Historic Tale Construction Kit

I copied and pasted this information for you.  If you wish to follow up on this, you will have to go to the source.  Multiple images, patterns to follow are included.  Below are just a very few of multiple examples.

All good wishes, Ann

Tomorrow is the 76th Anniversary of the allied invasion of Normandy.  It is commemorated in the Overlord Embroidery.  As traveling is not possible at the moment, we can all visit the D-Day Museum in Portsmouth, England via video footage.  But first, some facts and background.

The Overlord was commissioned by Lord Dulverton in 1968, designed by Sandra Lawrence, a 22-year-old artist and stitched by 20 professional embroiderers at The Royal School of Needlework.  This took 5 years.  It was presented to the nation and was first shown in Londons Guild Hall.  As stated by the commentator, the Embroidery was looking for a permanent home at the time.  The following video takes us on a tour of its first showing.

A permanent home was found in the D-Day Museum in Portsmouth.  This city is full of naval interest from the Mary Rose from the 1600s up to HMS Nelson and HMS Warrior.  Portsmouth was one of the main staging locations for the fleet that sailed overnight to Normandy.  Ships, equipment, and supplies were sequestered all over southern England and Wales.  It was a huge operation and every possible harbour was used.  The tides, moonlight and the weather determined the date of the invasion.  Diversionary information that the invasion would be in the area of Calais was leaked.

The following video gives a walking tour around the Overlord Embroidery.  It is now housed in a facility that is temperature and humidity-controlled.   The lighting is subdued to protect the fabrics so it is hard to see detail but this tour will give you an idea of its size.  There are 34 panels that measure 272 feet in length.  The full size painted design panels created by Sandra Lawrence are on display in a mail entry hall in The Pentagon.

The final video is a talk from Tracy Teasdale who knows the embroidery well and gives a detailed account of the making of the Overlord Embroidery.  This is the most interesting and informative of the videos.  There are lots of still photos online for you to find and view.  To see photos of individual panels, go to

Images of Overlord Embroidery

There are many historical embroideries around Britain and the world.  They were all created with dedication.  If you are planning to make one, first, I beg you, find and secure a location where it will be permanently displayed.  The design should be totally special and a professional designer is advisable.  Displaying it costs money and funding this should be considered during the planning stage.

We must all be aware of the Hastings Embroideries which lack a display location and have been in storage for decades.  Initially, they were displayed on the pier with the ocean waves just below.  Now, a few panels only displayed in Hastings Town Hall.  After your labour of love and tribute, please avoid this happening to your historical embroidery.

I was 11 years old.  In May, 1945, my Dad made the long train journey from London to the Lake District in northwest England.  I can imagine the parental debate;  was I old enough to appreciate it, was I old enough to remember it and, was I big enough to be safe in the celebratory crowds.   My Dad, an electrical engineer, worked on developing radar all the war years and had stayed in England.

My mother, younger sister and I had spent most of the war living in a stone cottage whose exterior was decorated with pink and white roses.  It had running water which regularly froze but no electricity.  Heat came from a stove built into the wall which was used for all cooking and heated a tank of water.  It was the land of Wordsworth and Beatrice Potter; it was the countryside of red deer, red squirrels, a multitude of sheep and a host of golden daffodils.

I do not remember the train ride back to London but I remember entering an un-remembered but familiar house that had shrunk in size during my absence.

The next day was the VE Day Celebrations.  I marveled at the doors on the Underground train which opened and closed automatically. Wondrous indeed after our basic cottage.  We met an aunt at Westminster Abbey and we walked through St James Park. It was a fairyland.  Fountains had been installed in the lake which was lit with lights that changed colours.  I was not the only one dazzled by this sight.  The oohs and aahs were universal.  The park was full of people celebrating.  There was dancing and singing and lots of joy.  My words do not capture the overwhelming emotionality of the occasion.  London was celebrating the end of a war that had stretched the endurance of everyone.

We did not go to Buckingham Palace as my Dad felt that the crowds there would have too dense for safety.  Instead, we went to the Cenotaph on Whitehall.  We saw Winston Churchill come out on the balcony and we three joined the multitude cheering our hero.  I have wondered since if the Princesses were among the crowd.  They did go out and join the celebrations but it could have been at a different time as Churchill came out on that balcony several times that day and evening.

The atmosphere was joy amplified.  The crowd was mostly young adults. Everything happened in snatches – part of a song, spontaneous dancing, lots of hugging, lots of kissing, and then more cheering. There were no correctly constrained Brits around that night. I saw no other children.  This why I am sharing this with you as I suspect, there are few others who experienced this huge and heartfelt celebration.  I was of an age to appreciate and am still alive to remember it.

When we got back to our home in Ruislip, my Dad found his prewar string of multi-coloured Christmas lights and hung them outside a bedroom window.  Passersby were thrilled to see them.

It had been so long and everyone was starved for what we now take for granted.

My Dad made another round trip to the Lake District where I remained with my mother and sister until late August.  VJ day was celebrated with Lemon Squash and biscuits in a field. There were no sheep in attendance.  For some reason, it was an anticlimax.

School started in September and with it, a whole new life.  Britain entered an extended decade of shortages, rationing, extreme weather conditions, and unprecedented smog.  But that is another story and it included emigrating to Canada.

The photos are off the web.  We did not think to take a camera with us that day.  It is doubtful that my Dad had any film for it anyway.

