Woman spends over 5 years embroidering copy of Bayeux Tapestry

(24 Feb 2022) LEAD IN:
One Swedish woman is on an epic quest to hand-stitch a faithful replica of the Bayeux tapestry.
Often working for ten hours a day, she is stitching at a rate of six metres a year and is half way through the 68 metre 11th Century tapestry which chronicled the Norman invasion of England.
STORY-LINE:
Laid out in all its glory is a stitch-by-stitch recreation of the Bayeux tapestry.
It is all the work of one Swedish woman, who has painstakingly stitched half of the epic 11th Century tapestry.
It's so large that it takes up a badminton court... but it's still only halfway completed.
The final tapestry will stretch across just over 68 metres.
So how does somebody ever think about embarking on a mammoth project like this?
"I was bored," says Hansson. "I was really bored because I used to make Viking reenactment clothing. And six years ago, I didn't have any orders coming in. So I thought, I need a project that I can't finish in a hurry so I don't have to keep making hats and hoods, and glove puppets and finger puppets and stuff. And I thought, You know what? The Bayeux tapestry, that'll keep me busy for a while."
Busy for a while is no exaggeration because five and a half years later and she's still stitching.
Hansson is the home-carer of her disabled son and this gives her plenty of time to work on the embroidery.
From her home in Wisbech, in East Anglia, she says some days she can work on the embroidery for up to ten hours at a time.
But surprisingly Hansson says she has no interest in history.
"No, I really don't like history. I'm really not into history at all. I'm doing this only for the sake of the embroidery," she says.
Few people would have the patience to work on such a lengthy project and one on such a grand scale.
So half way through, is she feeling like she's bitten off more than she can chew?
"You know what I've been asked before have I ever regretted it?" she says. "And I've always said, no, no, never. However, you know, when you watch a really good film or read a really good book and when you finish it, you're thinking, Oh, you know what? If I had never read it, I could read it again for the first time and it would be amazing. If you read again now it's not the same. So if I'd never started this, I would have had all of it ahead of me."
She says embroidery to her is a pleasure, and something to look forward to when all her chores are done for the day.
In her regular seat on the sofa she works, stitch by painstaking stitch.
So what are other people's reactions when they hear about her epic task?
"Well, I think that she's probably a little bit of a nutter doing something like this. But being my friends and family, they know me. They know that that's who I am. And I don't think anyone was totally surprised when I said, I'm going to do this. And they've been really encouraging, and proud, you know, especially my parents. And I've had friends who said I'm so proud of you and I thought why? I'm only stitching. You know, I can stop whenever."
Hansson isn't content with just making a close approximation of the original, she wants it to be as exact as possible (even when there are stitching mistakes in the original).
She uses various reference guides to ensure her work is faithful.
She needs to make precise measurements and calculate the scale to match precisely.
It's slow and painstaking work and often hindered by her two pet dogs.
The original tapestry is on permanent display at the Musée de la Tapisserie de Bayeux in Normandy, France.
Her unfinished work is going to be shown at the local St Peter's Church Hall, Wisbech on 12 April.
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