Stitching Idyllic

Stitching Idyllic by Ann Bernard

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“No favourite colour, just make it bright please!”

Daytimers or Appointment books seem to be made in one colour – black. Like early Ford motor cars – shiny black. Those covers are not only black and shiny, they are also slippery with a homing instinct for the floor of the car and the cavities of upholstery.

A few years ago, I made an outer cover for my Daytimer. It proved to be so effective that the following year, I made another. Used alternating years, neither show signs of wearing out. My friend, Mark, admired the practicality of mine and asked me to make him one for his book for lecture notes. As he is young and computer literate he does not need a Daytimer. I am neither young nor computer literate and that Daytimer helps my memory and gets me where I need to be – most of the time anyway.

This was not a difficult job and was a pleasant change from more formal stitching. The fabric is Batik Cotton backed with old sheeting plus an extra piece of sheeting reinforcing the spine. Mark’s notebook has a spiral binding as do my Daytimers. Stitching through the layers was difficult at times though doable. I marked all four edges of the book including the spine on the backing using a ruler and pencil and basted the lines through on a sewing machine. You can just see the white lines in the next photo. Extra width for deep pockets was provided for the inside of the covers. The backing makes finishing threads easy. Pass the thread  between the fabric layers for one inch or a bit longer and then leave a half inch tail before cutting the thread.

Rat’s-tail was zig-zagged down randomly but in a vertical layout. It works better if these casual dividing lines all go in the same direction. My stash provided an assortment of bright coloured Perle No 5 and 8 thread. Perle is more durable than Floss and is nice to stitch with. You can do any plan/design you want – this is just what I did.  After that, I stitched as the inclination took me. Most are variations of Chain stitch while others are well known stitches. The yellow Cretan stitch is placed along the spine so that the book will be easily visible in the depths of a briefcase. The lettering is Whipped back stitch. It was easier to stitch loose in the hand though I did use a small hoop for the French knots.  Below, partly stitched.

Finishing it into a book cover was the hardest part. I have previously tried binding and seaming so, this time, decided to zig-zag the top and bottom edges but it did not work and, in fact, looked terrible.  So I bound it with a straight of the grain strip of the Batik cotton. The centre section had to be stitched separately to the pocket sections. A mixture of seaming and binding seems to work the best.

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The elastic got in the way of the photo but is there to keep the book closed.

Bright, durable, findable and personalized but, not fine art.

“Thanks,” said Mark. “This is exactly what I wanted.”

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The Latest News on the Hastings Embroideries

In response to one of my articles posted in early February, I received a phone call from David Sanderson, Arts Correspondent of The Times in London. He was writing an article about the Hastings Embroideries which is being published today, March 8, 2018.

The Times – Free to a good home… the Hastings Embroidery, rival to Bayeux Tapestry, will be given away – By David Sanderson

The Borough of Hastings are offering the Hastings Embroideries FREE to a good home.  That is, to a home that has space and can preserve them properly for the nation.  Yes, I would love to have them but our apartment is already full of us.  This is a great and exciting offer and I hope that these glorious and historic embroideries will find  a permanent home somewhere in Britain.

It was a pleasure to have a conversation with David and to know that the search is now official.  The article as published is very brief.  The articulate voice of public opinion is needed to locate a new home for these magnificent embroideries that tell the history of Britain.

To add my voice, I am reprinting my original article. Please spread this around.  Permission is given for reprinting this article. Please include an attribute to this author.

Go for it – stitchers and historians.

The Hastings Embroideries were commissioned by Group Captain Ralph Ward, or, the County Borough of Hastings. It was made by the Royal School of Needlework in 1965 to celebrate the 900th anniversary of the Battle of Hastings in 1966. It consists of 27 panels, each 9′ – 3′ and shows 81 great events in British history that occurred during the 900 years between 1066 and 1966. It took 22 embroiderers 10 months to complete.

Apologies for the quality of these photos.  Screen shots do not give the best reproduction.

This is the first panel and shows King William being crowned at Westminster Abbey. Crowd control was necessary as the Saxon inhabitants were not happy with his take over of England. He built a lot of castles/fortresses including the Tower of London.

The Hastings Embroidery was stitched before the Overlord Embroidery  (1968-69 -70 approx), and is also worked in applique. It uses antique fabrics, modern fabrics, cord, thread, leather and some feathers contributed by the parrots at the London Zoo. I have no information on the designer. It is bright/vivid/colourful and vibrant.

It was given to the town/city of Hastings who currently have two panels on display in the Town Hall. The first picture above is one of these.

Chaucer and the Canterbury Tales

This enormous historical embroidery needs to be displayed in a building that is climate controlled such as the one in which the Bayeux Tapestry is displayed. The Overlord will also be displayed in a climate controlled environment when the Portsmouth Museum reopens the gallery later in 2018.

Hastings says that it is unable to afford a suitable building for this and has been saying so for the last 52 years.

