Mats & Rulers - Green, vs. White
 

I have all green mats and mostly green rulers. There are times when I just can't see the fabric edge very well because lack of contrast. I'm thinking of buying some clear rulers, and/or, a white mat, but I have such a limited workspace. What are your opinions on this? Thanks.

I changed out my mats to Quilter's Select brand. Light gray on one side and dark gray on the other side. I also bought QS rulers in the basic sizes. They are the best I have used. I buy Creative Grids rulers when I want a speciality ruler. The rulers that have the colored lines like yellow and orange were always on the guild free table. No one wanted them. I have a few left of the bigger size squares I use for square up.

With my vision issues I often have issues with the rulers anyway. Dealing with "Olfa green" is actually pretty easy. I use a piece of paper or an envelope on one/the cut side of the fabric. Not shown in this picture but sometimes overlapping that top edge help too if your cut is wide enough.

I'll also mark/reinforce my cutting thickness with a piece of tape on my ruler, helps me be consistent and lets me see/count the grid where I can.

I'm with Onebyone on this, in favor of Quilter"s Select rulers. They don't slide. They're expensive, but make a big difference in cutting. I'm on the fence about the mat because it's thick and heavy. I tend not to use it. And if I'm cutting the same shape, I often use tape on my ruler, too.

One of the biggest changes I made was to a white mat. I love it. My rulers are clear and whatever brand I purchase, I just make sure they aren't cluttered with markings which makes it easy to see. I'm 63 and eyes aren't what they used to be - even with glasses. My cutting table is quite large and the white sure brightened up the room!

One of our lovely board members here sent me this gift ruler which is rapidly becoming one of my best friends. It is by Missouri Quilt Co and is bright fluorescent green in the sun, but in the house it lets me see the grid for black fabric. A very handy 2.5x8" width I'm using it for all my subunits. I was actually cutting 1.75" strips which is where the tape is, the tape also provides a little bit of grip which is nice.

My eye doctor had a talk with me last visit. He says that some of the issues I'm having, especially for example, troubles with black fabric are due from "the normal processes of aging" (nice doctor code for "macular degeneration" which unfortunately for me I'm more on the early onset side of things and that I'll be having my first cataract surgery probably within the next two-three years in order to give me the most vision possible as I can combined with my primary cornea issues.

PS/Edit: woo, I see a lot more thread on that black scrap on the picture than in real life! Sometimes a little vision fuzz maybe isn't so bad :p

I really, really dislike the rulers that have yellow lines painted on them. They are so hard to see through! I've switched to Creative Grids and Olfa frosted rulers. The Creative Grids have a see-through non-slip texture on the back. I've also stopped replacing my green cutting mats with more green cutting mats. I bought a white one at the office supply store, and have my eye on a navy blue one at the LQS. Who decided that ugly green was the color to use anyway??

Quilters Select for me too! They are fantastic.

I use tape, too! Especially colored electrical tape. Pulls off very easily and the same piece can be used several times.