A wool ironing mat seems to be all the rage these days. 

Its no surprise that they show up in so many instagram posts, their amazing woolen-ness lends to such pretty photos!

But in the quilting industry where notions are a dime a dozen, and good quilting ironing boards are expensive enough, what is all the hype about, and are they really worth your time and money?

The holidays are finally passed and I was lucky enough to get one of those trendy wool ironing mats for Christmas.

Now that I’ve been using it for about a month I’m officially hooked. 

So today I’m sharing exactly what all the hype is about with these wool pressing mats, and I’m going into details about why you need one, how to take care of it, and if they are worth the investment.

What exactly is a wool ironing mat?

A wool ironing mat is just that, an ironing mat made of wool. 

No these are not ironing mats covered in wool, they are a dense 1/2” slab of pure wool. 

These ironing mats are typically smaller than your traditional ironing board and are fantastic for keeping next to your sewing machine with a mini iron so you don’t have to continuously get up and down between stages of quilt piecing. 

Because of their generally compact size, many no bigger than standard cutting mats, they are easy to move around with your project. 

They are highly portable and fantastic for traveling to hotel rooms, quilting classes, or even college dorms – any place where a large ironing board might be cumbersome or impossible to manage. 

What is the purpose of a wool ironing mat

There are three really beneficial purposes to owning a wool ironing mat (in addition to an ironing board) that are what make them so popular among quilters:

Portability

We touched on this already but they can essentially go anywhere you go. In a backpack, purse, tote bag, or back seat. 

With their smaller sizes, they are easy to bring wherever you need a place to iron small things.

Efficiency

This one is the big one, and the one that really tips the scales of why every quilter should consider investing in one. 

Traditional ironing boards will absorb the heat from your iron and pass it through the underside of the ironing board where it dissipates and cools down. 

Wool has amazing heat absorption properties that actually reflects the heat back at the direction it came from.

This is similar to why wool sweaters are so warm. They take your body heat and reflect it back at you helping you retain your own body heat. 

Wool will trap the heat that escapes through the fabric from your iron, and then reflect it back at the under side of your fabric effectively sandwiching it in heat. 

This means that wool essentially allows you to iron both sides of your fabric at the same time without scorching it with higher intensity heat. 

All while cutting your ironing time in half since you no longer have to iron both sides.

Highly slip resistant surface

A thing exists in physics called coefficient of friction. 

The higher the number of this property, the more grippy the surface is. The lower that factor is, the easier something slips on that surface. 

Wool has a much higher coefficient of friction compared to the cotton surface that traditionally lives on your full size ironing board. 

This means wool is much better at keeping your fabric in place and you are much less likely to iron over your fabric to find it slipped causing you to have accidentally ironed a new massive wrinkle in it.

Wool also has a very spongey consistency which mean you can also pin your items to it when you sew. Those pieces won’t go anywhere!

Anything that keeps you from having to hold those little quilt block pieces down with your hands as you iron. It’s great if you find yourself catching your fingers with the iron regularly.

How do you use a wool pressing mat?

While a wool pressing mat can be used very similarly as your traditional ironing board, there are a few tips and tricks that will help keep your new wool ironing mat in its best condition possible. 

Avoid Steam

Using steam on a wool pressing mat is not recommended. 

While it will technically not hurt or damage the wool pressing mat, wool is a very porous which means it is good at absorbing moisture. 

While this is part of the heat reflection quality we purchased it for, it also means that any water or steam you introduce to it, it will absorb which can cause it to smell.

The more water and steam you introduce to the fibers, the more it smells like wet sheep.

And you thought wet dogs were bad.

Since wool mats are made from 100% sheep wool, it isn’t surprising that they come with a bit of an odor. 

Fortunately, most quilters report that the heat reflecting properties of the wool are so effective that a dry iron is truly all you actually need to get the job done. 

No steam required. 

If you really need steam for a stubborn wrinkle, it’s best to use the traditional ironing board instead. 

Should you put anything under a wool pressing mat?

No. Not if you are using a dry iron.

The best quality wool ironing mats are at least 1/2” thick, with a dry iron, this is generally thick enough to avoid heat transferring through the backside of the mat. 

The only caveat is if you are using steam when ironing.

When water is present in the fibers, the heat by passes the wool fibers and simply heats the water between the fibers. 

This means that the heat has a path to pass through the mat instead of being reflected back by the wool. 

When the heat passes through, you have the potential to cause damage the table surface underneath.

If you find that you prefer to use steam and are looking for a solution to protect the table underneath, here are a few options I found across the internet that might help.

Disclaimer: I have not personally tried these solutions and can not vouch for their efficacy, however they may be worth trying if you are looking for potential solutions. 

• 1. Cardboard covered in aluminum foil
• 2. Leaving the wool mat on top of the traditional ironing board
• 3. A sheet of plywood underneath

The one thing you should not put underneath your wool ironing mat

The one thing you absolutely DO NOT want to put under your wool ironing mat is your self-healing cutting mat. 

If you’ve read our article on How to Care for Your Cutting Mat, you might recall that self-healing ironing mats are highly sensitive to heat. 

