See pattern 423
A fan is a solid headside. Click here to see how to work a fan, with an animation. I suggest that you are confident with working fans before trying this variation.
This is a cloth headside. There is one more pair at the edge than usual for a fan. This means that three pairs stay within the fans at all times (and of course these could be coloured if you choose). This extra pair at the edge means that the fan is bulked out more, which helps the tendency for the middle of fans to look sparse (since they are really triangles pulled out to look like fans).
The worker pair for the fan does cloth stitch through all pairs in the fan. However, when working towards the edge of the fan, the worker pair are twisted once, before working the last two passive pairs at the edge (these are the two pairs which stay within the fans at all times, with the worker pair). When working in the opposite direction, the worker pair are twisted once after working the two edge pairs. These twists give a decorative effect of small gaps at the edge of the fan. Also, the edge two passive pairs are pushed outwards by the worker pair twists, which also helps to bulk out the fan and give it a good curved edge.
© Jo Edkins 2019 - return to lace index