Ann Bernard

The Canadian Embroiderer’s Guild, Guelph is a teaching guild.  There are six different classes each Fall/Autumn and another six different classes in the Winter/Spring.  The classes run concurrently for six sessions.  This gives the guild members the opportunity to try out and learn different techniques that are presented at different levels.

I joined the Shebori class. Although I found that Shebori and beading are not for me, I was most impressed with the accomplishments of my classmates.  Shebori is a silk fabric that is wrapped around a tube, pushed into folds and then over-dyed.  The resulting fabric is most interesting and blends well with beading and Soutache Braid.

Above is a bracelet.  The pale turquoise area is Shebori fabric with some beads in the folds.  The rest of it is normal beads plus some interesting ones.  Copper beads contrast well with the turquoise

Another bracelet in the early stages of creation.  Note that the background is a piece of silk ribbon which will be totally covered in beads.  Under/behind is a piece of foundation piece of heavy weight Pellon.

The crimson fabric is Shibori with some of the silk ribbon left visible.  Beading is used to finish the edges but there is much less beading used in this design.   Interesting treasures from your button box can be included to advantage.

Although Shebori as a material and technique can be used in making jewelry, it can also be used in other designs.

This was made by our teacher, Renata.  It is multimedia.  Shebori and beading are used for the dress and ruff.  The face is molded from Polymer Clay and the background is counted thread embroidery on canvas

This piece is the first try at this technique by Marsha.  The Shibori, tan, overdyed with purple, has been twisted but no beads have been placed in the folds.  I find that the beading is most effective especially the cream ones where the central hole of the bead is visible.

There is more Shibori posted on Pinterest. There are beautiful examples from experienced and gifted designers,  It is well worth browsing now that we have time available.

Be Well,  and,  Stay Well.

This could protect you while shopping for instance but is not adequate for a medical situation.

 One sheet protector – i. e. plastic sleeve for protecting written notes.

This should be of medium or heavy quality.  Lightweight quality do not keep their shape.

Four elastic bands.  Assemble as indicated in the photo.

Position around the forehead with the elastic bands around the back of your head. 

  Gives shielding to your eyes and all your face.             With a mask.

Glasses are ……   over  and  above.

Wash the plastic page thoroughly on both sides using soap and water  —— after every use.

Hope that this will make grocery shopping safer for you.

I am a retired Occupational Therapist. I have spent many years improvising solutions to functional problems.

Thank you to the models,  Novie, Norma and Sharon.

Be safe – and – stay safe.

Happy Easter Wishes to all my readers.

Almost almost everyone will know of the Bayeux Tapestry, an enormous embroidered frieze which recorded the events of the Norman Conquest and the Battle of Hastings in 1066. But the Bayeux Tapestry is not the only piece of epic embroidery undertaken to commemorate a major event.

In the city of Plymouth in Massachusetts, USA, a team of dedicated embroiderers and historians decided to create something to rival the Bayeux Tapestry in order to mark the 400th anniversary of the pilgrim’s arrival on their on the shores in 1620.

Putting stitches into one of the early panels.

         The final design will consist of 20 panels each measuring 6 feet in length.

Right from the outset there was recognition that the project had to tell two stories. Although the pilgrims had arrived on the Mayflower in November 1620, the land they arrived on was not uninhabited. The Wampanoag people had lived on the land for thousands of years and their history was a fundamental part of local lore.

As such, a number of historical contributors were recruited to determine the narrative of each panel, the most appropriate imagery to tell the story, and the total timeline to be displayed

A panel with threads and wools selected. and example stitches sourced. (source).

Elizabeth Creeden, a talented local needlework designer, was appointed to make the drawings and plan the embroidery for each panel. This required research, consultation and many preliminary drawings. Elizabeth would work on one panel at a time, finally making a drawing to scale on paper the same size as the linen it was to be printed on.

Elizabeth Creeden at work (source).

This drawing would then be sent to Trustworth Studios who printed it on the linen – no easy task. Although when the first panels started coming back, the accuracy of the print was such that there  only a variation of a single thread across the entire 6 feet!

As you can imagine, completing such a project would mean thousands and thousands of stitching hours.

But right from the start it was determined that the stitching would be a communal task. Over the years since the project started, panels have been taken to conferences, workshops and meetings to allow all members of the public to contribute.

Embroidery has been done by children and adults, women and men, highly experienced embroiderers and people who have just started out. Although guidance was given to maintain a standard of quality across the peace, Elizabeth Creeden deliberately designed each panel with stitches simple enough that anyone could learn how to do them and play their part.

Stitchers working together. (source).

Although the opportunity to attend the public workshops have now passed, there are still panels being worked on with the entire project expected to be completed and assembled in 2021

While the celebration date for the 400th anniversary of the Mayflower is in November 2020 a lot of the story of the pilgrims survival occurred in 1621 so the time scale is still on track.

A number of the completed panels will be on display as the November celebrations get closer. But the final, completed tapestry will be the one to see once it’s all put together.

A completed panel  (source).

Not only will the completed tapestry tell the story of the pilgrims, the Wampanoag people and the development of the area, but it will create a memorial which is sure to still be admired in 1000 years time, just as the Bayeux Tapestry is today.

To read more about this amazing project, you can read an article in the Embroiderer’s Guild of America or check out the Pilgrim Hall Museum and website.

Reprinted from  Inspirations Newsletter   news@inspirationsstudios.com

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