Using it as a method to protect your table surface under your wool ironing mat may protect your table, but will almost definitely damage your cutting mat instead. 

Depending on the damage, it may not be reversible. 

So just be careful when you do go to use your wool mat that your cutting mat is not underneath it by accident.

Can you starch on a wool ironing mat?

No you should not use starch when using a wool ironing mat. 

Spray starch is a mixture of water and starch solution which will simply be absorbed by the wool fibers effectively trapping the moisture. 

Not only will it absorb the moisture, but with starch residue living on the surface of your wool fibers, you are actually likely to end up with scorch marks on your ironing pad where the starch will eventually get burnt by the hot iron. 

You may even see that burnt residue on the undersides of your quilt blocks or on top if it gets transferred by the iron. 

How do you clean a wool pressing mat?

Fortunately a wool pressing mat is fairly low maintenance for every day use, but there may be times when you feel the need to give it a deep clean. 

Regular Maintenance of a Wool Ironing Mat

Since wool seems to act like velcro sometimes, you will regularly find little bits of thread stuck to it where your quilt piece raw edges may have frayed during ironing. 

A quick lint roll is more than enough to get rid of the pesky threads – no fancy steps required. 

Other than that, the only thing to be aware of is that the mat should be stored flat. 

Rolling it or putting it in a bin where other things may be placed on top of it are a recipe for a warped ironing mat, and any warped mat is going to cause distortions in the projects you make with them. 

A common storage method for cutting mats is to use clips on hangers in the closet, however since wool is likely to make an impression where the clips are holding it, I would not recommend this option for a wool pressing mat. 

Storing it flat is your best bet for keeping it in tip top shape.

How to Deep Clean a Wool Pressing Mat

This process is may be helpful if you find your mat has picked up an odor from moisture, or happened to get scorched from some rogue starch residue. 

Start by removing all lint or debris on the mat. 

Move to a sink or bathtub, any place that you can keep the mat flat while you clean it. 

Using cool to lukewarm water and a wool friendly cleaning agent like Woolite, gently scrub the mat focusing on areas with discoloration. 

Do not wring the mat of water, sandwich it between two towels and carefully roll it or press it to remove as much water as possible. 

Be sure to unroll it when you have finished. If it dries rolled up, it will warp in that shape and you’ll need to repeat the process to attempt to flatten it back out. 

Stand the mat vertically to air dry for a few days so any moisture left in it can either drip to the bottom, or evaporate. It may need something to lean against to keep it vertical. 

Once it is dry be sure to store it in a flat or vertical position where it will not warp. 

A note about deep cleaning a wool pressing mat

After digging through many forums to try to understand what things might cause you to need to do a deep clean, it seems more often than not, quilters want to deep clean to remove scorch marks from starch.

If you are already avoiding starch when using your ironing mat and are still seeing scorch marks, check the bottom side of your iron. 

It is not uncommon to starch a fabric on your traditional ironing board, and the starch residue (or even just dust) burns on to the iron plate.

When you go to use the same iron on your wool mat, you end up transferring the debris over where it gets deposited on the wool surface and burns. 

Making a habit to clean the plate of your iron should help significantly reduce occurrences of scorch marks on your wool pressing mat. 

If you avoid steam and starch when using your wool pressing mat, you may never find the need to deep clean your wool mat. 

Cons for wool pressing mats

Most articles talking about wool pressing mats will site the same downside when it comes to wool pressing mats. 

Wool has a smell – and its not always a good one. 

And adding steam/moisture will make that wool smell turn into a wet sheep smell. 

Although a smell is not ideal, it helps to remember what the product is to begin with. 

A top quality wool pressing mat that is 100% wool. Which mean no synthetics. 

And since 100% wool comes from live sheep – I’d be surprised if it didn’t have some kind of smell. 

Those that use steam do say that the smell eventually dies down – maybe not 100% but not nearly as bad as the first day they opened it. 

Once I have had a chance to experience it myself I’ll be sure to include an update with my personal experience with how long the smell lasts. 

If thats the worst con that exists, that the wool mat smells like wool, I think I can manage to put up with it. 

Are wool pressing mats worth it?

100% yes. 

The photo above is an example of the difference between my traditional ironing board and the wool ironing mat. 

Its no competition, the wool ironing mat simply gives you a better and flatter iron than your typical ironing mat. 

And if you use a tailer’s clapper? 

Quite literally, the flattest seams I have ever made. 

So in wrapping up the longest article I have ever written about something as simple as wool, the results are definitely in for this latest trend in quilting. 

Wool pressing mats have amazing heat reflecting qualities that help you get the flattest seams possible in your quilting. 

This trend of wool pressing mats is not going anywhere, and for good reason, they are a quilting room upgrade that allow you to make a better product. 

What’s not to love about that. 

So now that you know exactly what a wool pressing mat is, why you need one, and how to take care of one, it’s time to move to part two of this wool party. 

Find out what may go to brand for a wool pressing mat is and some other great brands that are great places to start your pressing mat adventure.

Head on over to part two of this post at 3 BEST Wool Pressing Mats for Quilters to check them out.