Wool pressing mat question
 

Upon seeing a recommendation found here I purchased a horse pad 100% wool from the recommended company. It works wonderfully used it quite a while, then noticed some gunk on my iron and discolored places on my mat. I always use high heat and steam. What am I doing wrong to mess up my Matt and get stuff on my iron. I am considering buying another one I just need some advice from other users for this type of wool mat. Please help. Thank you.
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I wrapped mine in muslin after making the same mistake with "iron gunk"....

Happy Sewing!
Michelle

I bought a 100% wool pressing mat, not a horse mat, and have had absolutely no problems with it. I love it.

I would suggest turning down the heat. My first time out with my mat I used my iron on the same high heat as before using the mat. I made a minor mess and now have a discolored place on my wool mat. It is a good reminder to turn down the temp. My quilting group that meets online just talked about this yesterday. Also, if you use spray starch starch, don't use it on your wool mat. Water, yes but not starch. Several of my group mentioned making a muslin cover that can be tossed in the wash periodically keeping the mat clean.

I haven’t had any trouble with 'gunk' using my 100% wool mat on high heat, the standard setting i have my iron on when quilting. I suspect in a horse saddle pad there maybe some variance in fibres in there, like a little polyester that may be melting onto your iron. Not critical for a horse saddle pad, but would be when ironing on it. I don’t use spray starch with the wool mat, but do use spray starch on my ironing board if I feel I need to, then once the starched fabric is pressed dry, I will press it when in the piecing process, on the wool mat and don’t worry about it.

I spray my pieces off the wool mat, then place them on the mat to press. No "overflow" or mess of any kind. Of course it helps that most of my quilts have 6" blocks!

I made a muslin " pillow case" for my wool mat - I did buy the horse pad - and I thnk it made using the mat much.nicer.

Thank you all for your replies. I have an 1800 watt iron so that was probably the reason along with using starch. I covered my mat with some thin cotton when this happened. Thanks for helping me figure this out.