In reality, this is a National Treasure and should be hung in an environment that is part of the British National Heritage. I am thinking of London Museums such as the Victoria and Albert or the British Museum. Maybe there is a suitable venue for it in Windsor? Is there space in Hampton Court Palace which is also the location of the Royal School of Needlework.

Or, could a new building be located in the area of Hastings or Battle become its permanent home.

It is a dramatic and a graphic lesson on British history.

The Hundred Years War.

It would make a wonderful history teaching book both in the Coffee Table size and for School Libraries. For a publishing company, it would be a great marketing tool and some profits could go to helping establish a permanent home for the panels.  With young people already aware of the existence of these panels, it would be on the worthwhile outings list for every school.

Think about it world.

This is a national responsibility.  It is a shame that it remains in storage (apparently in London) rather that being available for the public to see  and enjoy. Maybe the upside of this is that it is stored in a climate controlled space and is not suffering deterioration.

King Henry VIII welcoming the King of France.

One of the final panels is of Sir Winston Churchill on the White Cliffs of Dover.  This makes it a continuous narrative with the Overlord Embroidery. His right hand is making his famous salute and his left hand  holds a cigar.

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You will be delighted when you see the real embroideries after being introduced to them via these photos.

A 45 minute film of the complete Hastings embroidery can be viewed at The Hastings Embroidery.

It is worth the time to view it.

Feel free to forward the link to this series to friends and other interested persons. That is, including publishing companies.

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The medieval tapestry depicting the Battle of Hastings is to leave France and head for England for first time in 950 years

Jan 25, 2018 Nikola Budanovic Reprinted from The Vintage News – Jan 26, 2018

First, an answer to a question. Magna Carta Panels; “Get out and get under” photo. Yes, it is unusual to have to do this. It is sometimes necessary when repairing old textiles that cannot be rolled onto the wooden frame bars. In the case of the panels, my guess is that there was something not quite right about some stitching in the central area that needed some attention.

magna_carta_boat

For the first time in 950 years, the famous Bayeux Tapestry will leave its home in France and head for England. The Bayeux Tapestry is one of the artistic wonders of the Middle Ages, depicting the Norman invasion of Britain, the Battle of Hastings, and the subsequent rule of William the Conqueror.

Notice the wind in the sails and the horses marveling at sailing on the sea. Also, that everything, in all these pictures, is proportionally correct and balanced. Then, go and take another look at the battle scenes. The picture below does not show the proportion distortions.

The 224-foot-long panorama, which serves as a priceless piece of history, is currently located in Bayeux, a town in Normandy. A recent announcement by French President Emmanuel Macron that the delicate artifact will be loaned to England has created much excitement and debate on both sides of the English Channel.

The tapestry was originally woven in Kent, in southeast England, somewhere around 1070, by the order of Bishop Odo, William’s half-brother, who intended to use it solely for its narrative potential―after William I made a foothold in England, he claimed the English throne. The tapestry was meant to justify his attempt as legitimate, as he was the victor at Hastings.

A segment of the Bayeux Tapestry depicting Odo, Bishop of Bayeux, (with his bludgeoning mace) rallying Duke William’s troops during the Battle of Hastings in 1066.

The Battle of Hastings was one of the turning points in British history; the defeat suffered by the Saxon King Harold marked the beginning of the Norman period in Britain. The landowning elite were completely replaced by Norman royalty, and so was the culture and the language―Old English was all but lost as a literary language throughout the 11th and 12th century.

William the Conqueror established his rule, but it was plagued by decades of rebellions, uprisings, and civil wars. Even though he crowned in 1066, it was not until 1072 that William’s grip on the country was firm.

The craftsmen who produced the work almost 1,000 years ago remain unknown, but their work is anything but. The tapestry is considered to have exquisite artistic value, as well as historic. The depictions of the horrors of war, which include headless soldiers, King Harold being shot in the eye with an arrow, dead horses, and Normans burning and pillaging villages might be the first ever to challenge the chivalrous image of the period.

It still uncertain which museum will take responsibility for housing the relic. The British Museum in London was cited as the initial host, while the English Heritage Museum, which owns Battle Abbey, built by William himself to commemorate the Battle of Hastings in 1066, claims that the tapestry should, at least temporarily, be displayed at the place where the historical battle actually took place.

The loan is scheduled for the year 2022, when restoration of the Bayeux museum in France will take place. So the tapestry would be sent for safekeeping, but the transport itself is a tricky issue. The millennium-old embroidered cloth is very fragile and the risk of damaging it during transport looms over Macron’s decision.

The current curator of the tapestry, Pierre Bouet, stated for the Guardian that, at first, he considered the news was a hoax, but when it proved to be true, his skepticism increased: “If you were to ask my advice, despite the regard I have for my English colleagues who I have worked with for many years, I would say no.”

