Tattit Rug

Today I had two groups of Norwegians in the museum for 'Textiles Treasures'  tours.  This usually lasts about 20 minutes but they wanted a longer tour so I managed to stretch it to about 40 minutes for each tour by including our Tattit Rug exhibition.

Tattit rugs are a tradition type of stitched bed cover used in the 1700's through to early 1900's.  They are unique to Shetland in the way that they are made although there are similar rugs to be found in Norway where the wool is woven in rather than stitched.

Two local visitors could tell me that when they stayed with their grandmother they slept in a bed with a tattit rug covering them.