Bayeux tapestry stitch

 

During our Icelandic textile tour we had a workshop to learn about Bayeux tapestry stitch, which was used to work the famous Bayeux Tapestry. It is a traditional technique in Iceland and is thought to have originated in Scandinavia. Fifteen ecclesiastical pieces worked in Bayeux stitch from the late 14th to the early 17th century still survive in Iceland.

The stitch is also known as ‘laid and couch work’ and is designed to fill a large area using minimal embroidery thread. A thread is laid across the area to be filled, a small stitch is used to secure it and the thread is then taken back to the original side, parallel to and adjoining the first thread, where another small securing stitch is made. The entire area to be filled is covered with thread in this way, on the surface, with the reverse of the work showing only the tiny securing stitches along the edge of the area.

Once the area is covered in close parallel lines of thread, another thread is laid, at a right angle to the original threads, on top of them. This thread is then secured at intervals with small couching stitches at approximately 5 mm intervals. As you can see from the images, the upper threads and the couching stitches can be the same colour as the main work or a different colour.

Working the upper thread in parallel lines is the traditional way of working but it is also possible to work curved lines as well. Once one upper line of thread has been worked others are then added to cover the entire area to be filled. To give some definition to the different parts of the design the area to be filled is usually outlined with stem stitch before it is filled with Bayeux tapestry stitch.

The earliest examples of Bayeux tapestry stitch are the Bayeux Tapestry and a fragment from a tomb in Durham, England, both from the 11th century. The Bayeux tapestry tells the story of the invasion of Britain by William of Normandy in 1066. It is 70 m long and about 40 cm deep and it is thought it was commissioned by William’s half-brother Odo Bishop of Bayeux and embroidered by women in Kent in the south of England in the 1070s. At that time, Anglo-Saxon needlework known as Opus Anglicanum was famous across Europe for its high quality. The Tapestry is housed in the Musee de la Tapisserie de Bayeux but is being loaned to The British Museum in London from September 2026 to July 2027. This will be the first time it has returned to England since being made in the 11th century.

Icelandic lace knitting

 

I saw these lovely knitted lace shawls in the Textile Museum at Blonduos in the north of Iceland. There were various designs, some were large square shawls with scalloped borders, others were large triangles and one was a long straight shawl. They are all made from Icelandic wool, which is made of two distinct fibres. The outer ‘tog’ fibres of the sheep’s coat are long and water repellent and the inner ‘pel’ fibres are soft, fine and provide insulation. The two fibres can be spun alone or in various combinations depending on their final use, but the finest shawls are made from pel alone. It is claimed that these shawls, like those of Shetland, are so fine that they can be drawn through a wedding ring.

The wool is often used in the natural white, brown and black colours of the fleece, but some is dyed in delicate earth shades using natural plant dyes. The shawl with the brown edging in the main image was made by Pordis Egilsdottir (1878-1961) with pel wool in natural colours.

Helene Magnusson, who we were lucky enough to have as our guide, has carried out research into the collection at the Museum and most of my information comes from her book Icelandic handknits. She notes that this long white shawl was made by Johanna Johannesdottir (1895-1989) and was probably inspired by a motif in the 1885 edition of the handcraft book Kvennafraeoarinn by Elin Briem, which was one of the first books about handcrafts to be published in Icelandic. Helene has recreated this pattern and many other old patterns for the 21st century. She has also designed new patterns and garments inspired by the textile collection at Blonduos, and has created a lace weight yarn in which to work them.

 

Wooden lace bobbins with inlaid pewter

 

These wooden lace bobbins are inlaid with pewter, which would have shone like silver when they were first made in the nineteenth century. The one on the right gives an idea of how they were made, by cutting channels into the wood, placing the bobbin in a fired clay mould and then pouring molten pewter into the grooves. Traditionally bobbins with pewter rings were called tigers, those with spots were leopards and those like the bobbin second from right with the V shapes were called butterfly bobbins. The bobbin on the left is interesting because it has pewter spots and fine wire wound round the channels rather than pewter. The spots were made by drilling straight through the wood and inserting a rod of pewter, which was then cut flush with the wood and smoothed to a shine. The bobbin with the criss-crossed pewter is also unusual mainly because of the amount of pewter used and the overall pattern. Pewter is an alloy of tin and lead and unfortunately the reaction between sweat from the lacemakers hands and the tin in the pewter can cause the tin to corrode and expand. This may make the surface of the bobbin feel rough and these rough edges can potentially catch on the lacemaker’s hands or the fabric of the lace pillow. In other cases, the pewter completely falls out of the bobbin, as it has started to do in this one, so it is common to find wooden bobbins with grooves cut into the wood but no pewter inlay. Although I do use the wire bound one, I tend not to use the others because of the likelihood of the pewter falling out.