Wavy cutting mat - help please!
 

I have been sewing for years and I should have known better but recently I was pressing some seams and my self healing cutting mat was under my pressing board. I saw the corner sticking out and quickly lifted the board but 'dang it' - the thing had waves already from the steam of the iron. I tried hand smoothing but no luck. I haven't had it but about 8 months and had to wait for a special sale at JoAnns and got 60% off of a big one. Is there any way to get it to flatten back out???

http://www.ehow.com/way_5711793_do-w...ting-mat_.html

I found this site maybe it will help

Jane

Thank you so much. I thought I had read somewhere to put it out in the sun but I could not find that link anywhere. Very helpful articles. I really appreciate your help.

Earlier this year, when it was 107 in the shade, a bunch of us laid our cutting mats out in the sun on concrete or some other hard surface. Mine flattened out quite well--------------until my son in law laid it over a rock------------then I had to flatten it again. Anyway, mine was not badly warped, but the time in the sun sure helped.

This same thing recently happened to me. What I did was to put a bunch of heavy books on it while it was still warm. Since yours is already cooled off maybe you could warm it up again, just until it's warm, and then put the heavy books on top of the waves. Since that happened I put a layer of aluminum foil under my pressing mat and that helps.

I had a bunch of blocks to press and not thinking, kept pressing them on the same spot on the ironing surface. My ironing surface is a hinged top over my cutting surface and mat. When i raised the 'lid', I noticed my mat had a nice big bubble. I just put the 'lid' back down for a few hours and the bubble was gone-mat good as new. BTW, My ironing surface is 3/4" wood and this happened with no steam.

I'm glad to see this thread! I have a mat that is wavy so I bought a new one but I'd like to fix the other one to increase my cutting area if needed or to take with me in the RV. I'll try the sun trick and see if I can get mine to flatten out.