Among the favourite activities of Goethe’s mother, who was also called Frau Rat or Frau Aja, was lacemaking. An old lacemaking cushion with a lace border on the little sewing table at the window is a reminder of this. Even in her old age she still made lace for her great-grandchildren’s bonnets.

I decided to do a bit of work that I bet no great-grandmother has done since the creation of the world. I made lace for the children’s things, the bonnets and sleeves, nothing half-hearted but a Brabant pattern three fingers wide and, please note, without my glasses!

Catharina Elisabeth Goethe to Johann Wolfgang Goethe on 2 February, 1796