Click here for hexagonal or pentagonal mat patterns.
The normal shape for a mat is square. This is easily worked in Torchon lace, which is worked on a grid with lines of holes at 45° to the vertical, so lines cross at right angles. This means if you turn the pillow four times, once for each corner, you get back to where you started.
Click here to see how to work a square mat. You will need to understand this before trying a hexagonal mat.
Bucks Point lace has a different grid. It is worked on a grid with lines of holes at 60° to the vertical. This makes it trickier to turn 90° at a corner, but easy to turn 60°. So you have to turn the pillow six times to get back to where you started. Below, there is a pattern and photo of a hexagonal Bucks Point design, and the dark grey lines of the pattern show where you need to turn.
Other grids are also available! These types of patterns can be tricky to design, but it is easy to follow a pattern that someone else has designed for you. In the pattern below, the lines of holes are at 72°, which means that if you turn the pillow 5 times, you get back to where you started. The mat is a pentagon. You work it exactly like a Bucks Point pattern, and the only different is that the threads are at a slightly different angle. It does not affect your working at all. And you end up with a five petalled flower, which is pleasant!
These non-square mats make interesting designs. A large mat tends to require a large pillow to work, with many bobbins. But a small design can be used as a decoration rather than a mat. Still, I call these mats, as they are made the same way as a full-sized mat.
© Jo Edkins 2016 - return to lace index