Rotating cutting mat
 

I've been thinking for some time about buying a rotating cutting mat since I make a lot of scrap quilts and cut from small pieces of fabric. Any suggestions for type, size, features? Do you like yours? Would I be better off to just continue cutting on a regular mat? Thanks for any ideas.

I have 3 different rotating mats. One is by Fiskars and the other 2 are Olfa. The Fiskars one is 13" on a side and is a light grey color. This is helpful if you are cutting dark fabrics, but I find the surface to be rather hard and stiff. The Olfa mats are 12" and 17". I use the 12" one the most. It is my favorite. These are very helpful if you are trimming a lot of blocks and need to turn your work to get all the sides. Depending on your work surface, you may have better luck than I do with the large one. I seem to have too much on my cutting table that interferes with the smooth movement of the top! I hope this helps.

Leslie

I have one that I bought a couple years ago from Fat Quarter Shop. It's labelled Mathilda's Own. I really like it. It's great for squaring up blocks.

I have a 12" Olfa that I really like for trimming and cutting small pieces. I got it 2 years ago as a Christmas gift and the only thing that I don't like about it is the chemical odor. The Olfa company sent me a new one because the odor on the first one was so strong that it penetrated the whole house and made my eyes water when I was in the same room with it. The replacement is a little better, but I still keep it stored out in the garage when I'm not using it. The factory rep told me that the smell comes from the manufacturing process and theirs all have some smell, but most aren't as bad as the one I had. I have tried all the remedies the company suggested as well as those on various websites and nothing has worked. Maybe other brands are better, but my only experience has been with an Olfa.

I had 2. What I would look for is:
1. How easily does it turn and how easy to control the turn
2. The actual size of the largest square that can be cut on it. I think a 12.5" square is very good.
3. How large the pieces of fabric. Any fabric extending beyond the cutting surface makes it harder to turn.

I have the Matilda's Own 15" rotating mat and it's never given me a problem, turns easily. I bought it on Amazon a few years back and love it.

I have a Fiskars 14x14" mat that turns nicely, but has such a hard slippery surface. I really have to put the pressure on my ruler to keep the fabric from sliding, but, that said even though I will look at other mats that may work better, I do like it as it sure saves time when you don't have to continuously turn your fabric by hand. I have been cutting large hexagons and that part of the cutting goes so very much quicker with the rotating mat.

I have two mats. One is gray the other green, by Omnigrid.. Like that the Omnigraid the best. It's a circle and has "bumps" to slip your finger into for rotating. https://themakersemporium.com/produc...ng-cutting-mat
However, I have a 12" square mat that I use more often. Doesn't rotate. Just a simple mat that does the trick and much cheaper.

I have the Calibre Art Rotating self healing cutting mat and I like it a lot. It has a 13" grid, rotates easily and won't move when you cut. You can buy it here: https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/...e?ie=UTF8&th=1

I have the round rotating mat, - the Omnigrid 360 14". I like it better than the square ones as this has a 'flower shape' so that it is easy to grasp and turn. I was able to get it on sale, where I got 2 basically for the price of one. Also, I noticed with the square one, has the rotating area showing when it is in a partial turn. As with the round ones, the rotating area stays completely under the mat no matter which way you turn it.

I really like using the rotating mat for squaring up HST etc. using the Bloc Loc rulers.