How to Clean a Cricut Mat, Save Money & Make it Sticky

Learn how to clean a Cricut mat and restore its stickiness without using messy adhesives. Over time, Cricut mats collect lint, paper fibers, vinyl scraps, and dust, making it harder to achieve clean, accurate cuts. Fortunately, cleaning a Cricut mat is quick, inexpensive, and can greatly extend the life of your cutting mats. In this tutorial, you’ll learn how to clean each type of Cricut mat, remove stubborn debris, and keep your mats sticky and ready for your next project.

Why You Need to Clean Cricut Mats

Cricut mats are used with the cutting machines for holding in place materials such as vinyl, paper, card, and fabric. These mats are sticky, and the more stickiness, the more secure their grip on the cutting material.

Generally, stickier mats with stronger grips are used with heavier cutting materials, such as thick card stock, while mats with lighter grips are used with lightweight materials, such as vinyl. These machine mats are necessary to hold your material in place with the help of their adhesive area. You can remove the material once you are done cutting.

Not only are dirty Cricut mats unpleasant to look at, but they also get in the way of you making sharp and perfect cuts. This happens because a mat that is no longer sticky cannot securely hold the material or fabric in its place, preventing the blade from cutting it thoroughly and neatly. 

Little bits of debris on your mat can cause the cutting blade to bump and make cuts that are not as neat. You will be amazed at how well the material sticks once you remove the extra scraps, debris, lint, pet hair and dust off your mat.

Mat cleaning is a cheap, easy way to make it sticky again and ready for reuse. Best of all, it extends the life of your mat, and it should only take 10 minutes!

New Cricut User? If you are new to the Cricut system, read What is a Cricut Machine and How to Use a Cricut.

How to Clean a Cricut Mat (Step by Step)

In choosing a mat, you need to first check which mat is compatible with your Cricut machine and your intended material. There are 4 different Cricut machine mats:

1. Fabric Grip Machine Mat (PINK fabric mat)
2. Light Grip Machine Mat (BLUE)
3. Standard Grip Machine Mat (GREEN)
4. Strong Grip Machine Mat (PURPLE)

The four mats have varying gripping strengths which affects your cleaning methods.

While having to clean a Cricut machine mat might seem like quite a task to you, it is quite simple. At most, it should take 10 minutes of your time and not cost very little. Once you have the supplies on hand, they should get you through multiple mat cleaning sessions. 

Supplies

Some supplies needed in the mat cleaning process are: 

• FOR LIGHT CLEANING – Alcohol-free baby wipes. (wet wipes)
• FOR MEDIUM CLEANING – Gentle dishwashing detergent such as Dawn dish soap.
• FOR HEAVY CLEANING – LA Awesome Cleaner Spray is available online and at the Dollar Store.
• Paper towels for drying.
• Cricut scraper tool, tweezers, or lint rollers, depending on the mat.

What is Awesome Cleaner? Awesome is the brand name of a USA-made cleaner that cleans and degreases.

DO NOT USE – Proper cleaning of the mat should make it sticky again, so avoid the use of adhesives such as painter’s tape, spray adhesive, or glue.

1. Remove Excess Debris

Start off by removing the larger bits of debris from the mat. You want the entire surface of the mat to be as clean as possible first. What you use to remove any excess debris will depend on the color of the mat. While cleaning this mat, be careful and try not to scrape or scratch it. If the debris won’t come off any other way, carefully use a tweezing tool.

• Blue and Green Mats – Use a Cricut scraper to remove the larger pieces of debris from the cutting mat. If you don’t have a plastic scraper, you can also use the edge of a gift card or an old credit card to scrape off any debris from the Cricut mat.
• Purple Mats – Purple mats tend to collect more debris since they are used to cut heavier materials such as wood and leather. Instead of scraping strong grip mats, use tweezers to remove larger particles. Scraping should be avoided since it can embed pieces into the mat.
• Pink Cricut Mat – The pink FabricGrip mat has a special adhesive, unlike the other three Cricut cutting mats. The pink mat is made for cutting fabric. Therefore, its delicate adhesive needs to be cleaned and dealt with care. Instead of scraping, use a lint roller or tweezers.

2. Soak or Wipe the Mat

Depending on how dirty the mat is, you need to either soak or simply wipe it clean.

There are 3 ways to clean or soak the mat, depending on how dirty it is.

