©Ava, 2014
Bayeux style initials
Drachenwald Crown Tourney 2014 workshop by Ava van Allecmere [email protected]
Introduction:
The Bayeux Tapestry is an embroidered cloth—not an actual tapestry—nearly 70 metres (230 ft) long, which depicts the events leading up to the Norman conquest of England concerning William, Duke of Normandy, and Harold, Earl of Wessex, later King of England, and culminating in the Battle of Hastings.
The word tapestry comes from French tapisser, which means ‘to cover the wall’, thus wall covering.
The tapestry consists of some fifty scenes with Latin tituli (captions), embroidered on linen with coloured woollen yarns. It is likely that it was commissioned by Bishop Odo, William's half- brother, and made in England—not Bayeux—in the 1070s. In 1729 the hanging was rediscovered by scholars at a time when it was being displayed annually in Bayeux Cathedral. The tapestry is now exhibited at Musée de la Tapisserie de Bayeux in Bayeux, Normandy, France.
In a series of pictures supported by a written commentary the tapestry tells the story of the events of 1064–1066 culminating in the Battle of Hastings. The two main protagonists are Harold Godwinson, recently crowned King of England, leading the Anglo-Saxon English, and William, Duke of Normandy, leading a mainly Norman army, sometimes called the companions of William the Conqueror.
Construction, design and technique:
The Bayeux tapestry is embroidered in wool yarn on a tabby-woven linen ground 68.38 metres long and 0.5 metres wide (224.3 ft × 1.6 ft) and using two methods of stitching: outline or stem stitch for lettering and the outlines of figures, and couching or laid work for filling in figures. The main yarn colours are terracotta or russet, blue-green, dull gold, olive green, and blue, with small amounts of dark blue or black and sage green. Later repairs are worked in light yellow,
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orange, and light greens. Laid yarns are couched in place with yarn of the same or contrasting colour.
Stem stitch
Couching/Bayeux stitch
Your project:
Please bear in mind that you are not going to make a reproduction of the Bayeux tapestry. What you will make is an initial (or another design like an animal) to embellish bags, garments and the like. It is a great technique for a favour!
Needles: You will need sharp needles as blunt embroidery needles will not work.
Fabric: You can use linen or wool for this type of embroidery. Depending on what you are making and where, you can decide to make your design on a lighter colour linen/wool and then sew that on the item or garment of your choice. 30x30cm is enough for your first project.
Floss: You can use regular embroidery floss, wool or silk. When it comes to wool, you can use the more expensive DMC ‘laine médecis’ or use cheaper mending wool (for socks). This works wonderfully (and is actually my favourite!) because the threads are very thin. This floss can be bought everywhere and is not expensive!
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Design: Start doing a bit of Googling! Look for calligraphy initials, medieval initials and such terms in the search engine to look for a design you like. Or just type ‘initial A’ and so on, and see what it comes up with!
Of course I will bring plenty of examples for you to choose from.
Please make sure that you bring the abovementioned items to the workshop. Feel free to contact me if you have questions or need a bit of guidance!
Some examples:
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Designs for you:
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Sources:
a) “The Bayeux Tapestry” David M. Wilson; ISBN10 0500251223 b) “Paint Your Own Illuminated Letters” Stefan Oliver, ISBN 9057640201 c) http://margaretshepherd.blogspot.nl/
All embroidery & photos are by S. Klerks
©All rights are reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior permission of S. Klerks.
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