I recently bought a wool pressing mat, because my small (hard) tabletop ironing board is on the way out, and the (soft) pressing mat I bought is so flexible and limp that it doesn’t let me press without wrinkles. The information sheet says it’s New Zealand wool, and the company is based out of Oregon. (I try to buy local, I try to buy American, but especially so in instances like this because in my experience, most fabric/fiber that comes from China smells like musty kerosene.) It looks to be really high quality. No complaints there.
I read somewhere that you couldn’t use steam on wool mats. That sounded bogus, so I did some more reading. Apparently steam isn’t recommended because it will go through the mat. That’s extra problematic for me, since I often work on a plastic tabletop. But, I thought, I could use my soft pressing mat to protect the table, and use the wool pressing mat to actually iron on.
Problem solved!!
Except.
The wool pressing mat has a really awful smell when it gets damp.
Like, hot manure awful smell.
Which is bad enough on it’s own, but I am allergic to sheep manure. I don’t know that I’m actually allergic to my mat, but my head has been totally stuffed up since last evening.
I checked reviews to see if it was an issue for anyone else. It is, but it apparently goes away on its own. I’m hoping so. Because I really, really, really love this mat, otherwise.
I wonder if Fabreeze would help or make it worse?
