The New Cutting Matte

I'm in love!

How did I ever manage without one?  I denied myself this little slice of heaven because, for one I'm trying to scale down, not accumulate more.  And secondly I didn't quilt so I didn't think I needed one.

As I have been working on a lot of projects that require neatly trimmed squares and rectangles and a certain degree of accuracy I decided to go ahead and treat myself.  And boy am I glad I did.  Originally I set out to just buy the matte and use a 40% OFF coupon to save a bundle.  But when I found out it would be on sale for 50% OFF the very next day I decided to wait and as a result I was also able to get a really nice ruler to go with it also half off.

Squaring up the edge

This one is two sided and self healing.  The ruler is nice and thick with plenty of markings to help me make accurate cuts and not cut myself with my rotary cutter in the process.  A long time ago my mother had given me a much smaller matte and ruler she didn't care for, and to be honest, I didn't like it either.  Both were thin and too small to do much with.  I happily added them to my purging pile after using the new one.

So far I've used it to cut pieces for tea towels and pillowcases and it made the process so much easier.  I will really enjoy using it to cut my strips to finish my two quilt projects I have planned as well as more tea towels, pillowcases and throw pillows.

One perfectly cut and finished pillowcase

Do you use a cutting matte for your sewing projects?

And don't forget!  I want to see what you are up to!