by The eleventh pattern in Miss Lambert’s My Knitting Book (1843, First Series, pp22-23) is for a Brioche. As a footnote to the pattern, Miss Lambert notes that it is: “So called from its resemblance, in shape, to the well known French cake of that name.” The pattern doesn’t say what a knitted brioche actually is, but based on the instructions, it seems to be some kind of cushion or decorative pillow. It is knit using the brioche stitch.
I decided to do some research before tackling this project to see what I could learn about Brioches and found this great post by Curls and Q where I learned the following:
- A knitted brioche was a decorative pillow meant for the parlor.
- Patterns for these pillows were popular in knitting magazines between 1840 and 1875.
- In other publications, a knitted brioche was also known as a Moorish Brioche or a Turkish Brioche or cushion.
I also found a few images of Brioche’s in some other publications, including Miss Lambert’s The Hand-Book of Needlework (1842):
And Mrs Gaugain’s The Lady’s Assistant in Knitting, Netting and Crochet Work (1842):
“The brioche, when made up, is exactly shaped like an orange, indented at top and bottom, which is done by the fastening of the rosette as will be described; the divisions, when worked, resemble the divisions of the orange when the peel is taken off.” (The Lady’s Work Book, p. 35)
This sounds like it will be an interesting project to make. I think I’ve seen those sorts of pillows in older detective movies. I can’t wait to see what you come up with using the pattern.
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