Cutting board opinions please!!
 

I am looking for a large cutting mat for quilting. This matt will be used with a friskers rotary cutting blade. I have read many opinions and think I will get the Olfa matt. I have currently a 18 inch x 28 in matt. I have been looking the following matt. I cut and paste the information from joanns website. I have a 50% off coupon and another 25% off total purchase that I am hoping to be able to use both. Atleast the 50% off one. This matt cost 1369.49. Create large size sewing or quilting projects easily using the Olfa Gridded Cutting Mat Set With Clips. This superior quality cutting mat is made of a self-healing material and is resilient to permeating rotary cutters. The mat features convenient grid lines, hash marks and bias diagonals for precision cutting or piercing. It also comes with three mats and four clips to enlarge the mat in continued order.

• Brand: Olfa
• Includes two mats and two clips
• Dimensions: 23 x 70 inches Please all information and opinions are welcome.

You can use the 50% coupon on an item, but the 25% off on the total purchase will not apply to that part of the sale. Sorry. I'm hoping that's a misprint - 1369.49 for a mat! Wow! Well, quilting is expensive.:shock:

Really? Or is that a typo.

Hmm, not sure what will happen where the mats are joined. You obviously could not cut right on the join, but if you cut across it would your cut get distorted? I do like the olfa mats the best. I HATE those big white ones that JoAnn's sells. They are not self healing, and get really torn up, but they are the biggest ones they carry in the store.

I purchased a table from Joanns several years ago that is on wheels and folds up into about six inches wide if you needed to store it. It also has a drawer the width of the middle of the top. It comes in handy for storing scissors etc. Mine is so loaded with fabric that I may never again be able to close it. It also had a mat the same size to fit it. I don't know if it was included in the price or not. I know I did not pay the kind of money you are mentioning.. The other cutting and or ironing surface I have in my stash room is a unfinished kitchen island cart. It has a drawer and a shelf near the bottom where I can store things like my cutters etc. It is on wheels less I decide to move it. Both are just the right height to spare my back when ironing, cutting or pin basting the dozens of Linus quilts I make each month.

I would not spend that kind of money for a cutting mat. I have a 24 x 36" and that is the largest I want to use. You can always fold large yardage of fabric down.

She must have made a typo. On JAF webiste, the 26"x70" is $136.49 and the 35"x70" is $199.99. I have had the larger set and it worked find for me. Clips keep them snug to one another.But I don't particular care for the quality of the Olfa board I bought last November. I am back to cutting on my old Omnigrid mat.

I have a large cutting table and purchased the mat for it at Joann's - using a 40% coupon- I think the mat wound up being $39. fits the table and is the same mat my local quilt shop uses- it is actually my 2nd one- the first one lasted about 8 years- then had some pretty worn areas- when they got them in, offering a good sale price I decided to replace the old one with a new one & cut the old one up into smaller useable mats

i find olfa mats much more expensive than other brands, but you really dog et what you pay for. i have gone through three fisker's mats in the time that my olfa mat had been around. actually, i've had the olfa mat for a coupleof years longer! it's just not as big as these cheaper fisker's mats.

anyway. what i am trying to say is the olfa mata re worth the investment if it won;t hurt you to shell out the money up front.

aileen