Another in my intermittent series of posts with very few words which, as you know, is rare for me and my first ‘tight lipped’ one since arriving back in England.
I bought my very large self healing cutting mat when I first started patchwork classes around 20 years ago.
It served me very well until this happened.
No longer a flat surface on which to cut fabric, it had to go.
The culprit
Aided and abetted by me.
I can now attest that steam blocking knitting on top of a cutting mat – even when you have a thick felt pad in between – does not end well.
In case you had ever thought it would.
Every cloud has a silver lining however and I now have a shiny new mat in a much more cheerful green with inches on one side….
and a lovely shade of blue with centimetres on the other.
Still, I won’t be doing that again.
#1 by Thimberlina on March 23, 2021 - 13:04
Oops! I did the same, I had my ironing mat on top of a small one and had no idea of what was going on underneath🙈.
#2 by tialys on March 23, 2021 - 13:20
We live and learn (hopefully!!).
Lovely to see your smiley face again btw.
#3 by Thimberlina on March 23, 2021 - 15:40
Thankyou🥰🥰
#4 by claire93 on March 23, 2021 - 13:23
your lesson duly noted ^^
#5 by tialys on March 23, 2021 - 17:35
I do these things so other people don’t have to 🙄
#6 by myrtovl on March 23, 2021 - 14:00
You can still cut out the parts that have not been affected and use the in smaller surfaces e.g. next to your sewing machine…😘 Myrto
>
#7 by tialys on March 23, 2021 - 17:34
Thank you – I wondered about recycling/repurposing it. It has actually been carried off to the garage/shed/workshop so I expect it will reappear in some form in the fullness of time.
#8 by Laurie Graves on March 23, 2021 - 14:29
Live and learn!
#9 by tialys on March 23, 2021 - 17:33
I try but sometimes I still do really stupid things and wonder what I was thinking.
#10 by Laurie Graves on March 23, 2021 - 22:42
Same! Sigh.
#11 by CurlsnSkirls on March 23, 2021 - 17:16
Ouch!
(❤️ the new mat.)
#12 by tialys on March 23, 2021 - 17:32
It’s pretty isn’t it?
#13 by CurlsnSkirls on March 23, 2021 - 17:43
👍🏼
#14 by katechiconi on March 24, 2021 - 00:26
I actually ruined a large brand new one by leaving it in the car during the height of summer for about 15 minutes without the air conditioning running. That’s all it took. I tried all the ‘rescue a ruined cutting mat’ tips and tricks I could find on the internet to no avail. Some of them were less than helpful. a) I have no bath to soak it in; b) who has a bath36 inches wide anyway, so the thing could lie flat? It’s amazingly, persistently warped, despite a full year under a heavy piece of furniture. One of these days, I’ll cut off the offending section and use it for ‘travel mat’ purposes, but that in itself has challenges. I imagine I’ll have to resort to a jigsaw, since it’s *self-healing*….
#15 by tialys on March 24, 2021 - 10:23
That’s scary – at least I had mine for 20 odd years. They should come with a more severe warning than ‘keep flat’.
#16 by katechiconi on March 25, 2021 - 01:45
The temperature in unshaded cars in the summer in Australia is insane. People go to prison here for leaving children and animals in closed cars. I suppose the really large mats are hard to ‘keep flat’ in a lot of spaces. Under the bed is a good one, or under a rug.
#17 by tialys on March 25, 2021 - 10:21
I’ve got a 24 x 36 inch mat and, luckily, I have a large enough cutting table that it can sit on top of there full-time.
As for hot cars, multiple times in France on very hot days I lay in wait to remonstrate with miscreants who went to do their supermarket shopping leaving their dog in the car. If I had seen one really suffering I’d have smashed the window and faced the consequences afterward rather than call the gendarmes and wait for them to arrive – if they’d even have bothered.
#18 by DawnGillDesigns on March 26, 2021 - 09:05
My A3 one, that was half a week’s rent at the time is still warped after moving bedsits as a student in 1992. Broke my heart. Now, of course they are ridiculously cheap. It progressed to being the one I used for leather paring, instead of delicate paper piercing. I’m surprised yours didn’t pool into molten plastic, given how hot it gets, ‘down under’
#19 by katechiconi on March 26, 2021 - 09:49
They’re not very cheap here, and it was a 24×36 inch mat, but I’d covered it up and thought that would protect it. Nuh uh. I really should get a thinnish sheet of MDF and glue it down hard. That’d do it, I think.
#20 by DawnGillDesigns on March 26, 2021 - 16:54
worth a go. Would make a great scraphappy 🙂
#21 by katechiconi on March 26, 2021 - 21:41
Yes… and it would get it out from under the cupboard where it’s been languishing ever since!
#22 by kathyreeves on March 24, 2021 - 03:21
I’ve done that too!
#23 by tialys on March 24, 2021 - 10:20
I’m just a bit glad I’m not alone.
#24 by Kellie on March 24, 2021 - 03:42
Oh thanks for sharing, when I saw the pic straight away I thought…how…then saw your culprit 🤔😩
#25 by tialys on March 24, 2021 - 10:20
Now you know and you won’t do it!!😉
#26 by magpiesue on March 24, 2021 - 17:55
I’ve managed to avoid that particular trap (I’ve gone through several mats over the decades) but my current mat does have a bump my dear hubby caused. Fortunately, I’ve been able to work around it as it’s towards an edge. There’s a new mat curing in the other room though, just waiting for the day it will have off-gassed sufficiently for me to use it.
#27 by tialys on March 25, 2021 - 10:23
I can imagine you getting through lots of mats with all the patchwork you do Sue. Hopefully your new one will be ready to use soon.
#28 by Born To Organize on March 25, 2021 - 05:50
I’m so glad you’ve found a new and improved cutting mat. I really like the idea of different colors for inches vs centimeters. I also like your Tight Lipped Tuesday creations.
#29 by tialys on March 25, 2021 - 10:15
Thank you Alys – I was torn between the bright blue/green and the pink/purple versions. x
#30 by Born To Organize on March 29, 2021 - 21:26
I’m sure both would be stunning, but wow, I love this one.
#31 by cedar51 on March 25, 2021 - 06:32
I agree, love the new mat – one of my earlier ones split almost cleanly in half, and used it when going to workshops. The current one is a bit bigger but at the moment it’s on “long service leave” as I’m not doing that kind of cutting right now.
#32 by tialys on March 25, 2021 - 10:14
Well just make sure it’s in a flat place on its ‘long service leave’ so it will be ready to go again when you are. 😉