i miss my table that hubby built for me for my height, but it won't fit in any room of our current home. it was up to my waste (i'm short) so that i could cut w/o bending over, i could sew standing up (i have advanced degenerative spinal disease). the table is 8' long, 3' wide, easily disassembled & currently resides in my garagenin pieces. i would have like 4' wide ..but the room i used for sewing & crafting was long & narrow, so he built what we could fit in. when cutting i like a mat large enough to cover entire table as i cut borders length of fabric to length needed ..i don't piece borders unless it's part of my intended design. i also like having cutting right by my machine for trimming etc and with a table sized mat i had cutting area by each machine i had set up. i would have one domestic for sewing & one domestic for fmq. i made a ironing pad that attached with velcro strips and i could iron full sized quilt tops, i could baste quilts, mark quilts for quilting ..i am now using the dining table & i miss my long beautiful table every time i try to sew for a bit ..sitting down. i got one block done today and then my back said "quit".
...basically if you have room for longer table area, do it. if you have to cut oversized mat down to fit, do it ..the pieces have several uses ..small portable cutting mats to travel with, purse/tote bag bottoms ..