Wool pressing mats are everywhere and quilters can’t stop talking about how amazing they are. 

You’ve decided to give one a try but they aren’t really sold in stores, and if you have to buy one off the internet, you want to make sure you buy the right one. 

But what do you look for when buying one and which ones are worth your time and money?

Today we’re going over 3 of the best wool ironing mats for quilters as well as our best-of-the-best pick for where you should start your wool-ey shopping adventure. 

Did you know this was a two-part article? In part one we went over everything you need to know about owning a wool pressing mat. Interested in learning more? Be sure to check out our article on what wool ironing mats are and if they are worth it.

Advantages of a wool pressing mat

You might be asking yourself, why on earth would someone opt for a small wool pressing mat over a full size ironing mat.

Wool has three very useful qualities that make it a super useful addition to your sewing room. 

1. Portability 
2. Efficiency
3. High coefficient of friction

Portability

Having a small ironing mat that can travel wherever you go can be one of the best tools that you add to your quilting tool box. 

Whether you are going to a quilting class, convention, hotel, or dorm room, a smaller wool pressing mat is a perfect substitution for a full size ironing board. 

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

Efficiency

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. 

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 material 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.

It also means you won’t have to hold those little quilt block pieces down with your hands as you iron, saving you from accidentally catching your fingers with the iron. 

These three factors are major upgrades to your ironing strategy that a regular ironing board can’t always live up to. 

If you want to learn more about why wool is such a great ironing surface, as well as how to store and care for a wool ironing mat, be sure to check out our full article here. 

Best size wool pressing mat

The best size wool pressing mat is one that fits your individual needs and use. 

Within a given manufacturer, all wool ironing mats are cut from the same slab of wool, just at varying sizes. 

So no matter what size you choose the quality will be the same. 

To determine the best size wool ironing mat for you, make a list of what you intend to use it for as well as where you intend to use it, and work from there. 

If you are intending to travel with your mat and only need it for small and quick jobs, a 10”x10” mat may be the best size. 

If you want something that will be able to handle larger fabric swatches closer to a fat quarter, and intend to leave it out regularly, a larger size at 18”x24” might be more your speed.

Knowing your expectation for the ironing mat is one of the first steps to deciding on the perfect wool pressing mat to add to your notion collection. 

What to look for when buying a wool ironing mat

There are a handful of “need to haves” and a couple of “really nice to haves” when shopping for a wool pressing mat. 

Need to haves

• 100% wool
• No bleach or dye to discolor fabrics under heat
• No synthetic fibers that will melt under heat
• No chemicals that may discolor – or worse, combine with steam in the air
• At least 1/2” thick – any thinner and you may see heat pass through it. 

Nice to Haves

• Ethically sourced wool: happy sheep = happy wool mats
• Variety of sizes

The market for wool ironing mats is not exactly huge so there is not a huge variety of brands out there worth your time or money. 

And of those that meet the need-to-haves, don’t always offer a wide variety of sizes. 

If you are looking for a very specific size, you may need to shop around or consider cutting a larger mat down to size. 

3 best wool ironing mats for quilting

All things equal, I went out and found point for point, the best on the (Amazon) market out there for wool pressing mats, so if you are in the market for one of these amazing quilting tools, these are the ones we’d go with. 

Tidy Monster 

The top Amazon choice, Tidy Monsters wool pressing mat nails the important things when it comes to a wool pressing mat – premium all natural quality wool  with no fillers, chemicals, or synthetic fibers. 

Another plus is at the time of this writing, they are the cheapest option on this list. 

The only downside I can see from this company is that they don’t offer a wide range of sizes, at the time of this writing, they only offer 2 sizes.

If you are looking for a particularly large size, or even a smaller size, this option may come up a bit short.

They also don’t specifically state that they use ethically sourced wool, while that won’t necessarily change the quality of the product, it sure is nice to know. 

See the Tidy Monsters Wool Pressing Mat Here

Kaltek

The Kaltek wool pressing mat ticks off everything on the list, 100% wool, no fillers, chemicals, or synthetics, and it is 1/2” thick. 

Kaltek also states that they make a strong effort to ethically source all of their wool which when dealing with products created by animals is always comforting to know. 

Although I can only find one listing for a Kaltek wool pressing mat, the listing includes a two mat package, a compact 10” square as well as a 17” x 24” large rectangle. 

So you can end up walking away with the perfect set, one small one to keep next to the machine, the other being the work horse on the ironing table. 

The only downside is you can’t buy them individually. 

Your only option is to buy the bundle of two mats, so if you already know you will use them and don’t mind the extra investment, this is the perfect option. 

See the Kaltek Wool Pressing Mat Bundle Here

Lilypad Lake

Lilypad Lake wool pressing mats are 100% natural wool, never bleached or dyed, no synthetic fibers, and no added chemicals. 1/2” thick luxurious mat. 

They also make a large point to indicate they are ethically sourced and are proud of their efforts to remain so. 

The cherry on top (which is why I ultimately invested in a Lilypad Lake wool pressing mat myself), they offer 5+ different sizes of mats. 

Large or compact sizes you’ll be able to find it in a Lilypad Lake wool pressing mat. 

You can check out Lilypad Lake wool pressing mats on Amazon here.

Best brand of wool ironing mats

All things considered, Lilypad Lake definitely comes out on top for the best brand of wool ironing mats. 
Lilypad Lake hits all of the need-to-haves like a nail on the head:

• 100% wool
• No bleach or dye
• No synthetic fibers
• No added chemicals
• 1/2” thick

And on top of reliably hitting everything we need, they make a huge point to stress how important it is to their company mission to only use ethically sourced wool. 

In a world where it is unfortunately common to exploit natural and organic materials to make a buck, being able to support a company that puts effort into ethically sourcing their materials is not only a win for you but a win for the animals at the same time. 

When researching for my own wool pressing mat purchase, it became very clear that finding a wide variety of wool pressing mat sizes can be quite difficult.

While all of the wool pressing mat companies on this list meet the need to have’s when it comes to a wool ironing mat that will do well, Lilypad Lake makes the best of the best simply because of the amount of sizes they offer. 

Most other companies only offered one or two sizes, or forced you to buy a bundle pack at a higher price. 

Lilypad lake is the best bet for finding the best size wool pressing mat for your quilting space at the best price. 

If you are in the market for a wool pressing mat, look no further. 

Check out Lilypad Lake on Amazon here to get your perfect wool pressing mat.