Sunday Stitch School - Lesson 50: Bayeux Stitch

Welcome to a new History lesson at Sunday Stitch School.

Japan is famous for its 'manga', comics and cartoons.

The idea of telling a story mainly with pictures is not new. It has always been a way to let everyone, regardless of age or literacy skills, take part. For example, murial paintings on church walls were used to tell stories from the Bible.
Today, at international airports and other places where people of different languages and alphabets gather, we are shown where to go and what to do with illustrations or signs.

This is a stitch school so let's look at embroidered 'manga'. There are some very famous embroidered panels, e.g. the Quaker Tapestry at Kendal - it's a feast of stitches.

Today, though, our history lesson is about the Bayeux Tapestry. You can read about it here, and further reading can be found here.

In the French town of Bayeux, Chantal James runs a shop where you can buy kits of parts of the tapestry, or join workshops.

Here is a video where she shows you how to do the stitch.
This link shows drawings of how the stitch is made.

The other day I was given an embroidered phone cover made by my friend Jacquie Harvey, BEM.

Although originally an expert quilter she has recently done a lot of embroidery work in the Bayeux style. However, she works the laid stitches in a slightly different way, using Bemmy Stitch, so we will look at this technique, too, and where and how to mix the stitches.

The French name is of course: point de Bayeux

So, finally, here are my stitch instructions for the traditional Bayeux Stitch:

 Stitch the outline in Stem, Outline or Du Vos Stitch using wool

Fill in the design with surface  Satin Stitch.

 Take a Straight stitch across the design, (it should be the same green, I've used a contrasting colour for clarity)

Couch it down with small stitches

Bemmy Stitch:

When you have a curved design, the Bemmy Stitch is better.
First do the outline as before

Fill in the design with shortish straight stitches, making sure you take just a tiny nibble of the fabric and follow the curve.

 Cover the lines of naked fabric with the same wool yarn and couch it down.

With a thicker yarn and neater, tighter stitches, you get better coverage, but there you are!

Homework:

1) Fill in the remaining leaf, and if you wish, add a flower.

2) Embroider a more 'Bayeux-ish' design.

3) Add the stitch to your Sunday Stitch Reference Chart

If you feel like reading a lot more about Bayeux Tapestry, live in or will visit the UK, may I share a link with you that I found on Mary Corbet's Needle 'n Thread? Apparently the Bayeux Tapestries are going to cross the Channel! Check it out here.

Updated:
There is a copy of the Bayeux Tapestry in Reading (that is a town in the UK).
Check it out here.
Thanks, Elizabeth, for the information.