On the other hand, both the Heritage Museum and the British Museum are thrilled with the prospect of the return of the medieval masterpiece to England. Rowena Willard-Wright, a senior curator at English Heritage, implied in her interview for the Guardian that the tapestry should be located outside London:

“The problem for the British Museum is what you might call the Tutankhamun effect: people end up queuing all the way into Russell Square. If people have to queue, where better than the Sussex countryside?”

The staff of the British Museum consider the 70-meter-long panorama too fragile to be moved from one place to another, and that it would be safest to keep it in one place. Michael Lewis, a curator, claims that conservation and practical difficulties would make the tapestry impossible to tour.

Related story from us: Off to the ‘holy places’: pilgrimages during the Middle Ages

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However, the British Museum in London considers the artwork pivotal and would like to make it accessible to as many people as possible. The decisions on where it will be housed, and even if safe transportation will be possible, are yet to be made. Until then, the tapestry remains exhibited in the Bayeux city museum, in the picturesque countryside of Lower Normandy’s department of Calvados.

This is all very exciting and not even contemplated publicly when I started writing this sequential account of Embroideries that Record History. I will be taking a further look at the resurgence of Large Embroideries in future postings.

This is all very exciting and not even contemplated publicly when I started writing this sequential account of Embroideries that Record History. I will be taking a further look at the resurgence of Large Embroideries in future postings.

It is time for me to return to stitching which has been neglected lately. I hope that you have enjoyed reading and seeing these photos and videos. I have tried hard to be accurate but have undoubtedly made errors all of which were unintentional.

Comments are welcome, bye for now, Ann B.

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MAGNA CARTA (AN EMBROIDERY) with thanks to information on Wikipedia

Moving to more recent times, the Magna Carta (an Embroidery) commemorates the 800th Anniversary of the signing of this document by King John and the Barons. It is the charter of rights and freedoms and formed the base of the Constitution of England and many other countries,

Magna Carta (An Embroidery) is a 2015 work by English installation artist Cornelia Parker.

The artwork is an embroidered representation of the complete text and images of an online encyclopedia article for Magna Carta, as it appeared in English Wikipedia on 15 June 2014, the 799th anniversary of the document.

The making of and, the finished Embroidery, watch this video:

Magna_Carta_An_Embroidery.ogv

This is an introductory and very complete view of the Embroidery. And, it is fascinating.

The hand-stitched embroidery is 1.5 metres wide and nearly 13 metres long. It is a response to the legacy of Magna Carta in the digital era and Parker has referred to it as “a snapshot of where the debate is right now”, the result of all open edits by English Wikipedians up to that date.

It was commissioned by the Ruskin School of Art at the University of Oxford in partnership with the British Library, after being chosen from proposals from a shortlist of artists in February 2014.

Cornelia Parker used a screenshot from the 15 June 2014 English Wikipedia article for Magna Carta and printed it onto fabric.

To read this article on line, go to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magna_Carta

Like English Wikipedia, the embroidery was created through the collaboration of many individuals.

It was divided into 87 sections and sent to 200 individuals who each hand-stitched portions of the artwork. Cornelia Parker sought the collaboration of people and groups that have been affected by and associated with Magna Carta.

The bulk of the text of the Wikipedia page has been embroidered in various prisons by inmates under the supervision of Fine Cell Work, a asocial enterprise that trains prisoners in paid, skilled, creative needlework. https://finecellwork.co.uk

The detailed pictures, emblems and logos that punctuate the text have been fashioned by highly accomplished members of the Embroiderers’ Guild, a national charity that promotes and encourages the art of embroidery and related crafts, alongside embroiderers from the Royal School of Needlework and the leading embroidery company Hand & Lock.

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At least one embroiderer was selected from each region of the UK. Many celebrities and public figures also contributed, stitching phrases or words of special significance to them.

Cornelia Parker has represented the work as “echoing the communal activity that resulted in the Bayeux Tapestry but on this occasion placing more emphasis on the word rather than the image, I wanted to create an artwork that is a contemporary interpretation of Magna Carta.”

This piece of or nué embroidery is part of the Cornelia Parker installation. The lady who stitched this is featured in the first video.

It is difficult and time consuming to stitch this technique.

Tomorrow: The Magna Carta Panels.

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The Hastings Embroidery.

For those who are unaware of this national treasure, here are some facts:

The Hastings Embroidery was commissioned by Group Captain Ralph Ward, or, the County Borough of Hastings. It was made by the Royal School of Needlework in 1965 to celebrate the 900th anniversary of the Battle of Hastings in 1966. It consists of 27 panels, each 9′ – 3′ and shows 81 great events in British history that occurred during the 900 years between 1066 and 1966. It took 22 embroiderers 10 months to complete.

This is the first panel and shows King William being crowned at Westminster Abbey. Crowd control was necessary as the Saxon inhabitants were not happy with his take over of England. He built a lot of castles/fortresses including the Tower of London.

