Making a wool pressing mat
 

Has anybody made a wool pressing mat? I have a wool blanket and am thinking of making my own. I know I need to felt it first. I have a couple of questions.

How thick did you make it?

Did you layer the blanket or just use one?

Did you use batting with it?

What kind of wood did you use?

I'm not sure if your wool blanket will really felt enough to be like a wool pressing mat. I just bought one and it's fairly thick and felted really well. I have an old wool blanket that I use to press large pieces. I toss it over my cutting table and just press on it. It's a very old blanket and I'm sure has been washed many, many times, but it hasn't really felted that much.

The mats are very solid, nothing like the wool blankets. But the wool blanket will be good on an ironing surface if folded in layers.

My mother used an old wool blanket, what she did was put a couple layers on the ironing board and then put a light cover over it to hold it in place. I have a wool lined ironing board cover, but the cotton cover is too thick to be much help so I bought the wool ironing mat when Quilt in a Day had their sale. I got the large one - figured I needed at least 24 inches based on what I iron.

There is no wood in a wool pressing mat. They are heavily felted wool. You could use the blanket, maybe as a base, adding wool roving felting in layers onto the blanket. The ones I’ve seen are about 3/4” thick, solid felted wool.
You could use your blanket as an ironing board cover like others have described.

Years ago a quilting teacher suggested using a fat quarter of wool applique fabric to press open seams. Works great, I use white just in case steam would cause a color to run.

I had many good sized pieces of Wool Felt. I bought these for applique but do not like using them. These are not the cheapie acrylic kind. I layered 4 of these and then sewed a big X and around all 4 sides. I think it works great. I would not have bought these for this purpose but it worked out well for me. I think it is around 15 inches square or so.

She was asking about surface to put the wool blanket on.

I made one accidentally. I was felting a wool sweater for mittens and followed a set of directions that told me to wash it multiple times. By the time I was done it was small enough to fit a teddy bear and so dense it was hard to cut through. After I saw wool pressing mats for sale, I just cut the sweater into as large a square as I could get. It worked!

I remember my grandmother boiling wool fabric to felt it but don't remember what she made with it.

www.sutherlandfelt.com I bought a large piece of felt from here. I covered the top of a dresser in my sewing room to use to press on. I also bought a smaller piece to keep on a small table next to my sewing machine. I love it. Someone on here suggested this site. I just sent them an email of what I wanted the felt for. They quickly told me what I needed and the price. It costs much than the pads in the LQS>

Sutherland felt
 

Hello, I was wondering what felt to purchased from Sutherland for your pressing mat. I looked at the white and eco-wool and received samples to test again my pressing mat I purchased from the local quilt shop. thank you

I have bought a second hand wool blanket for 6$ at my local Salvation army store. It's those heavy and scratchy army type blanket from the 1960. It's felted wool, very thick. I've covered my regular iron board with it. It's perfect!

I made my own by crocheting it with wool yarn, then washing in hot water, etc. If anyone is interested in the instructions, I can post the link. Mine came out about 1/2" thick.

I would LOVE those instructions!

Me too! I'd love those instructions.

I used a piece of my favorite, old, worn out, wool blanket for my mat. I've used it for several years now and so it sort of felted on its own, with the heat and steam from the iron. When not in use, I just fold it up. I've also washed it in cold water once. It came out a little wavy, but after pressing it, it flattened back out and was fine. Basically, it was FREE. Plus, I can still enjoy a little part of that beautiful blanket.