Book Report

Recently I purchased a book entitled Celtic, Viking & Anglo-Saxon Embroidery

The art and embroidery of Jan Messent

She is a member of the Embroiderers Guild and has lectured all over the world.
Her last book was about the Bayeux Tapestry (which I need).

This is a wonderful book, containing many samples of her work.

 

This is a celebration of gold ornament, along with some of the fibers known
during the time between 1500 and 500 BC. The history of these
fibers is fascinating.

 Below is a replica of an Anglo-Saxon woman's needle kit, complete
with handmade needles.

 Below is a book, replicating the Bayeux stitch, used on the famous
tapestry made in England by Anglo-Saxon women following the Norman
invasion of 1066. It is a laidwork filling with couched threads.

 Only noblewomen had the time and materials to decorate their clothing
and make beautiful items for the church. Many noblewomen went to live in nunneries
after they were widowed.

 Tablet weaving.

 What King Harold's cloak for Hastings may have looked like.

Truly a wonderful book - I can't stop looking at it.
I have so much admiration for these women who made their own needles,
and spun, wove and dyed their own fabrics.
Love, Linda