Needlecraft & Embroidery>Hand embroidery: other

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Publisher: Search Press
Edition: BB Hardback 144 pages + envelope with 4 fold-out single-sided pattern sheets
Publication: 16 June 2026
ISBN 13/EAN: 9781800923669
Stock: Not Yet Published
Size: 204x260 mm
Pages: 144
RRP: £19.99

Embroider the Bayeux Tapestry

Name: Embroider the Bayeux Tapestry
Rating: 5 (1 reviews)
Author: Mia Hansson
ISBN: 9781800923669

£19.99

Transfer and stitch 25 historic scenes featuring kings, knights, horses and more by Mia Hansson

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Book Description

In 2026, the UK celebrates the Bayeux Tapestry’s first trip to British soil in 900 years, with a feted exhibition at the British Museum. With Tapestry enthusiast and embroidery expert Mia Hansson as your guide, celebrate this historic moment: embroider your way through the story of the Norman conquest of England in 1066, and recreate some of the world’s most famous embroidery for yourself using simple stitches and full-size iron-on transfers.

'If you’re at all interested in the amazing 11th-century piece of art that is the Bayeux Tapestry, or if you want to try your own hand at embroidering like an Anglo-Saxon, grab this book.'
Dr David Musgrove: Content Director of HistoryExtra and co-author of The Story of the Bayeux Tapestry.

Bring the Bayeux Tapestry to life by embroidering 25 historic scenes featuring bishops, knights, trees, dragons, horses and, of course, King Harold with the fateful arrow in his eye.

Discover creative insights into the craftsmanship and skill used to create one of the most significant cultural artefacts in the world and recreate key parts of it for yourself using simple stitches and full-size iron-on transfers.

Choose from the 25 iron-on transfer designs: simply cut them out and iron them on to your fabric, giving you precise outlines and a shortcut to stitching.
The book contains a complete guide to tools and materials (just seven shades of 2-ply crewel wool are used), and illustrated step-by-step instructions for working the four stitches (stem stitch, chain stitch, double running stitch and Bayeux stitch), along with advice on using the transfers and planning your stitch journey.
Discover 20 additional key scenes of historical significance explored with Mia's technical insight, and uncover things you might not have noticed before: featureless seafarers, a man kneeling on an invisible leg, floating torsos and horses with impossible legs.
The embroidery designs are presented chronologically, and with reference to their placement on the Tapestry, so that you can easily navigate this extraordinary work of art and understand the historical context.

Stunning photography and instructive stitch diagrams make this historical and artistic masterpiece accessible whether you want to replicate one of Aesop's fables that appear in the friezes, or majestic sections such as Harold's coronation.

About the author: in 2016, Mia Hansson started embroidering a full-scale Bayeux Tapestry replica, using fabrics and threads as similar as possible to those used in the original work. She is due to finish this extraordinary achievement in time for the 1,000th anniversary of William the Conqueror’s birth, in 2027. The Bayeux Tapestry spans almost 70 metres (77 yards) and features over 1,500 designs.

'This is a beautiful, practical, and incredibly informative book. Mia’s up-close and personal experience of recreating the Bayeux Tapestry with her own needle adds an extra dimension to our knowledge of the embroidery. If you’re at all interested in the amazing 11th-century piece of art that is the Bayeux Tapestry, or if you want to try your own hand at embroidering like an Anglo-Saxon, grab this book.'
Dr David Musgrove is Content Director of HistoryExtra and co-author of The Story of the Bayeux Tapestry.

Foreword by Jan Messent 8
Introduction 10
About the Bayeux Tapestry 12
Materials and tools 14
Stitches 16
Order of work 19
Getting started 20

PROJECTS AND SCENES OF SPECIAL INTEREST 24

PROJECT: King Edward the Confessor’s palace, scene 1 26
PROJECT: Harold with a bird of prey, scene 2 30
PROJECT: Bosham church, scene 3 34
PROJECT: The fox and the crow: an Aesop’s fable, scene 4 38
The second English ship, scene 4 40
PROJECT: The capture of Earl Harold Godwinson, scene 7 42
A group of Guy’s four horses, scene 7 46
A group of men outside Guy’s residence, scene 848
PROJECT: The deer and the lion, part 1: an Aesop’s fable, scene 8 50
PROJECT: The deer and the lion, part 2: an Aesop’s fable, scene 8 52
PROJECT: A tree and a ram, scene 8 54
My favourite tree, scene 9 56
PROJECT: The look-out tree, scene 11 58
PROJECT: Interlaced birds, scene 12 62
PROJECT: William’s meeting with Harold, scene 14 64
PROJECT: Peacocks, scene 14 68
PROJECT: Ælfgyva between the pillars, scene 15 70
PROJECT: My favourite dragons, scene 15 74
William and three men on horseback, scene 16 76
Conan on a rope in Dol, scene 18 78
The fort at Dinan, scene 19 80
PROJECT: Tall dragons, scene 22 82
PROJECT: Birds on a stand, scene 22 84
PROJECT: William on his throne in Bayeux, scene 22 86
PROJECT: Harold between the relics, scene 23 90
PROJECT: The wolf and the crane: an Aesop’s fable, scene 24 94
Elderly King Edward, scene 25 96
Westminster Abbey, scene 25 98
King Edward being buried before he died, scene 26 100
King Edward’s sickbed and death, scenes 27 and 28 102
PROJECT: Harold’s coronation, scene 30 104
The men outside the palace, scene 31 108
PROJECT: The comet, scene 32 110
The tittle-tattlers on a ship, scene 34 112
The men loading the ship, scene 36 114
The uncomfortable-looking horse and more, scene 37 116
The racing horses, scenes 39 and 40 118
PROJECT: The man cooking, scene 42 120
A family of trees on the edge of the battlefield, scene 48 124
A group of horses, scene 48 126
PROJECT: Twin trees, scene 48 128
William and Odo on horseback, scene 49 130
PROJECT: The winged horse, scene 50 132
PROJECT: Harold with the arrow in his eye, scene 57 134
Harold’s death, scene 57 138

Using the transfers 140
Acknowledgements 144

About the Author

About Mia Hansson

Mia learnt cross stitch from her grandmother at the age of five. She continued her needle journey through school to become a Viking-age reenactment seamstress. In 2016 she started making a full-scale Bayeux Tapestry replica, knowing that it would take at least ten years to complete. What started as a labour of love became a personal challenge of epic proportions! Mia has 12K members on her Facebook group, Mia's Bayeux Tapestry Story. She lives in Cambridgeshire, UK. Visit Mia's website for more information: www.miasbayeuxstyleart.uk

Press

This is a beautiful, practical, and incredibly informative book. Mias up-close and personal experience of recreating the Bayeux Tapestry with her own needle provides insights that no amount of academic research can replicate. If youre at all interested in the amazing 11th-century piece of art that is the Bayeux Tapestry, or if you want to try your own hand at embroidering like an Anglo-Saxon, this is the book for you.

Dr David Musgrove is Content Director of BBC History Magazine and HistoryExtra.com, a regular podcaster on HistoryExtra and co-author of The Story of the Bayeux Tapestry.

Pre-order