The craft of Embroidery and the Bayeux Tapestry

Embroidery as an ancient art form still has a strong presence in art and design. Intricate and brilliantly coloured patterns have created a beauty of their own onto fabrics, adding to their value and appreciation. Today, with the ever present innovation and development of new technologies we can see that though this is progressive that it can be combined with the old techniques born in the iron ages. Both the old and the new now co-exist with each other with mutual admiration for technological advances and the skill of hand craft.

We can see the benefits of the specialist embroidery machines which allow you to create simple and complex motifs accurately, and to make multiple identical copies of them and we can also appreciate the uniqueness of the long and tedious process by hand.  

The use of embroidery had a prominent position in fashion. Embroidery became a highlight of fashion during the 18^th Century in France. Designs were often made with metallic and silk threads-decorated everything from women’s dresses to men’s breeches. Like the period of the 11^th century, the decoration was a symbol of status and wealth in addition to adding glamour to a garment. Embroidery became a right of passage for girls to be taught by their mothers the time tested stitches.

The basic techniques of embroidery that can be seen an early works such as the 11^th century Bayeux tapestry of chain stitch, couching, or stem stitch, remain the fundamental techniques of hand embroidery today.

It is a striking fact that in the development of hand embroidery that there are no changes of materials or techniques which can be felt or interpreted as overwhelming advances. The question remains, will we ever see the likes of the Bayeux tapestry being recreated by means of the laborious hand embroidery or by means of the sewing machine derived in the 19^th and 20^th century, and if so will we carry the same reverence for it or is the admiration we behold for the Bayeux tapestry related to either, the history of the survival of the cloth and the story it tells, or, the craft of embroidery itself?