How to choose the right cutting mat for sewing and crafting 2024

Still using scissors to cut your fabric or snip your scrapbooking accents? Treat yourself to a cutting mat and you'll never look back. Whether you craft at your kitchen or dining table, in a dedicated craft room or perhaps even on the floor (we've all been there.. haven't we?), a mat will protect your surface and make your projects easier to prepare.

If you haven't already tried using one, here's why we think you should give it a go. When it comes to cutting fabric or paper, freehand with scissors can take you so far, but invest in a rotary cutter or craft knife and cutting mat and you'll speed up and neaten up overnight.

Why use a cutting mat for sewing?

If you do any of the following a cutting matt is an invaluable tool:

• Cutting out units of several layers of fabric for patchwork
• Cutting around pattern pieces on fabric with a rotary cutter when dressmaking
• Cutting intricate paper shapes using a craft knife for card making or scrapbooking
• Cutting strips, squares or sections of paper for layering and framing when card making
• Paper punching or eyelet-setting with a hammer

What is a self healing cutting mat?

Self healing cutting mats allow safe cutting that won't damage the surface you are working on, as the mat essentially repairs itself after you run a rotary cutter or craft knife over it's surface.

You can also get glass cutting matts, which are popular with those who prefer how they look on their work surface, and for others who like to work craft with paint and wet supplies, which benefit from the easy-wipe nature of glass.

You might also like our guides to the best quilting rulers and best sewing machines for beginners.

6 of the best cutting mats for sewing and papercraft 2024

Here are the best mats on the market at the moment and the reasons we love them.

1. Olfa Gridded Cutting Mat

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2. Prym Pink Cutting Mat

The Omnigrid collection of cutting mats offer a trusted brand with good quality mats for your sewing and crafting.

This hot pink version makes a nice change from the dark green standard colour of most mats on the market – especially useful if you sew with a lot of green fabric and like it to stand out from the background mat!

It comes marked with helpful grid lines and the double-sided format allows one side to be marked in cms and the other inches.

Buy it now (£27.90. Love Crafts)

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3. Sew Easy Rotary Cutting Mat

This is a more compact mat than some of the bigger beasts in this selection, but this also means it comes at an affordable price point and will comfortably cutting areas up to A4.

With measurements marked up for metric and imperial, it works whatever your preference. It comes with a hole punched at one end for if you're lucky enough to have a peg board for wall storage of your sewing stash.

• Buy it now (Minerva, £11.99)

Sew Easy mats are tried and tested (I use one for my patchwork cutting every week) and I can highly recommend for durability.

Zoe Williams - Quilting Expert

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4. Aniso A3 Craft cutting mat

This heavy duty, self-healing mat is a beauty with several colourways, so you can pick the one that your favourite fabric colour palette will stand out against the best.

Made from five layers of PVC for strength and durability, it should last you years. It's double-sided with inches on one side and cm on the other, and offers a non-slip, non reflective surface.

One thing to bear in mind is, it's been designed to use with a rotary cutter, not a papercraft craft knife, so while it's a beauty for sewing and quilting, it's not the one for you if you want to work in multiple mediums.

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5. Trimits cutting mat, small

A good choice if your cutting requirements are more to protect your surface, and possibly get a little guidance with cutting lines and small pieces, but you don't necessarily want to be put off by lots of angle grid lines for more advanced patchwork.

Buy it now (Love Crafts, £6.99)

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6. We R Memory Keepers Glass Cutting matt

Designed with scrapbook paper sizes in mind (12x12in papers), The We R Memory Keepers Precision Glass Cutting Mat is great choice for papercrafters, with all the handy grid lines that you need plus a wipe-clean surface that's also really handy for working with ink or paint.

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What to look for when you're choosing a cutting mat

Cm or inches?

How do you like your measurements? This question is so much personal choice, and can be partially influenced by the kind of sewing you do.

Quilters for example (myself included) often work in inches. Cutting mats usually come with a set of gridlines to help guide you through common measurements. The metric of measurement can vary, so before you buy, check that the marks on the mat will suit your favourite type.

What are you using it for?

ome cutting mats have angle lines to mark 45 degree and 60 degree angles, which are super useful if you're cutting a lot of patchwork fabric triangles or other shapes that benefit from this helping hand. Especially so if you don't have an acrylic quilting ruler.

If you're more into card making and papercrafting, for example paper cutting, you might actually want to be cutting a lot of fiddly curves with a craft knife, in which case these angle lines aren't as essential for you.

Size

Some say the bigger the better – and I'd say if you can afford it and have room, a bigger mat gives you more scope for future projects and less chance of your knife running off the edge when cutting larger shapes.

But again this depends what you're making. If you only make small cards or paper cutting projects, an A4 may be all you need and it's easier to store.

Choose the right cutting mat for your project

When buying a cutting mat you'll need to think about what you're using it for and what features it needs to have to improve your crafting. That's where our guide comes in, we'll help you choose the right cutting mat for you.

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