It is unknown exactly what animal is depicted on this mat creaser. Makers of tools often made them more personal by carving designs onto the handle. Spiritually, the figure may represent where the craftswoman received her power. Often mat creasers have birds or ducks on them. This makes sense, as waterfowl would be associated with wetlands where tule and cattails are harvested. Some members of the community have speculated that the animal may be a deer, though the ears are not quite right. It may also be a dog, as the little white dogs are associated with weaving and women's work. Although mat making is known as women's work, there was a great deal of flexibility in the division of labour in Coast Salish economy. Men could choose to help women if they liked.

After being harvested, the tule stems or cattail leaves were laid on the ground and dried in the sun. The Snuneymuxw and Snaw-Naw-As First Nation, just north of Nanaimo, would also moisten cattail leaves before making the mats. This may have been to avoid splitting the leaves. Once ready, the stems or leaves were laid out side by side, alternating the thin tops and thick bottoms to produce an even mat edge.

For cattail mats, a long, hard triangular-shaped (when viewed in cross-section) needle was used. These needles were usually made of ocean spray (or ironwood as it was also known) for its strength and hardness. The needle was threaded with stinging nettle fibre or cord made from the cattail itself. Today cotton string is used for this purpose.

The threaded needle was pushed through a row of leaves from one side to the other ensuring that the needle pierced each cattail leaf. At this point, with the long needle left in the leaves and the mat on a flat surface, the mat creaser was put to use.

The mat creaser was pressed along the length of the needle, crimping the leaves against the needle as it did so. The groove beneath the mat creaser running along its length is made to fit the shape of the needle.

The action of the mat creaser has two purposes: to crease the cattail leaves so they do not spread apart, and to minimize the leaves splitting when the thread or cord is drawn through. Once the needle was pulled through, the ends of the cord or thread were tied together with the following cord or thread, which was sewn in about every 10 centimetres or 4 inches along the mat.

Once this process was completed through the whole mat, the leaf edges of the mat were folded over and bound. In some cases, leaves or stems were twined instead of sewn. A finished mat has a series of parallel ridges formed by the mat creaser pressing down on the triangular needle.