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18:19 Dec 29, 2010
German to English translations [Non-PRO] Art/Literary - Art, Arts & Crafts, Painting / Sewing
German term or phrase:tuddelei
Hello, I'm hoping to find a translation into English. I believe it is related to fiber or sewing? Thank you!
Contexts where some manual dexterity is required to get some crafty thing right, be it building e.g. tiny model ships, to sewing delicate embellishments, untangling yarns, and of course as Ramey pointed out something "knotted up". Enter the term in Google an select "German" as the language and you willl step upon a lot of examples for this colloquial expression.
it's funny that you reference that book - the article I quoted was also written by Nancy Langdon. Have you encountered tüddelei or tüdelei outside this context?
would be an option of describing this, i.e. "adding little things/stuff" to make sth more "pretty". See page 52 of the book "Sewing Clothes Kids Love" by Nancy Langdon, Sabine Pollehn
From a sewing/fiber art magazine): "I've earned the title 'Tüddeltante' from my German sewing friends for the amount of tüddelei added to my pieces. I can often be found sitting on the floor surrounded in ribbon." Uta, you are right, it is spelled with a ü. I assume it refers to embellishment but it doesn't show up in any online translators. Thank you!
Thank you, Ramey, for the information. This makes some sense because it was in reference to adding embellishment (in the form of beads, threads, other fibers) to clothing. Does it have a true meaning or is it just a slang word? Thank you!
It would help since "tuddelei" is also a slang expression, at least in the dialect of my area, for something complicated or "knotted up" which is where your answer could be found.
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Answers
1 day20 hrs confidence:
fussy
Explanation: tueddeln, betueddeln etc. is actually making a fuss about s.th. or s.o.
The translation workplace 