The Hastings Embroidery was stitched before the Overlord Embroidery  (1968-69 -70 approx), and is also worked in applique. It uses antique fabrics, modern fabrics, cord, thread, leather and some feathers contributed by the parrots at the London Zoo. I have no information on the designer. It is bright/vivid/colourful and vibrant.

It was given to the town/city of Hastings who currently have two panels on display in the Town Hall. The first picture above is one of these.

Chaucer and the Canterbury Tales

This enormous historical embroidery needs to be displayed in a building that is climate controlled such as the one in which the Bayeux Tapestry is displayed. The Overlord will also be displayed in a climate controlled environment when the Portsmouth Museum reopens the gallery later in 2018.

Hastings says that it is unable to afford a suitable building for this and has been saying so for the last 52 years.

In reality, this is a National Treasure and should be hung in an environment that is part of the British National Heritage. I am thinking of London Museums such as the Victoria and Albert or the British Museum. Maybe there is a suitable venue for it in Windsor? Is there space in Hampton Court Palace which is also the location of the Royal School of Needlework.

Or, could a new building be located in the area of Hastings or Battle become its permanent home.

It is a dramatic and a graphic lesson on British History.

The Hundred Years War.

It would make a wonderful history teaching book both in the Coffee Table size and for School Libraries. For a publishing company, it would be a great marketing tool and some profits could go to helping establish a permanent home for the panels.  With young people already aware of the existence of these panels, it would be on the worthwhile outings list for every school.

Think about it world.

This is a national responsibility.  It is a shame that it remains in storage (apparently in London) rather that being available for the public to see  and enjoy. Maybe the upside of this is that it is stored in a climate controlled space and is not suffering deterioration.

King Henry VIII welcoming the King of France.

One of the final panels is of Sir Winston Churchill on the White Cliffs of Dover.  This makes it a continuous narrative with the Overlord Embroidery. His right hand is making his famous salute and his left hand  holds a cigar.

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The photos are screen shots. My apologies for the poor quality which do not do justice to the originals.

A 45 minute film of the complete Hastings embroidery can be viewed at The Hastings Embroidery – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZbfbDvoEa8. It is worth the time to view it.

Feel free to forward the link to this series to friends and other interested persons.

Tomorrow:   The Magna Carta.

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The Sequel to the Battle of Hastings.

King William’s victory was not welcomed by the Saxon population but it would be have been surprising if it had been.  The next months were stormy and he was crowned king on Christmas Day, 1066 in a deliberately empty Westminster Abbey.  England was a country of separate areas and each one had its own Saxon government.  There were rebellions and after each one, King William confiscated land and gave it to his Norman supporters.  By the end of his 20 year reign, the countryside was owned and governed by Normans.  He introduced some very sensible laws.

Curious?  Look them up on Wikipedia.

He also built multiple castles and fortresses including the Tower of London.  Civilian building included St Albans Abbey and Winchester Cathedral.

King William moved back to Normandy. He was illiterate but made an attempt to learn Olde Englyshe.  He was too busy and he gave up.  He had 8 children who he married off all over Europe.  It is said that every European royal family is descended from King William.

If the Saxons had won the Battle of Hasting, King Harold would have been a HERO big time.  The Saxon nation seems to have been more peaceful than either the Vikings or the Normans.  It was also isolated and backward compared with the Normandy.  The Normans modernized it.

There were several factors that contributed to the Saxon defeat.  They were battle weary after Stamford Bridge.  Both the Viking and Saxon armies were largely foot soldiers.  The Saxons lost highly trained fighting men and there were injuries. Reading today tells me that the Saxons had horses which they rode to battle: but, they fought on foot.

Then, they had another major battle to fight and its location was long way from  Stamford Bridge.  The Norman army was rested, mounted on horseback, were well drilled and disciplined.  An example of superior technology winning the war.  King Harold made some strategical errors including having both his surviving brothers involved in the battle.  When all three were killed it left a leadership vacuum.

Consequences of William the Conqueror’s Victory at the Battle of Hastings.
http://michaeltfassbender.com/nonfiction/other

The Animated Bayeux Tapestry

King William ordered a survey of the assets of England in 1086 primarily as a basis for taxation. The results were compiled into the Domesday Book. About the same time, Bishop Odo commissioned the Bayeux Tapestry.  This was to make sure that the Saxon population really did know who won the war.

Many scholars have studied the Bayeux Tapestry and many books written on the subject.  My reference was by Eric Maclagan C.B.E. and published in 1943.  I have owned this small book since I was a student at RSN.  As I looked at photos on the web, I have marveled at the artistic rendering of so many men, horses and scenes from everyday life.  The design is amazing in that there is an understandable order in each scene and a continuity between one scene and the next.

It all makes sense.  What does not make sense is a discrepancy between the design and drawing between the prequel scenes and the actual battle.  They all have a a life and energy to them but nothing prepares for the confusion and mayhem of the battle scenes.  The soldiers are larger than life and graphic in death.  Did the same artist draw the final scenes?  Whoever the artist was, he/she was as conversant with battle action as with everyday life.

