This fantastic lace mat was made in Romania by a group of Romanian crochet workers in the little town of Secele, near Brasov.

I was lucky to be able to visit the group on a recent tour of Romania and see how the lace was made.

A crochet braid forms the pattern outline which is filled in with needle-weave stitches to produce a remarkably rich effect.

The work is divided into sections, young girls making the braid which their mothers apply to the pattern before adding the decorative stitches.