Cleaning Cutting Mats
from Debi

They cut every fabric well with the correct blade, blade size, and pressure. The higher loft fabrics, and those like fleece often get pushed into the surfaces of the olfa and pinnable mats, making them a bear to clean up, but a light sanding with sandpaper sometimes helps. Fine polyester chiffons are a bear, too. >>

This is a hint I read on another sewing forum a while ago. I wish I could give credit to the original poster but I'm not even sure of where I read it. When you get fibers stuck in your mat's cutting surface you can clean it up by filling the bathtub partially with warm water. Place the mat cutting side down in the water. Then holding the two opposite sides so that the mat is now curved you just kind of swish it back and forth a few times. (Pull one side up and out of the water then the other side keeping the part in the water slightly curved.) You may also need to turn the mat a quarter turn and repeat so that you'd be working in the other direction also. In effect what you're doing is opening up the cut and rinsing out the fiber. This is harder to explain than I thought<G>. I hope it makes sense.Debi