA

Wow! I never thought of that. I sure like that idea!

On Sun, 13 Jul 2008 23:33:09 -0500, Polly Esther wrote (in article ):

Or use one of those large counter top pressing mats on your cutting mat and warp it all to heck? Found that one out the hard way. Now cutting mat comes off the cutting table before I press.

Maureen