The Stitch Safari Podcast

Derived from the Latin word ‘exemplum’ or Old French term ‘essamplaire’ meaning example, Samplers were a way to reference various designs, types of stitches and their textures, becoming a personal authority or aide-mémoire to record and trial multiple complex stitching techniques, featuring moralising texts, pictorial motifs as well as alphabets, numerals and personal information.  

With the Elizabethan age, came high adventure and travel, bringing new design inspiration, and fostering that much-needed re-birth or re-flowering of the art of embroidery, especially for secular use.

In this episode, I explore Opus Anglicanum and its effect on fashion and embroidery in the 20th and 21st centuries.  The simple fact is, that in the 20th and 21st centuries, there has been an upturn in the creative arts – especially embroidery and textiles.  We’ve again fallen in love with accomplishments from our past.

Opus Anglicanum was the Haute Couture of its time, whether, for secular or religious garments, coverings, purses, seal bags or even horse trappers, these items were made to be part of an experience – they were made to be seen, to stand out and to display the object or wearer as someone or something of status and was central to an art form displaying the rich material culture of the medieval elite.

Opus Anglicanum refers to the body of unsurpassed English embroidery, spanning a period from 1100 – 1450.  It took the medieval world by storm and was viewed as an art form in its own right, on a par with architecture, sculpture and stained glass work. 

The focus for this episode is on a medieval garment – over 600 years old, worn by Edward of Woodstock, the Black Prince.

This episode will end our exceptional journey with inspired satire, as well as its marketing appeal, uniquely reinforcing the Bayeux Tapestry’s long-lasting appeal.  

One of the most fascinating aspects of the Bayeux Tapestry is its indisputable power as an influencer, both Napoleon and Hitler saw power in the medieval embroidery’s appeal, but what about its power in the modern era and across a diversity of media?

Enter Matilda.  A secret operation, called Special Project Brittany, codenamed ‘Matilda’ was brought into play where The Bayeux Tapestry was to be taken from Chateau Sourches to Berlin in two stages, to make it less obvious that it was being taken out of France.

The Bayeux Tapestry - a fragile strip of medieval linen covered in embroidery telling the story of the Battle of Hastings, wrangled over by so many during the second world war – French and German and transported no less than five times on open roads with little protection from Allied bombing.