Hello everyone ! Goodness me , what a worrying world it is out there at the moment !
Let us take up our needle and threads and stitch ourselves calm .
So here I am stitching away on this little piece of the Bayeux Tapestry , I think maybe a wall hanging for my eight year old grandson .
I found the chain-mail a bit challenging and was glad to have finished that .
I filled in the golden cross on King Harold's shield with more Point de Bayeux .
Then I put in the little stars , bezants or simply studs in red and blue .
I sorted out some slightly off-white wool for the background of the shield , tricky because I wanted it to be a slightly darker cream than the cotton fabric that I,m stitching on .
I settled on these colours and I think they look quite close to the colours in the Bayeux Tapestry too .
Point de lancé
I,m still getting the tingles doing this ! Making my hands do what those 11th century hands did so long ago .
What where they thinking while they stitched , so close then to the terrible event ,so fresh in their minds .
What an incredible work of art and important document of a terrible time and turning point in the history of England .
And so ......
Onward into battle with a much larger area than I,ve ever stitched before in Le Point de Bayeux or Bayeux Tapestry stitch .
First lay down the Point de lancé
, taking the crewel wool from top to the bottom of the shield , but not across the back.
I slipped my needle through the little stars on the front of the cotton fabric .
Barrettes
Next I stitch the Barrettes , which pass over the top of the Point de lancé
, about 5mm apart and once again , not across the back .
Picots
Then I stitched the tiny Picot stitches , which are the tiny , slightly slanting stitches , which hold down the Barrettes about 5mm apart and alternating .
You can zoom in a little by clicking on my pictures .
You see , it is in three steps and actually very easy . So don't be afraid to have a go at Le Point de Bayeux .
I don't think I have ever seen this way of embroidering and filling large areas of a design used on any other extant textiles of this period , 11th-12th century .
I have been experimenting , with other little things from the Bayeux Tapestry , on some cheap cotton fabric . Just making simple sketches, by eye , with a pencil .
About children having fun with embroidery .
It doesn't look too bad on my slightly heavier weight cotton or calico and would be cheaper than linen and good for older children to have a go on too .
Use a pencil , draw anything you like , then stitch over it . Easy ! Just have fun !
I have taught little ones four and five years old , to do easy running stitch with a big fat needle over simple shapes , cat , dog , house , tree , smiling sun , drawn in pencil on felt . They choose their own colours of felt and embroidery threads and they loved doing this , of course they will need one to one supervision .
This was how I learnt to love embroidery from my mother, grandmother , lovely nuns in my convent school and dear old Mrs Baker my needlework teacher , even though the sewing machines were a bit ,well , lets just say vintage !
I have acquired a lovely bundle of antique linen , perfect for doing something special .
It is so old and gorgeous . I am so happy !
