What does "knot it" imply in Trifles? Is quilting different from knotting?

The idea that Mrs. Wright was going to knot her quilt rather than sew it comes up over and over in the play, pointing to its importance.

When a person knots a quilt, he or she uses fewer stitches, sewing together all three layers at once and then securing the stitching with a knot at the end.

The men repeatedly make fun of the women, Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters, for wondering if Mrs. Wright was going to sew or knot her quilt. They feel that while they are doing important investigative work, the women are obsessed with meaningless "trifles," showing their weak-mindedness:

SHERIFF: They wonder if she was going to quilt it or just knot it!

[The men laugh, the women look abashed.]

The women, however, by focusing on all the details the men overlook, are actually "piecing together" (like a quilt) what really happened in a careful and methodical way. They can reconstruct the scene that led Mrs. Wright to murder her husband.

Mrs. Wright was knotting her quilt when her husband entered the kitchen. The canary must have been singing, and this must have thrown Mr. Wright into a fit of rage. He reacted by breaking open the door to the canary's cage, pulling the canary out, and wringing its neck. This upset Mrs. Wright, whose sewing went awry. Something snapped in her, leading her to knot a rope around her husband's neck while he was asleep and strangle him. Because the women have reconstructed the details, they know that Minnie was experienced at making knots and that perhaps the fact she was knotting as her husband killed the canary gave her the idea for how to murder him in a way that mirrored how he killed the poor bird.

Nevertheless, the men completely miss this, as they miss the significance of the missing canary, as well as the body of the canary that is carefully wrapped and put into a drawer. Instead, they condescend to the women:

COUNTY ATTORNEY: (as one turning from serious things to little pleasantries) Well ladies, have you decided whether she was going to quilt it or knot it?

MRS PETERS: We think she was going to—knot it.

COUNTY ATTORNEY: Well, that's interesting, I'm sure. (seeing the birdcage) Has the bird flown?

MRS HALE: (putting more quilt pieces over the box) We think the—cat got it.

The count attorney has shown his cluelessness and is easily deceived.

The play ends with the image of a knot. The men continue to make fun of the women, and the women continue to keep to themselves what they know:

COUNTY ATTORNEY: (facetiously) Well, Henry, at least we found out that she was not going to quilt it. She was going to—what is it you call it, ladies?

MRS HALE: (her hand against her pocket [with the dead canary]) We call it—knot it, Mr Henderson.

What does "knot it" imply in Trifles? Is quilting different from knotting?

In the process of quilting, three layers of material are used. After these are stitched, there are two ways to finish off the making of a quilt: knotting or quilting. Quilting is a method that imitates the process used throughout the making of the quilt. Knotting is the quicker method because it involves limited stitching. To "knot," one simply sews down through the three layers used in making the quilt, returning the needle near the entry stitch, then tying a knot with the two ends. Interestingly, "knot it" is also an embroidery term that means to end a stitch.

Judging from the erratic stitching on Mrs. Wright's quilt that is discovered and restitched by Mrs. Hale, it is possible that Mrs. Wright may have been in the act of quilting when Mr. Wright killed her canary.

MRS. HALE. . . . Wright wouldn't like the bird—a thing that sang. She used to sing. He killed that, too.

Perhaps, then, in the desperate loneliness and rage that filled her after her husband destroyed the only thing of joy that she possessed by twisting the canary's neck and killing it, she decided to wrap a rope around Mr. Wright's neck and "knot it" in retaliation.

What does "knot it" imply in Trifles? Is quilting different from knotting?

The final stage of quilting is to attach the top, batting, and backing together. This can be done in two ways. One way (quilting) is to sew elaborate patterns on it. The simpler but just as effective way (knotting) is to sew a thread through intervals and tie knots in it.

The symbolism of the knotting is the fact that Mrs. Wright killed her husband by tying (and knotting) a rope around her neck. simple, not elaborate, but just as effective.