I recently purchased a Granny’s Perfect Press wool pressing mat from Granny’s Legacy because, well, curiosity got the best of me! A friend had bought one in the spring during our trip to Paducah, KY and I had been thinking about it since then. I decided I had to try it and I am SO GLAD I DID!! It’s not often that I buy something so impulsively that I love this much. I say it was an impulse buy even though I have been thinking about it for 4 months because my main reason for purchase was due to the fact that everyone had one except me! I know, quite a foolish reason but isn’t that part of the fun of quilting? I kept seeing them and I just had to try it out for myself.
I was told that the best part of the mat was the crisp, flat seams that my blocks would have when using it. That sounds great, right? The reason for this is that the wool mat retains the heat and therefore presses from the front and back at the same time. I am a quilter but I am also a bag maker so my curiosity was about how this would help my bag making skills. Would it help my bag making skills? The short answer, yes! I tried it out first with fusible interfacing. I did my usual, placed the interfacing sticky side up and my fabric wrong side down. I began pressing and found that the interfacing fused beautifully and very smoothly.
But what sold me even more what the difference it made with cork. I use/sell/love/obsess over cork. If you’ve followed me on social media or visited me at a show you know that cork is one of my biggest sellers and I make many samples with it. I have minimal complaints about the cork but one thing that does irk me a bit is my inability to press a cork on cork seam flat. It’s bulky like any heavy fabric and just doesn’t want to lay flat. So I thought I’d try the mat and WOW I was blown away! I did my best to capture the seams in the pictures below but it wasn’t easy.
Front side after using the mat.
Back side after pressing with the mat.
Front without the mat (regular ironing board)
Back side without the mat.
Finished Cailey Handbag
One of the complaints that I have heard and read about the mats is that they smell ( I do use steam when I iron). The reason is that they’re 100% wool. They can smell a bit like a wet dog (or sheep lol) when used with steam. Ever wash a wool sweater? Yeah it’s that smell. But it’s totally normal and really not as bad as some of the complaints I heard. My solution? I sprayed it several times with Best Press or Soak spray in a yummy smell like pineapple or peaches. I pressed and then spritzed a little more. Each time I used it, it got a little better. I also bought the largest size that they had (17.5″ x 24″) so I could cover as much of my ironing board as possible. Pick the size that makes the most sense for you!
So what are your thoughts? Do you have one, do you love it, do you hate it? Leave me a comment because I love to hear from you!
Happy Sewing!
Jessica
The Straight Stitch 
I used one at a quilt retreat and liked it but wasn’t sold on it, YET.
Then I was making a quilt with tons of hst’s and was wishing I had that mat so I ordered one. It makes such a difference when those seams press flat without getting distorted. And when making bias binding it works like a charm.