The Ultimate Guide to Cricut Mats: Different Types and Sizes

If you have ever worked on a Cricut machine, then you might be familiar with the Cricut mats. Also, you know how important it is to have a compatible mat for your craft project. Most crafters or DIY enthusiasts use the Cricut cutting machine to make their custom designs and projects. However, the Cricut machine comes with mats that are quite expensive and difficult to find anywhere. In addition, there are many types of mats that are available in different sizes, colors, and strengths.

In this blog, we will provide you with everything you should know about the Cricut cutting mats. As a result, this will help you understand how to use mats, such as which mats to use with which Cricut machine.

What are Cricut Mats?

Now, let us understand what a Cricut mat is and when you should use it.

A Cricut mat is a reusable mat that is flexible and used to cut various projects. Every mat has a sticky surface that holds the materials in a fixed area during cutting. After successfully completing the cut, removing the materials from the Cricut mats becomes easy. Further, you can reuse the mat for your upcoming projects.

Plus, the mats come with different grip strengths and sizes, i.e., adhesiveness level, making it easy to find the apt mat for the specific material and design.

Different Types of Cricut Mats

When you shop for Cricut cutting mats, you might have noticed various shapes and colors of these cutting mats. It becomes tricky to figure out which mat to use with which machine. So, let's dive into it and understand their basic differences. Cricut mats come in four different grip strengths, each with its own color. They are created to work with different materials.

Here are 4 mats color with different grip strengths:

Light Grip machine mat (Blue)

The Light Grip mat has a gentle stickiness that works well with lightweight materials. Hence, you should use the Light Grip mat with scrapbook paper, standard paper, vellum, thick vinyl, light cardstock, and sticker paper. 

Standard Grip machine mat (Green)

The strength of adhesive in Standard Grip mat is moderate, and this is specially made for medium-weight materials and heavy cardstock, stencil vinyl, adhesive vinyl, and iron-on vinyl (HTV). In addition to that, you can use the mat to cut faux, leather, suede, and bonded fabric.

Strong Grip machine mat (Purple)

In the purple Strong Grip mat, the level of adhesive is quite strong, and this is the best fit for thick and heavy materials like leather, balsa wood, magnet sheets, glitter cardstock, poster board, and chipboard. So, when you are working with thicker materials on the Maker machine, then this is the best mat you can work on.

Also, you should be careful while using the Cricut mats because they can tear the lightweight materials. In order to work on the Strong Grip mat, make sure you go slow and use a spatula tool to weed the designs.

Fabric Grip machine mat (Pink)

The pink Fabric Grip mat is a new mat that comes with a special type of adhesive specifically made for fabric. You can perfectly use the mat with the Maker machine, and its rotary blade cuts unbounded fabric so that you can quilt and sew your projects.

Sizes of Cricut Mats

You will find a variety of sizes for mats that fit different machine models.

Here, we will see two different sizes of cutting mats that are compatible with the Cricut Maker series and Explore series:

●     12 inches x 1-inch mat (the maximum cut area of 11.5 inches x 11.5 inches)

●     12 inches x 24 inches mat (the maximum cut area of 11.5 inches x 23.5 inches)

The Cricut mats with two different sizes which are compatible with Cricut Joy:

●     4.5 inches x 6.5 inches mat (the maximum cut area of 4 inches x 6 inches)

●     4.5 inches x 12 inches mat (the maximum cut area of 4 inches x 11.5 inches)

Note: There is a special mat for Cricut Joy, i.e., Cricut Joy Card Mat. You can use it to create custom cards.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the Cricut mats are available in different sizes and colors. Each different color represents the grip strength of the adhesive in these mats. Moreover, the different sizes of mats are compatible with different types of machines that we have already covered in this post.

FAQs

Question 1: How do I clean my Cricut mats?

Answer: If your mat is also not properly sticking the materials onto it, it's time to clean your cutting mats. Here are some of the simple steps to clean your Cricut mats:

●     Remove unwanted material with a link roller.

●     Clean the mat with the help of a plastic scraper tool. You can also use old, unused credit or debit cards if you don't have a scraper tool.

●     Use alcohol-free baby wipes and gently wipe the surface of the mat until you get a clean surface.

●     Take lukewarm water with a gentle dish soap and clean it.

●     Make it try before using it again.

By following the above steps, you can reuse the mats, and you will not need to buy them again.

Question 2: How long do Cricut mats last?

Answer: It is unfortunate that you cannot use mats forever. They start to wear out and lose their adhesiveness after some time. Generally, you will start noticing the difference in your mats when you use them 40 to 50 times. Eventually, it will start to wear out after 40-50 uses. Moreover, you should keep it clean when it gets dirty to extend the life of your mats.

Question 3: How do I store my Cricut mats?

Answer: If you want to extend the life of your cutting mats, then store them properly. You might have noticed when you saw the mats for the first time, how it was covered with a plastic sheet. Therefore, try to store the mats with this cover sheet to protect them from any dust. Doing this will keep your mats clean and sticky for a long time.

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