Snooze2978

Hello, I'm in the market for a new cutting mat. Thought I had one picked out that could be custom cut to fit my cutting table but when I called them to order, the lady stated that the rhino mat may not work for what I want...........cutting fabric as it might snag the fabrics later on down the road. The rhino mat is self healing so why would it snag but I figured the lady should know what she's talking about. Though she did say some quilters love the mat but I guess she just wanted me to know all the possibilities. Their magic mat, green and also self healing did not come in the size I needed and could not be custom cut so off I went to look online for more possibilities. I put the question about mats on the Quiltville digest and most of the replies seemed to be toward the Martelli mats.............green/black with grid and............expensive but worth it.

Well I kept checking online and finally came to the conclusion that finding a mat the size I needed was not possible so I'm making a new cutting table top to fit the mat.........4' x 8'.....just 22" longer but the same width. Found this mat at Cutting-Mats.com so if anyone has purchased this mat, I'd love to know your opinion. Its the green on one side and black on the other side with grid on both sides. Sure hope I'm paying for what I want. It looks to be similar if not the same as the Martelli mats.

Your opinions will be greatly appreciated.

Sewnoma

I went to the site - it looks like you got the Alvin 4x8 mat?

If so - Alvin mats are great. I bought one, then got a bigger table and bought another larger one. I'm very happy with it!

I've never used a Martelli mat, but I own Olfa, Fiskar, Dritz, Omingrid, and Alvin brand mats and I like my Alvins the best.

That is going to be one awesomely large cutting space! I hope you'll post pics when it's done!

citruscountyquilter

I'm curious as to what the advantages are of such a large mat. Eight feet is a long distance and I don't know what I would use it for.

ManiacQuilter2

I had the big triple one made by Olfa sold at JAF. The only use for that large of a mat is to be able to trim quilts when finished with the quilting. It is worth it if you are doing a lot of quilting.

DogHouseMom

check out Beba mats. They come in a lot of different sizes (mine is roughly 3' X 5') and I think they do custom sizes as well. I love my Beba mat! It's not the green "self healing", it's the clear type mat. I've had it 4 years now and its as smooth as the day I bought it.
http://www.shop.bebasboutique.com/Cu...3.htm?page=all

pw6

use a hot glue gun to heal the edges, that should give it a nice rounded edge and also cut it from the other side away from your cutting side ...good luck..

PaperPrincess

Both my LQSs use Alvin mats. I would steer clear of the white ones as they are not self healing.

Peckish

My friend and blog partner Cindi ordered a mat from a company called SpeedPress about 3 years ago. She's been pretty happy with it. They make cutting mats for framers and artists, and the mats are designed for heavy-duty blade and cutter abuse.

just janet

I think my whole sewing area is 4 X 8 Lucky you! My cutting mat is 2' X 3'

rebeljane

Thought this might be of some good

http://www.dickblick.com/products/alvin-cutting-mats/