Time for a Clean Up!

After a couple chaotic weeks of quilting and embroidering customer jobs, it's time to clean the studio. I wanted to get back to my own recent quilting projects, but my cutting mats were losing their stick and fabric was slipping all over the place.

I've been watching YouTube and reading blogs about cleaning mats and decided to try something new. I heard a lot of people have had success with this cleaner, Totally Awesome. I bought some and decided to give it a try. And I can say yes, it is totally awesome!

I've tried the baby wipes and wasn't happy. Yes I bought the brands without alcohol. But most of them left the mats full of lint and I was worse off than when I had started. It removed the dirt and the thread bits, but the mats still weren't very sticky.

I had been very successful with warm water, a little Dawn liquid and simply rubbing the loose threads and dirt off. Leaving the mats to air dry, I found it to be acceptable. Then I read and saw that water is no good for the mats and could possibly remove the glue.

So, I collected my grubby mats, scraper tools, the bottle of cleaner and off to the kitchen we went for a cleaning session.

Of course, there was extra help!  And my husband wanted to see this new miracle cleaner in action. I was pleased to read on the bottle that it is made right here in the good ole' USA!  It had already scored a point there for me.  And had lots of suggested uses...we may be posting more clean up jobs!

Spray the cleaner - full strength - directly on the mat.  This was one of my newer Brother Fabric (Gold) mats and I errored in placing fabric with Heat and Bond paper side down to cut.  The mat was stickier than I thought and the paper did NOT want to come off easily or AT ALL!  The cleaner removed it promptly and completly.  Happy Dance!

It just scraped up and away easily.

Wipe away exces cleaner and "yuck" with a paper towel.  Be careful, though, once the mat starts to air dry, the taciness returns.  That paper towel can stick to the mat.  Ask us how we know!

My husband graciously continued to clean while I snapped pictures.  Here's a BEFORE and AFTER side by side comparison of that icky fabric mat.  And, once cleaned and wiped down, then left to air dry...MAN ARE THEY STICKY AGAIN!!  Like new.

Remember to let completely dry and replace the dust cover to store.

We tried this process on my Cricut mats.  But I have a word of caution...Spray and wipe clean.  Rubbing can cause the pink (color of my Fabric mat) to come off.  Notice the scratches.  But the stickiness seeams to be back as well.  Just thinking that maybe full strength on Cricut mats may be too much.  I just wouldn't let it sit too long on the mats before removing.  We actually wiped with a dustfree soft dishcloth. 

Leave to air dry and then replace dust cover.

Keep your tools clean!  
Happy Quilting!

KK