I am going to raise a question that I have not seen anywhere in my reading.  The Tapestry definitely had an artist/designer.  The logical and graphic sequencing of events could not have been randomly stitched. But, there appears, to me, to be a different eye and hand portraying the battle scenes.

Go back and look at it again.  The battle scenes are graphic, chaotic and bloody.  Could one artist have portrayed the daily life and adventures of the 11th century and then changed his/her style for the battle?  One noticeable difference is that the faces in the early scenes are squarish or round and the bodies are normally proportioned. In the battle scenes, they are elongated and individual facial differences are less obvious.  Yes, I know that a man standing in the stirrups of his horse is tall.  The change in style seems to happen after the Normans army leaves its camp and continues on to the end of the Tapestry. (scenes 60 – 79).

Were there two artists?  Did the second artist quit or was he no longer available for some reason?

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Go online and look at Bayeux Tapestry Images. I could not find a specific picture to include here.

The quality of the stitching is remarkable.  The stitchers retained the energy of the action which is palpable almost 1000 years later.  The main characters are recognizable and facial features are distinctive. Horses, often in a mass, are individually distinctive and that takes some doing.

If it really was Queen Mathilda and her ladies who stitched the Bayeux Tapestry, they did a wonderful job.  Embroidery was a profession in those days and if the best of their best stitched the Tapestry, I am dazzled by their prowess.

The stitchers would seem to have continued their work until they ran out of a design,

What do you think about the artist/s and design?

I do not know, but, I am wondering.

Tomorrow:  The Hastings Embroideries. Unlike the Bayeux Tapestry which everyone has heard of, I bet you are unaware of these.

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The Bayeux Story continues

The wind direction changed allowing the Norman armada to sail.  On September 29, 1066, Duke William with his army, equipment and a multitude of horses landed in Pevensey Bay on the south coast of England and then moved east to the area of Hastings where they set up camp. They built defenses plus a castle and burned the buildings of local residents. Here is shown a woman leaving her burning house with her son. She is one of only three women depicted in the tapestry

The Norman army settles in. Food is prepared and Duke William has a feast. Bishop Odo, William’s half brother, is seated third from the right and is saying grace. He was also present at the Battle of Hastings. His religious vows prevented him from shedding blood so he was armed with a mace which is a good bludgeoning weapon. It was he who, about 20 years later, commissioned the creation of the Bayeux Tapestry.  As general literacy was not then established, the story in pictures is thought? to have been commissioned to educate and justify Dukes William’s actions to the Saxon population of England.  They were not happy with his succession to the throne and there was civil unrest for 10 years or longer subsequent to 1066.

Note the features of the two men setting fire to the house in the first picture.  Take a look at the faces of the Normans at their feast. Bishop Odo is recognizable each time he appears in the narrative.  I am not sure which one is Duke William.  Possibly, he is the one on the right hand side of the picture with his arm raised.

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A little out of context but look closely at this rendition of King Edward in the picture below.  Note the details such as his beard and hands. Look at his crown and his clothing. He is recognizable as the same person each time he appears in the narrative. Faces are difficult to stitch as anyone who has tried will know. Not only is King Edward recognizable but he also has a personality.

Amazing design and amazing stitching.  The Bayeux Tapestry has been repaired over the years as the threads have disintegrated over time. Even though it is now housed in a climate controlled gallery, the fabric is very fragile.  I have read that its length was designed fit all round the entire inside of Bayeux Cathedral.  There is an empty space at the end which gives an idea of the length of the uncompleted portion.

I have read extensively about the Bayeux Tapestry and related history.  Every source says something different.  I have aimed for accuracy but it is hard to know what ‘accurate’ is.

Tomorrow:  October 14,  Battle Day.

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The Battle of Stamford Bridge

Having won the Battle of Fulford Gate, the Vikings took time off. They did not burn the City of York as they had Scarborough but, as victors, they collected tribute in the form of goods and hostages. For late September, the weather was unseasonably hot. The Vikings made camp on the western and the eastern sides of the River Derwent.

In this portion of one of fifteen panels, the Viking army is relaxing.

They are fishing, talking and sleeping.  King Hadrada gave them permission to leave off their chain mail protection because of the heat.

Meanwhile, in southern England Earl Harold Godwinson (King Harold) had his army trained and ready to meet the expected invasion from Normandy. In Normandy, Duke William had his invasion army ready but the wind and tides had been unfavourable all summer. They waited, as did King Harold and his army in England.

King Harold heard about the Viking invasion in Scarborough. The Vikings had a poor reputation which made them unacceptable immigrants. King Harold gathered some/all of his army and marched them north to York. The distance between London and York is 215 miles (350 kms) which is about the distance between here, Guelph, and Ottawa. The roads were not as they are today. It is said that they did this march in four days but, this is so remarkable as to be unbelievable, that I can only think that they started out before the Battle of Fulford on September 20.  This is surmise on my part.

