One stitch at a time: Artist spends 11 years recreating the Bayeux Tapestry by hand

WISBECH, July 3 — Ten years ago England-based artist Mia Hansson embarked on a painstaking project that continues to this day: creating a replica of the 70-metre (230-foot) long Bayeux Tapestry.

At her home in Wisbech, in the eastern county of Cambridgeshire, the Swedish-born Hansson carefully embroiders each intricate scene from the 11th century artwork that depicts the 1066 Norman conquest of England.

The textile artist recalled how she started the elaborate storytelling cloth on 13 July 2016 knowing that she could stop any time, which meant the endeavour did not feel daunting.

“Then when you get, you know, that far, but you can’t stop because I would be stupid. And then when you get even further, I thought actually now I really can’t stop,” she told AFP.

Sitting on the floor of a community hall, her legs crossed, Hansson explains how first she draws the instantly recognisable images, and then stitches over them, matching the colours to the original as best she can.

The cloth is made of 100 per cent linen while the embroidery comprises 100 per cent wool.

“I still only do one bit at a time,” Hansson said of her methodical process.

Hansson insists that she embarked on the challenge for its craftmanship, not because she had any special interest in William the Conqueror or the Battle of Hastings.

“I hate history with a passion,” she told AFP.

“So I did this only from the handicraft point of view. I’ve learned the history against my will, because you work with these images so intimately that you kind of have to learn. But I soak it up, I haven’t read anything.”

Hansson has seen the original tapestry and hopes to view it again when it goes on show in the UK for the first time later this year after a delicate process of transporting it from France.

For Hansson, her lengthy labour of love has become a form of therapy that helps her to relax and stay in the present.

“If I feel stressed or anything, if I get this out, I’ll just sit down and I’m in the zone, basically,” she explained.

The former teacher’s initial aim was to complete the work in a decade.

“I did some calculations and I thought if I work five hours every single day, I will come in dead on 10 years,” she said.

Life got in the way, however.

“But then we got a puppy and then we remodelled the house. And then we travelled and now we have another puppy. So everything has taken longer,” said Hansson.

But she is not far off track and aims to finish it on July 13, 2027, which would be exactly 11 years since she started.

“That would be perfect,” said Hansson, adding she was “proud” of her achievements so far.

“I can still stop if I want to. But then I would be known as the woman who didn’t finish the Bayeux Tapestry. That would kill me.” — AFP