Originally Posted by Arizona Sunrises
Has anyone used the Gingher mats? I never see anyone post about them, and my trip to Joann verified that they don't smell!!
Hi,
I'm on my third Gingher mat, a 24 x 36 that I bought from Joann's last fall. That is, I bought one, but every time I used it, no matter which rotary cutter I used (different brands, even), and with different blades, it was leaving nasty cut marks on it and actually bringing up strings of mat material. I documented these issues by taking pictures of the problem mat and called Joann's. They sent out a new one in about a week to ten days. Same thing happened on mat #2. This time I emailed Gingher with my pictures.
The customer rep at Gingher was very nice, apologetic and mailed me out another mat straight from Gingher. It is doing well so far. All Gingher could figure out was that something must've gone wrong in that batch that I got my first two from. She said that was the first they had heard about it, too.
I like the light blue side the best, easier to see darker fabrics on, compared to my Olfa dark green mats. Don't care much for the khaki side, but then I don't cut a whole lot of light fabrics, either. These mats have a "Limited Lifetime Warranty", which basically says they will "repair, replace or provide you with an item of equal value" should yours become defective during the time you own it. Can't beat that.
They are spendy, but I got mine at 40 or 50% off and that really helped. Oh, the one thing I don't care for is that the marks on the outer perimeter for the eighths, fourths and half are all the same length. I'm used to them being all different lengths for quicker/easier recognition. This might not be a deterrent to some. Hope I've given you all some beneficial info here.
Happy sewing,
ETA: You're right, they DON'T smell, thank goodness!!