brand of wool pressing mat
 

didn't think I`d want one but tried a friends she doesn`t remember the brand
looked on amazon so many different prices and quality
can anyone give me direction which one to get
thanks gale

I bought mine from Nancy’s Notins. The 12 inch square for retreats and the bigger one for home. Love them

I bought mine from Quilt in a Day. Love it. I got it on sale.

I ordered mine from Quit in a Day. I really love it. I got it when they had a sale. Good buy

I got mine at the Featherweight Shop when they had a sale.
One of my cats likes to sleep on it!!!

I have several all different brands. I can't tell difference between them. As long as it is thick and can't be folded it's the right one. Be sure and use a barrier underneath as heat and steam will go through the mat. My oldest mat turned brown in spots but was easy to brush them away with a stiff brush. I have washed one to get the starch build up out and it seems to be fine. I was given a 5 inch by 5 inch one. I have no idea what its good for but it's cute.

I have 3 different sizes; 9x5 1/2 goes to classes, 8 1/2x8 1/2 sits by my sewing machine and 12x18 is on my ironing board. The large one I got from Quilt in A Day on sale for 1/2 price, the other 2 were gifts. I love and use them all. Agree with Onebyone you want to make sure there is a barrier to protect surface as the steam goes through mat making underneath surface hot and wet, I set on a cutting mat cutting mat for quick press and it started to warp it. Keep checking Quilt In a Day as they have frequent sales on these.

I have not bought a wool pressing pad yet but have heard from Watson (board member) that you can purchase wool horse pads online that are less expensive from quilt shop/stores. State Line Tack has good prices. You can get a 30"x30"x1/2" wool pad for $21.97. You could cut it in half & get two 15"x15"x1/2" pads that would equal $11 per pad. Not a bad deal in my book. Their site is: www.statelinetack.com

Hope this helps....like I said, I've never ordered from this place but looks like a good deal to me.
Search under wool pad liner to see the plain, simple wool liner that they have available.

I have not purchased one as of yet. I have been following different threads that tell of the pros and cons and most are pros. This thread is very helpful too. Whetting my appetite to buy one.

thanks for all the info and what to look for
Gale

I can't remember where I purchased mine, but it was on sale. Just remember there are at least 2 widths.....be sure to get the 1/4" thick one. I'd also suggest you get one as big as you can afford. I purchased the 17" X 24 and I it. Wished I'd gotten bigger! Love it!

Yes! My guys will not leave it alone, ha! They love the smell of the wool. I just need to use a sticky-roller lint remover before I start.

Ha! I do the same!!!

The horse pads have lanolin left in the wool and that will cause a build up on your iron. You can use a ironing cloth to cover it but then defeat the purpose of the mat.

I'm sorry I did not know that before I posted. Please forgive my post above.

Thanks for starting this discussion grma33! - I will be following all the suggestions.

I have heard good things about the benefits of the wool mats and am thinking that this may be a 'must have' for me. I have been wanting one for awhile and have been watching the January sales.

There are so many different brand names out there and it's difficult to figure out which to buy. I also had a shop owner tell me not to use steam?? - I would definitely be using steam to set/flatten the seams along with my clapper. She said that steam makes the mat smell funny and that it eventually separates the fibers of the mat so that it may fall apart?? I understand that wet wool can give off a slight odour and needs to be dried when damp but I really questioned her about the quality of her mats when she told me this. Perhaps the mat she was selling isn't 100 percent wool but contains other materials thus making it separate.

I want one for my ironing board and then also one to put on top of the wooden snack table that I have next to me to use for convenient small pressing - I plan on using a barrier underneath on top of the wood. The little table measures 13 x 18 and it would be nice to have one that completely covered the top.

This is what I bought, I haven't used it yet, hopefully soon.

I have several. Different brands, different widths. Most are 3/4" two are only 1/2 inch. The table (which is sometimes my ironing board), under the narrower wool mat always gets very wet.
The other thing I've noticed is that some brands are not as smooth on the top as others. I have 2 that have... sort of ridges on them. Like those potato chips. Or like a washboard. Yep. And I don't like to use them. If you get a chance to see them before you buy (can't do that with online purchases), you might want to watch for that.

overall, I really like using the wool mats-especially with my small travel iron-right beside my sewing machine.

I also ordered from State Line. Wool pads made for horses work wonderfully. I posted about them on Facebook and a lot of people ordered...so much so that when I ordered a second one to expand my ironing table they were back ordered until the 24th. I can wait, because I already have one and use it daily.

I have heard that the Alpaca mats are better. I do have a small one that I really do like, but I can't compare it to the other wool mats because I have no experience with any other wool mat.

I bought this one off of Amazon, I haven't used it yet though.

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I got mine from Quilt in a Day as well. Also on sale. Worth every penny. Blocks are perfect after pressing. Flat and exact size.

Onebyone, curious to know what you use for a barrier. I purchased one from MS but haven’t used it with steam yet. Going on a retreat this weekend and planning on taking it with my travel iron. Sure don’t want to ruin a table. Will use it next to my machine.

I absolutely my wool ironing mat (17"x 17"). Ironing is a breeze and fabric doesn't move when you iron it. However the best thing is - - no more little folds of fabric in the seams, and because it's wool the heat actually radiates back up to the piece so you get heat from the top and bottom.....Couldn't do with out mine

I like mine as it helps flatten the points that tend to bulk up a bit. Being a new quilter, I need all the help I can get.

I have the horse pad one. I got the saddle pad (30 inches x 30 inches) and cut it into four, which gave me a 15 inch square pad x 4 pads. Friends split the cost.
Recently I ordered another pad, and the price of the pad had dropped to half the original cost a year ago. (Maybe the horse shop ordered a larger quantity because of quilters buying them? The store clerk made a sarcastic remark about "I suppose you're going to use this for quilting and not for a horse")
I have been using my original one for almost a year, and I use it a lot, I have never gotten any lanolin coming out of it, and I use steam, If I'm remembering correctly, steam is used to felt wool, so the steam should help it fuse more not make it separate...
I ordered another full pad as I intend to make a full sized ironing board pad for my ironing board. Then I'll use the other smaller one for a travel version,

i have that one and love it. Then I got one which fits my entire ironing big board. That one came from The Decorating Diva. I always wondered what every one was raving about and then I used it..... amazing persuading the intersection and seams to be flat

When I was growing up my mother used an old army blanket folded up on her ironic board. (They were 100% wool back then.) I just looked up the horse pads and they are less than half and had great reviews. Wish I would have found them before I ordered the one I have. Trying to justify ordering one. But my mat is 17 x 24 and the other is 30 x 30. since it would iron a full fat quarter might be my reason......