Repurposing cutting mats
 

I have 2 cutting mats I no longer use. One is warped from being left in a hot car, the other is a brand I did not like. I started to throw them out and then it occurred to me someone may have found a way to reuse these mats. I'm looking forward to seeing your input, thanks.

You can cut one of them smaller and use it as a rotating mat on top of your other one for squaring up blocks.
They would make good bottom pieces for purses and totes too :) :) :)

My DH takes my old ones and uses them in his shop. He put one on a top of a cabinet or something and he can use it when he needs to cut something with one of those retactable razor cutters that all guys have...LOL( I have a couple as well). He used one for a neighbor that wanted him to make a fish cleaning station for him...he screwed the edges down on a treated piece of plywood next to the sink for the cleaning station...works like a champ! Now they can clean the fish and not cut into the wood and it can all be cleaned and hosed off and be outside in the weather. I have also cut one into smaller pieces, using the sections that I didn't "use up" to have little cutting areas next to my machines and to carry with me when I need a small cutting mat.

Amma, thanks for posting that. I have a large, a med and a small mat. i never thought of using the small on top of the other for rotating :)

I've read that some people cut them up for the bottom of purses

Cut them up with scissors, in smaller lots, to take to classes. If you have too many small ones, offer them to your quilting buddies.

Either cut the good parts off and do lots of cutting on them in an effort to save your new big mat.

If it's not too terribly warped (and maybe if it is) you can always try to use contact cement to glue it to a smooth board. You apply the cement to both the board and the mat, then put them together. It may take a couple of people to get it smooth. You'll also need weight to hold it down while it cures.

They would cut up into wonderful templates. The bottom of handbags has already been mentioned and indeed another good idea. DH would like it for lining tool boxes, cutting on in workshop.

thank you. some very good ideas here

The first mat I bought was at lunch time and I left it in my car while I was in work not realizing that the heat would make it warp never could get it to lay flat again. Thanks for the idea of cement and a board sounds like that would work. I'm so glad it wasn't one of the big mats I was so upset when I saw it. We do learn by our mistakes. Sue

Lots of great recycling ideas. I just cut one round and put on a wooden lazy susan for turning while cutting pieces. Works great. :)

I use mine under my sewing machine. My machine runs more quietly as the mat absorbs the sound and doesn't move around. If I have to trim a little, the mat is right there!

my fave is my warped board cut to fit the back of a cookie sheet...glued with contact cement so it is steady and flat now...inside the cookie sheet, i i put pc of cardboard, wrapped with old blanket and then covered with denim (my favorite ironing surface) ...then glued this all inside the cookie sheet...pin-able, ironable and cutable... and reclaimed a ruined board. I also have little ones for the end of my ironing board and inside my sewing kit.

What a great idea!!

My fav is to cut the board up into smaller pieces. I use them for cutting small stuff next to my machine, take them to sewing groups or put them into sewing bags that I make and give as gifts. I too started with one that was warped from being left in a hot car. When I cut it up the first time, I cut a 9 X 12 piece out of the warped mat and placed it with aluminum foil on either side between two cookie sheets in cold oven. On top of the cookie sheets I put 2 cast iron skillets. I turned the oven on to 200 degrees. I allowed the oven to heat and then "cooked" the "sandwich" after the oven reached temperature for 30 minutes. I then turned the oven OFF and did not remove the "sandwich" until the oven was COMPLETELY cold.

The piece of cutting mat was perfectly flat.

Now - I will be honest with you, it is not as flexible or pliable as it was before BUT it is flat and very usable.

I did this very thing with one of mine. depending on size of matt, you might make a couple and share with a quilting friend or give it as a Christmas gift.

What a wonderful thread this has been for me! I am wanting to buy a bigger and better (and not worn out) mat, and I probably would have thrown the old one out!!! Thank you for all the great ideas!

I cut mine and used it on a lazy susan for a rotating mat. Mounted it to a rectangle of wood and then put them on the lazy susan..love it.

I glued my old mat to a lady susan after tailoring it to size. I use it to square blocks.

I have laid warped ones out on the sidewalk on a hot sunny day and they flatten out just fine.

Great ideas. The next time I have one that is used up so to speak I will make purse bottoms. Thanks.

mltquilt

I am so glad to have come across this posting. Thanks for the really good ideas for repurposing a mat that you aren't using for whatever reason. I'm going to try some of them.

I saw purse bottoms mentioned, but I'd use pieces anywhere I'd use chip board like in e-reader covers, journals, fabric boxes etc. Rescue a sagging chair or couch. Shelf liners.

This is totally tounge in cheek. A quilters checkers game for a guilds white elephant. Color every other square with sharpie and make two colors of chicken pin cusions. Must yell "pin me!" instead of king me.

I cut up my old ones to size to fit one die shape on my Go dies. It works fine and I can cut more layers of fabric using the thinner mat. Sometimes I just want one die shape so no need to have the whole die cut mat being used and worn. No mat covering the blade, the blade does not come out of the foam. I don't baby by Go machine or dies. I use the fire out of them.

Not re-purposing ... but FYI I have had luck with getting warp/buckles out of self healing mats (mine is an Omnigrid). I had stupidly IRONED something on it. Yeah I know ... not one of my brightest moments.

Anyway .... if you want to re-use the mat as a mat, or need to get the warp out to use it as something else, you might be able to fix it. I use the same fix that I use to give my mat a good cleaning (and "healing").

Saturate several towels with HOT water. Spread the towels on top of the mat (the mat should be on a flat surface). Place a piece of plastic over the wet towels, then place a lot of books over the top - make sure the books fit snugly to each other so as much as the mat is covered with weight as possible. You may need several layers of books. Leave the mat like this for at least 2 hours.

Have everything ready before hand - books, plastic sheeting. The sooner you place the weight onto the hot wet towels, the better.

If they are warped, they are useless. If you have a brand you don't like, offer it in a garage sale. All my quilting stuff with the exception of some thin fabrics, were snapped right up.

This is a great thread - got several ideas from y'all. Thanks!

Buy a wooden Lazy Susan from Walmart (usually 12" round). From the old cutting mat cut out a circle the same size of the lazy susan. Glue onto the lazy susan with a thin but strong glue especially around the outer edges. Now you have a rotating cutting mat to accurately cut those small quilt pieces.

My hubs confiscates mine as well. Uses them in the workshop....

REALLY great ideas both on repurposing and on flattening!
You ladies are just great!!

Wow, so many great ideas. I am so glad I did not throw my old one away! Thanks everyone!

Heat renews warped cutting pads, some advocate laying on towels and books. As I mentioned before I just lay mine out on a hot sunny sidewalk. Has worked for me. Happy sewing.

I had my brother cut a circle out of one and glue it to an old lazy susan - free rotating cutting mat.

What a lot of helpful advice. Thanks so much.

I know that this is a stretch but donate them to a local high school, community college or university that has a sewing skills, fashion design or architecture department. I work at a university that has all three of those departments and I see cutting mats in all three areas. The students can always use more cutting surfaces in the classrooms. I found one mat in the trash last summer that was so old...."How old was it?" It was so old that... it had been used so much that the surface was not long flat but covered with ridges from the number of years of cutting, and cutting and cutting in the same areas.

I am sure donations of even the mat you don't like would be appreciated.

Cutting into smaller pieces and putting on one side and iron board in a notebook type cover for taking to class. They would make wonderful gifts and much more frugle than buying the expensive one Omni makes .

use them for templates

Now, that is championship recycling!