Their arrival at Stamford Bridge and their attack on September 25 was unexpected. In the first panel, their arrival is indicated by the dust storm you can see in the upper right section of the first picture.   The Vikings on the western (left, wrong end) of the narrow, wooden bridge were trapped.

The bridge (same bridge as above), was a bottle neck being defended by one elite Viking warrior known as a berserker. A berserker wore a bear fur collar (baer sarkr or bear shirt). They were fed psychedelic mushrooms before a battle, and killed anyone in front of them until they were killed, or ran out of enemies – hence our modern word berserk! (Thank you, Heather Cawte for this information). The beserker was finally felled by a Saxon who floated down the river and speared him from below. These figures are not yet completely stitched.

After that, the armies formed up on the east side of the river in the manner that was traditional for the time. A bloody battle was fought with huge losses on both sides. Both King Hadrada and Earl Tostig died. The section of the army left guarding the boats, led by King Hadrada’s son-in-law (who was also killed later in the battle), arrived in haste but the victory went to the Saxon army.

I was unable to locate a stitching that I was sure was of the battle. Instead, the photo below, taken in July 2017, shows visitors viewing the work-in-progress.

The lower photo also shows stitching in progress. Note the positions of the panel and the stitchers.  They are working upside down which is necessary on an embroidery of this width.

The tapestry is stitched on linen twill fabric, a cotton backing and uses Appletons wool threads. The design is placed on the cotton backing, marked through the front linen with running stitch. It is then outlined with stem stitching and filled with Bayeux stitch. Chris Rock designed the tapestry, the volunteer stitchers are under the leadership of Shirley Smith. They are raising money for the cost of the fabric and threads by preparing and selling kits.

If you would like to stitch a small piece of the Stamford Bridge Battle for yourself or be a stitching volunteer go to publicity@stamfordbridgetapestry.org.uk

These final stacked pictures are of the longboats returning to Norway and of meal preparation. Out of the 300/240 longboats that landed, only 24 were needed to take the survivors home. Two generations of men were in that invasion army.  While researching I read that the Viking women fought alongside the men so their loss was enormous too.  One of their leaders was allowed to return home with the survivors.  This was a young boy who was possibly the grandson (supposition on my part) of King Hadrada.  The Vikings promised to never, ever invade England again.

The days of Viking supremacy were over. They stayed home, recovered, and became Norwegians.

The latest news is that a book will be written about the design and stitching of this tapestry –

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Tapestry Project Brought to Book (search this phrase for more information). Published by Laura Mary on Facebook.

Battle of Stamford Bridge Tapestry Project 1066 – 2016 Interesting videos.

Hippytstitch: Battle of Stamford Bridge Tapestry for more pictures and information.

Apologies for the long spaces –  am still trying to figure out how to do this.

Tomorrow: The Bayeux story continues.

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Silk, Stockings and Clogs, by Janet Sunderani

1980s Britain was a difficult time to graduate from university. With a degree in English and no discernible job skills apart from a willing heart and an urgent need to earn my keep I felt very lucky to land a job with a textile company in the Midlands. Filigree Textiles made knitted voile, Jacquard lace, lace insertions and trimmings from Diolen. This polyester thread was used to make the sheer and lace curtains so popular at that time in the UK. They also owned E. A. Richards, a manufacturer of traditional Nottingham lace tablecloths, bedspreads and trimmings using machines that were already over 100 years old.

To take a tour of Leavers lace mill and see a working lace making machine watch the video below. Yes, I noted that it is in Rhode Island.

It is still possible to purchase Nottingham Lace. This tablecloth (Aintree design)can be found at the site below. Lace Story, also on this site, contains more information. The Lucilla pattern is 100% cotton and hand made. From cruising the web and reading the advertising, my impression is that there is an increased interest in using lace thanks to Downton Abbey.

http://www.quintessentialenglishlace.co.uk

I had a grand title, Marketing Executive, but in reality my job was a gofer. Officially I assisted in all aspects of our participation in national and international trade fairs. Included were purchasing of sales materials, display stands, packaging and print. Other duties could find me doing anything from cleaning the showroom, ironing samples to fetching and delivering urgently needed goods and trimmings. I felt lucky to have a job and was rarely bored.
I loved living in the Midlands near to Nottingham. We settled in Belper in a tiny cottage on Mill Lane. Our neighbour, Dina, had lived on that street all her life and worked for the local stocking factory, Brettles, where she was a ‘leg straightener’. She pulled the knitted stockings over a leg form prior to them being steam finished and becoming fully fashioned. That is, acquiring a leg shape. We moved and our new next door neighbour was ‘Dina’s other leg’. This means that she worked the other shift but worked on the same leg forms. I don’t think stockings are made like that any more.

