HisPatchwork

I had a fiskars that smelled like skunk! I had it in the car and when I came back out of the grocery store I smelled it. Thought we may have hit one. Then laid it in the living room until I could set up a place at the table for it. It was Sunday, so I didn't get to it. Came home from church and the house smelled like it had been skunked! Not realizing where the smell was coming from yet, I set it on the kitchen table to cut some fabric on Monday. That is when my face was close to it and I realized it was the mat! I contacted the company, and they sent me a new one. The new one was just fine, no off odor at all.

ssm-QC

The smell is from polyvinyl chloride off gassing and it's bad stuff. You can't wipe it off and at best your masking the smell. It takes time to work it's way out of the mat. The differences people are experiencing are likely due to different ages of mats etc and different amounts of PVC's in the various mats. I find if I let the mat air out for week it's not nearly as bad. Chemical composition can vary and I have seen old mats that still had a strong smell but surely have finished off gassing. Unfortunately PVC's out perform other materials when it comes to the "self healing" characteristics quilters are looking for. Some day I'm sure they'll come up with something better but until then we are stuck with this stuff. Odds are no rep would want to talk about PVC's in their products and if you do a search about the stuff you'll understand why.

gramalama9

I have 6 large cutting mats by Olfa, Fiskars and Martelli.
Martelli has by far the best...heavier, thicker, better marked, indestructable (2 of my others have cracked), and I will never buy any other kind.
By the way....none of them smelled....lol.

lorraine43

I recently bought a Fiskers and it smelled like skunk. It's airing out in my extra room!!I'm hoping the smell will go away !!!!!It was made in China and wonder if they would put anything harmful in them like PVC's.

OHSue

I have tried several different types and they all smell to me. I have asthma, so a new mat needs plenty of time to air out for me. I stored it in the garage for several weeks.After a while during the day I took it out and layed it flat on my deck in the sun. If I would remember I would turn it a few times while it was out there. It took about two weeks of the sunshine treatment to get the smell off of it.

melrosemiss

I got mine from JoAnn's and it reeks. The ones I bought years ago did not have any odor. I cannot imagine why they are so different now. Because I have asthma, I kept it in the trunk of the car for 6 months and the odor still did not go away. I finally had to take it back and use my old ones, no matter how cut up. I cannot walk past the section in Jo-Ann's where they are stored. Someone told me the smell is formaldehyde.

melrosemiss

I don't know how accurate this is but I was told the smell comes from formaldehyde.

AngeliaNR

My Fiskars stunk for about a week, then the smell lessened, and finally after about another week, went completely away.

GemQuilts

This is an old thread but I have the same problem with a rotating mat I bought from Amazon. It smells so bad even after 4 months! I'm kind of afraid to soak it because it has a plastic backing to make it swivel. Any ideas on how to get this smell out without soaking it?

ErinBrowne

I bought a mat from Amazon and it smells Nothing! It comes from a new brand called Ecopeco. They said the mat was made from safe material, not PVC ( PVC material is harmful and smells). The cutting mark is barely to find also. I saw some unboxing videos on youtube and decide to try one. They did not disappoint me. it was really great.