Tatting

Knotted decorations

In the Farmhouse from Brülisau, Appenzell Inner-Rhodes (911) Cécile Mäder knots her artistic lace trimmings along the main thread. They are made up of circles, crescents or so-called “picots” and small loops. She brings together the various threads by drawing them through the loops with a crochet hook. In the old days women would embellish their underwear with “frivolity” lace which they also used to artistically decorate linen cloths, tablecloths and cushions. Nowadays, Martha Hulliger mainly makes book marks and hangers decorated with pearls, which are on sale in the museum.

Handicraft, chatting and underwear

There are various theories on the origin of the designation “frivolous”. It is possible that the term refers to the underwear or to the nature of the confidential chatting between the women as they knotted their lace. “Frivolité” comes from the French; this craftwork was widely practised at the French royal courts. The ladies knotted lace to pass the time, albeit with rather more noble shuttles made out of gold, silver or ivory, while Swiss farmers’ wives mainly used shuttles made from carved bone. In Germany and Austria the technique of “Frivolité” is generally called “Schiffchenarbeit”.