If you would like to see a leg straightener at work, watch the following video:

www.britishpathe.com/video/stocking-factory

No. 17, was our neighbour on the right. This was an interesting cottage as it had been squeezed into the triangle shape between our house and the house further up the lane. At the front is a brick structure which was a nail makers workshop. As most of the mill workers were women and children, the men needed employment too. Belper was a centre for nail making and there are several nail makers cottages in the town. No. 17 was about twelve feet wide at the front but only three or four at the rear. All the cottages were tiny. I do not know how they brought up families in such small houses.

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-34348430.html

Take a tour of 17 which has been renovated to a desirable residence. The bathroom has a heated towel rack which is an attraction living with the general dampness outside the home. Dina and her husband continue to live in the same house on Mill Lane.

Belper was also home to other manufacturers. Thorntons made wonderful toffee and chocolate and the smell was amazing. Strutts cotton mill and Silkolene had closed by then. Silkolene had developed a conditioner for silk weaving that became Swarfega – a hand cleanser used by mechanics.

I was often sent to Congleton to Berisfords where they made silk ribbon and trimmings. The route took me through the beautiful Derbyshire Peak District by way of Ashbourne and Leek. The countryside bore the evidence of its industrial past. This was mining country. Most of the girls who sewed the sheer and lace curtains were the wives and daughters of miners. The Victorian industrialists had taken full advantage of the confluence of coal, water, steel and a labour force to build substantial factories. This moved knitting and weaving out of the cottages and into large purpose built mills.

Wardles Silk Mill dominated the town of Leek though It was closed even then. The Victorians built those buildings to last. The Wardles had been a prominent family and several of them had been mayors of the town. Many of the mill owners of that time built schools for the children of their workers. This had a radical effect on the social mobility of that class as their children received an education for the first time.

For more pictures of the Wardle and Davenport Mill in Leek, go to:

http://www.28dayslater.co.uk/forums/showthread.php/79297-Wardle-amp-Davenport-Ltd-(The-Big-mill)-silk-manufacturer-Leek-march-2013

Refer also to Dyeing and the Silk Industry during the Late 1800s. Posted on this blog Monday, November 25, 2013.

In a way I felt completely at home in that industry. My grandmother had been a mill girl before her marriage and worked as a child (1905-1915 approximately) in a cotton mill as a halftime piecer. Under the looms, she joined together the threads as they were woven into fabric. She worked mornings and went to school in the afternoons. School included a nutritious hot lunch cooked on site. I wish I had paid more attention to her stories. All the local girls worked in the mill. It was much better money than being in service in a large home. Her husband was a chauffeur. Even married girls worked in the mill; their babies were brought to the mill for nursing at lunchtime. My Aunt Edna always credited her scholarship to Grammar School to the excellent education she received at the JP Coates school which used the strict Scottish education system. JP Coates made embroidery supplies. My great aunt Alice stitched the sample tapestries used in stores publicize their wares.

I often thought of the family connection as I drove through these Midlands industrial towns. The UK was in the midst of a hard recession. Company profits were down 20% and manufacturing output was down 15%. Inflation was 17% and unemployment had reached 1.5 million. Evidence of this was everywhere in the closed shops though the area was better off than some. Race riots occurred in the major cities triggered by arson attacks on the homes of racial minorities. The prisons were in uproar too with riots and hunger strikes. Peace camps were set up at Greenham Common to protest the siting of nuclear missiles as the USA slid towards war with Iran.

However Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher who was deeply unpopular, declared her intention to continue her policies announcing “the Lady’s not for turning”, and her Minister of Employment advised people to “get on your bike and look for work!”

One bright spot in all this was that Prince Charles and Lady Di were married and we were all invited to watch on the telly. As she swept down the aisle of St. Paul’s Cathedral, her magnificent silk dress had become a little crumpled from the confines of the glass coach. Perhaps this was a foreshadowing of things to come. The silk for the dress was woven in Suffolk, not Macclesfield. Filigree Textiles designed and produced an official souvenir lace panel to commemorate the occasion which sold very well in Japan.

The Lace on the bodice of Lady Diana’s wedding gown.

Like Wardles Mill, the factory I worked at is now derelict. Unlike Wardles the modern building did not last a hundred years. Filigree Textiles swallowed up its competitors and centralized its manufacturing into a new factory. I am not sure how much of its lace and voile is still manufactured in the Midlands. Cheap imports of excellent quality textiles from Eastern Europe were already threatening the market even in the 80s. Filigree had begun to buy lace rather than make it.

Information regarding lace keeps arriving:

“Do you know how to tell good lace from cheap lace? It’s the variation of the size of the holes. The more variations, the better the quality. This variation also causes the woven fabric to feel fairly stiff. Manufacturers would starch cheap lace so that it felt like good quality lace”. (Sheila McCoy)

Most of the old mills are derelict or transformed into flats or historic museums for the tourists. Which amounts to a glimpse at Britain’s manufacturing past and a trip to the tearoom.