1. Light Cleaning – Use baby wipes
2. Medium Cleaning – Use dishwashing detergent
3. Heavy Cleaning – Use Awesome cleaner

How to Clean a Cricut Mat with Baby Wipes – Using baby wipes to gently wipe the surface of the mat is probably the easiest way to clean it. It is also a safe way, as it won’t damage the adhesive on the mat. However, be careful to pick alcohol-free baby wipes. All you need to do is use the wipe in a circular motion until you have cleaned the entire adhesive surface. Depending on how much dirt there is on the mat, you may need to use 2 or 3 wipes. Make sure to only apply gentle pressure so that you don’t scratch the adhesive off.

Clean a Cricut Mat with Dish Detergent – You can always use dish soap paired with lukewarm water to clean the mat. Be careful to pick a mild dish soap for best results, and not a hand soap that will contain lotion, oils, or harsh chemicals. Lay the mat down on a flat waterproof surface and use a clean dishcloth or a soft brush to gently scrub the surface of the mat with the detergent and warm water. There is a risk of removing the adhesive if you scrub too harshly so go gently.

Clean a Cricut Mat with Awesome Spray – Personally, I don’t recommend this method as it can remove the adhesive, but many say it works really well for them. Spray some LA Awesome spray onto the mat and allow it to soak for a few minutes. If you are using the green, blue, or purple mat, then you can gently use a scraper tool on it. Don’t scrape too hard.

CAUTION: Sometimes, this spray can actually remove the stickiness, so always test a small section in the corner of your mat first. Do not use this spray on a pink mat.

3. Dry the Mat

Lastly, pat dry the cutting mat and wipe off the excess liquid on it with wipes or a paper towel. Use something that doesn’t leave lint. Allow the mat to air dry and keep it out of the sun. Replace the clear plastic cover. The mat should now be clean and sticky again. You can make the stickiness of the mat last longer with regular cleanings, especially if you do a lot of cutting.

How Often Should You Clean Your Cricut Mat?

There isn’t a hard and fast rule. It really depends on how much you use your machine. If you use it frequently, clean it after every few cuts. Cutting heavy materials such as wood, glitter vinyl, glitter paper, and leather may mean your mat needs cleaning much sooner than that.

CLEANING RULE: When your mat isn’t sticking well, then you should clean it.

Whenever you have trouble making intricate cuts with card stock, vinyl, or cutting materials, it is best to start by checking whether your Cricut cutting mat is clean enough and if the cutting blade is sharp enough. Most times, doing just this should sort out the problem.

How Do I Make My Cricut Mats Sticky Again?

Cricut mats lose their stickiness when they become dirty and covered with different forms of debris. To make the mats sticky again, you simply need to clean them. You don’t need to use any kind of adhesives to make them sticky again. Simply use regular, alcohol-free baby wipes or dish detergent to clean the mat.

While using wipes, just wipe off the mats in a gentle and circular motion. Once all the debris is off, the mat should be perfectly sticky again and ready for use. Some articles suggest spraying some kind of spray adhesive on old mats, but this is not recommended by Cricut and may void your warranty. If your mat has lost all its stickiness, it is better to buy a new sticky cutting mat.  

Keeping Your Cricut Mat Clean in the Future

Having your mats clean is important when you are a frequent Cricut cutter. It’s best to not excessively touch the mats, use cover mats on them to avoid dirt and dust particles falling on and sticking onto the mat while not in use and clean them regularly.

Here is what you can do to keep the mats clean:

1. Make sure to replace the plastic protector sheet: Cricut mats come with a clear protective sheet, and you can continue using this protector to keep your mat cleaner by covering the mat with it. However, if the protector gets dirty, do not use it without cleaning or replacing it. To clean it, you can use baby wipes, Windex on a paper towel, or Awesome spray. 
2. Use the right mats for the right material:  Each mat is recommended for a certain type of material; the LightGrip mat is for delicate materials such as papers, the FabricGrip mat is for fabric, and the StrongGrip mat is for heavy materials such as card stock. Using the correct mat will prevent it from getting too dirty as it is specifically designed for that material. 
3. Clean the mats regularly:  The more regular you are in cleaning your mat, the smoother Cricut cutting will be for you. You can use a lint roller, scraper, or even the edge of an old bank card or plastic gift card to scrape off debris from the surface of the mat. 

How to Clean a Cricut Mat FAQs

Here are answers to the most frequently asked questions by users when it comes to cleaning Cricut mats. I hope these help you in achieving a clean and sticky mat.

In Conclusion   

Keeping your Cricut mats clean is one of the easiest ways to improve cutting accuracy and extend the life of your supplies. In most cases, a simple cleaning with baby wipes or dish soap is enough to restore the mat’s grip and make it ready for dozens more projects. Regular maintenance takes only a few minutes and can save money by helping your mats last longer.

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