Reimagining the Bayeux Tapestry

In collaboration with the Royal School of Needlework, spend three glorious days in the magnificent and ancient Great Hall in Winchester. Explore the techniques behind one of history’s most famous embroidered works and use them to create a contemporary embroidered scene.

Inspired by the Bayeux Tapestry, this workshop explores the stitches used to create the original before encouraging you to interpret them in your own way. Rather than recreating part of the tapestry, you’ll develop a unique design with support from Royal School of Needlework tutors, using the Bayeux Tapestry as a starting point for your own visual storytelling.

We recommend bringing a selection of your own photographs, sketches or other source material. These will be used alongside inspiration from the Bayeux Tapestry to help you create a design that is personal to you.

The course has been designed to encourage creativity rather than replication, giving participants the opportunity to understand the visual language of the Bayeux Tapestry before using it to tell a story of their own.

You’ll learn recreations of the original Bayeux stitches using stranded cottons and silk threads before combining these with a traditional Goldwork technique. Together, these historic techniques are reinterpreted in a contemporary way while remaining true to the craftsmanship of the original.

Throughout the workshop, Royal School of Needlework tutors will guide you through both the design process and the embroidery techniques, helping you transform your ideas into stitch. By the end of the workshop, you’ll have created a unique embroidered piece inspired by the Bayeux Tapestry while gaining an understanding of the historic techniques behind one of the world’s most celebrated embroidered works.

Upon booking, please email Elise Ciampaglia at Elise.Ciampaglia@hampshireculturaltrust.org.uk by the 10^th July 2027 if you have any dietary requirements or questions. Should you require accommodation, please contact Elise as we can offer you preferential rates at 2 lovely local hotels.