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You can cut them up and use them as a flat, sturdy bottom in tote bags or duffle bags.
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Originally Posted by Jeanne S
(Post 8056237)
You can cut them up and use them as a flat, sturdy bottom in tote bags or duffle bags.
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scissors cut mats easily
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I had an old mat I hated to throw out. So since I had an 18” wood disk & metal lazy Susan, (bought from Home Depot) my husband mounted them together to give me a rotary cutting pc. I padded it though for ironing. Instead of tossing the old mat, I cut it out to fit the round. pc. I just set it on top of the padded disk so it gives me a good rotary cutting mat. It doesn’t slide around so I did not glue it down. I just remove that to iron. I feel pretty clever for making a dual use of an old mat.
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I love to make my daughter scrub tops for her job. Her scrub tops have 3 patch pockets on them and lining them up using a flimsy tissue pattern as a guide was very time consuming and not always accurate. So I cut up an old cutting mat and used it as a template/jig for pocket placement. It is every bit as large as the pattern piece for the front of the scrub. I asked my husband to "drill" out the marks and now I can just use a fabric marker to mark the pockets on the fabric. WOW! I have literally cut out buckets of time using this method and that old mat will literally last forever!
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Originally Posted by NoraB
(Post 8055599)
okay guys....I'm opening this thread up again. I have two Olfa rotating cutting mats...they are at least 20 years old and the green color is getting paler in the middle (where I guess I cut a lot). I like to utilize the heck out of my stuff.......but, I'm not sure this is a good thing for the mats. How do you tell when it's time to replace them? I did pull out my brand-new 17" rotating cutting mat and used it last night. It seemed to cut much better with the same rotaty cutter. So, I'm assuming the other 2 are old. I've seen where people rejuvenate them by soaking them in a tub, etc. Have any of you successfully done that? Does it enable you to use them longer or is it worth it? Lastly, if it's time for them to be repurposed........what do you do with them? They are the rotating ones, so can't flip to the other side. I guess I can use them to protect the surface of some of my sewing room furniture (but I've already gone some old mats there). How long do you keep yours? Did mine have a good run? Let me know your thoughts. I just don't want them going to the landfill without squeezing out their last bit of usefulness! Thanks!
And it had that center piece divet on the back that made that side useless. It is sitting in the closet somewhere. But I have an older rotating mat (Martelli? I think?) that is still healing itself well and still works great. An oldie but a goodie. I found a couple of youtube videos that have ideas for re-using kitchen cutting mats. Maybe they will have good, alternative uses. Maybe....coasters? |
Eureka! A chair mat.
While vacuuming yesterday,I noticed that I have a leaky office chair. I don't know if it was some kind of hydraulic fluid or grease or what. In looking around for something to put under my chair, I came up empty in my search until I remembered....
I have an old, no, very very old Dritz cutting mat that I bought used at a yard sale back in 1994. I was a beginning quilter, so was delighted when I found a used one at a yard sale for $5. I later learned that this particular mat was not self healing. It soon became rather unusable and dulled my blades quickly. Why I kept that thing all these years, I don't know. But today, I was sure glad I did. Measuring at 30 x 36", it was perfect to fit under my chair's leg span. Woo hoo!! I am doin' the happy dance. |
You paid for both sides of the mat, so why not?
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My mats are marked in metric on the reverse side so this is my 'go to' side when measuring with rulers. It now looks very used. However, when I want to use the imperial side of the mat for measuring it is still relatively unmarked.
I am keeping everyone's ideas for using the redundant mats though as I couldn't bear to see them go to landfill. |
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