Crewel intentions

Said to have been embroidered by Queen Matilda, wife of William the Conqueror, the Bayeux Tapestry depicts the events foreshadowing the Norman Invasion, 1066 Battle of Hastings, and William the Conqueror’s subsequent ascension to the throne of England.

The Bayeux Tapestry is the oldest surviving example of crewel embroidery, commissioned in 1077 to decorate the new cathedral of Bayeux it was hung in the nave once a year and conserved in a wooden chest for the remainder.

At almost 70m long it features 58 embroidered vignettes of everyday life in medieval Europe. Amongst the 626 characters and 202 horses, Viking ships, mythical creatures, Norman war cries, and Halley’s Comet are depicted in an array of stitches including stem, chain, and herringbone.

After seven centuries in the Cathedral’s treasury and careful preservation during World War II, the Tapestry has been on display in its own museum, the Seminary of Bayeux, since 1983.

Queen Elizabeth I was proficient in embroidery and in the mid-1500s established the Keepers and Company of the Arte and Mystery of the Broderers of the City of London – the embroidery guild which set and maintained the standards of crewel work across the kingdom.

Unlike the delicate Elizabethan style, Jacobean crewel was bold, multi-coloured, and greatly inspired by the early 17th century exploration of the New World during the reign of King James VI and I (1603-1625).

These compositions often featured twisting branches adorned with fruits and floral motifs, referencing the ancient Tree of Life designs popular in Indian and Sri Lankan palampores (calico bedcovers).

Interpretations of the Tree of Life have appeared across cultures and religions for thousands of years, from Egyptian mythology to Hinduism, Judaism, Buddhism, and Christianity, but became widely popular in Western Europe due to colonisation and the boom in global trade made possible by the East India Company.

From textiles to wallcoverings and accessories the Tree of Life was adapted by artisans in both Asia and Europe to appeal to new markets. English embroiderers added animals and insects when reinterpreting traditional prints and introduced diverse stitching techniques to create depth and shading within the design. Coloured in naturalistic shades of green, blue, yellow, brown, and red on an off-white linen ground, these textiles were generally used as wall hangings in homes.

The popularity of crewelwork caught the eye of our International Brands Manager at Paris Deco Off. She noted that “embroidery continues to grow at every level of the market but has evolved to include raw iterations such as crewelwork in design styles as broad as traditional, geometric, modern art, and global craft.”

Just as she observed, we’re seeing crewel come through in force in the collections of Zinc Textile and Mokum.

Hero design of Mokum’s Soleil Voyage collection, Cordia reimagines tropical foliage as a collage of leaves unfurl across the natural linen base cloth. Incorporating crewel chain stitching into a dynamic interplay of matte and lustrous yarns to create a detailed embroidered textile with depth and tactility.