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Each generation of the industry, each innovation seems to have been shorter than the previous ones. Cloth and thread were home produced for hundreds of years. That is, home grown, home spun and hand woven. Many generations would have worn cloth that was produced, cut and sewn within a very few miles of their homes. When the Victorians built the massive mills my grandmother worked in, wearing her clogs, they must have expected this marvellous new technology to last for many generations. The buildings and the machines were built to last. And yet I probably do not own one item in my closet that was made in North America. That is, made from American cotton, woven, cut and sewn all in North America.

In fact probably almost half of my wardrobe has more to do with the oil patch than the cotton patch, sheep fold or silkworm.

And the clogs? Janet has so much to share with the readers of this blog that it has been divided into two instalments. Stay tuned!

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From Lace Back to Stockings

The last posting on Lace triggered some interesting responses. Among them was the fact that a wedding dress was made of Nottingham Lace. Another reader wondered where one finds pieces of chunky old lace with which to play creatively. A third observed that the only place in the UK where lace continues to be manufactured is in Heanor in Derbyshire. And there was an email from Jeri Ames in Maine, USA with a request to share this blog with the members of Lace@Arachne.com.

That will be a pleasure and I hope that the lace makers will find this blog interesting though tangental. And for any readers with links to RSN in the 1950s, my name during my RSN days was Ann Nind. While a student there, I completed two and a half years of the three year course all in an 18 month time period. I worked hard for the first time on my life. It was a skill I really wanted to pursue but employment prospects were almost negligible. Hence the move into Occupational Therapy.

One never knows what will happen when one starts a blog. And it’s all rather exciting!

Lace is a huge subject and my blog barely scratches the surface. Further information on the history of Lace can be found in the article Lace by Sheila A. Mason, BA, FRSA. www.nottsheritagegateway.org.uk

Machine knitting was invented about 1589 by William Lee, a vicar of Nottinghamshire. The Stocking Knitting Frame made it possible for workers to produce knitted goods up to 100 times faster than by hand. The industry was primarily based in Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire and Derbyshire. The workers required quick sight, a ready hand and retentive faculties. It was a hard and demanding way to earn a living. Queen Elizabeth 1 refused to grant Lee a licence to produce stockings as she feared that it would result in financial hardship for the hand knitters. He went to France where he and his brother developed the machine further and within a decade he was able to produce long silk stockings for the gentry. Prior to this, stockings were hand knitted at home by every person available much like the production of Dorset Buttons.
www.frameworkknittersmuseum.org.uk

I am reminded of Malvolio in Twelfth Night written by Shakespeare 1601/02. By then, his yellow stockings had become a fashion item and it did not take long for them to become established. The cross gartering was not so normal! White was the usual colour and stockings were made of wool or cotton with silk being the most expensive. Fashion dictated colour changes and the inclusion of designs such as clocking as the machines became ever more complex.

The hand operated stocking knitting frames were an integral part of a cottage industry in the homes and cottages of Nottingham. A good light was essential and the high set wide windows in the photograph below indicates that a knitting machine was installed in the upper rooms. It was a family occupation. The men operated the knitting machine, the women did the sewing up and the children wound the hanks of wool onto cones. The machines became better, larger and faster. The industry boomed. The hand operated Stocking Knitting Machine depicted below is very different to the complex machine being demonstrated in the video at the end of this entry,

These four cottages in Stapleford near Nottingham were purpose built for the home based stocking frame knitters. The large windows on the top floor let in as much daylight as possible. In 1844 there were 16,382 stocking frames in the area. But the home industry was in decline because the availability of steam power made it increasingly attractive for the industry to move into factories. As a result, many of the machines in the homes fell idle and the welfare of the workers deteriorated. To earn the same money, the worker now had to toil 16 hours a day whereas previously he worked 10 hours. Their living conditions became deplorable with a diet consisting mainly of bread, cheese, gruel and tea on which they grew emaciated, pale and thin. As you will see in the video, operating a machine by hand requires strength and coordination.

This photo and the information were found in a wonderful collection of pictures: English Cottages by Tony Evans and Candida Lycett Green, ISBN 0 297 78116 2.

As the 19th century progressed, fashions changed. Men wore trousers and no longer needed long stockings. In the years from the 16th century to the 19th century it became harder and harder to make a living from operating a knitting machine. This is a brief synopsis from a long and informative article at
www.picturethepast.org.uk

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A Google search of Framework Knitting Machines will lead you to YouTube videos of these machines in operation. You will notice that working the 100 year old machine requires good body strength and concentration. The knitter, Martin Green, can be seen in the following video which includes an explanatory soundtrack.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oWfzzfjMa6k
The beautiful lace shawl pictured at the end of one of the videos reminded me that I have a similar shawl given to me by an English friend on the occasion of the birth of our first child. It is like gossamer and is in excellent condition because it has been treated as a treasure.

I hope that you have enjoyed this brief trip into the Land of Lace.