Tapestry is one of the oldest forms of woven textiles. The word tapestry is defined as a thick textile fabric, in which colored weft threads are woven (originally by hand) into fixed warp threads to form pictures or designs. To give a brief description on how tapestries are woven, the weft threads do not weave between the warp threads all the way across the fabric, but are woven only as far as the particular color is required to produce the integral design. The detail is determined by the closeness of the warp threads; the closer together and finer the threads, the more detail can be worked into the cloth.

The unique tapestry technique should not be confused with embroidery, where a needle is used to stitch a design onto the surface of a fabric. The design of a tapestry is created as the wavier copies from a cartoon (drawing or painting). The early cartoons were sketches, and it was quite common for the weavers to add their own artistic expressions giving each tapestry it’s own individuality. By the Renaissance period, the cartoons were very sophisticated, drawn or painted in great detail with specific instruction to the weaver about

tapestry-type. Egyptian tomb paintings from 3000 b.c. clearly depict weavers working on a tapestry-type loom, and vase illustrations by the Greeks dating

The French Revolution had begun in 1792 and the tapestry was feared to be in danger. If it weren’t for one man Lambert Leonard Lefarestier, it would have been lost. The people of Bayeux now fighting, used cloth to cover their wagons. There was a shortage of cloth until somebody remembered a supply of it in the cathedral. The tapestry was removed and used to cover a wagon. When Lambert saw this, he replaced the tapestry with other cloth. The people of Bayeux vowed to never let that happen again; but in1794, it was again to be cut up and used as decoration for a public holiday. In 1803, it was removed under protest by Napoleon and transported to Paris. Napoleon used the tapestry as an inspiration for his planned attack on his enemy England. When this was aborted, the tapestry was returned to the people of Bayeux. The council kept the tapestry on a scroll in fear that they would lose it again. It was shown only to select guests, and dignitaries. It spent the next 15 years being moved around Bayeux for its own safety. In 1818 an English draughtsman was sent to Bayeux to inspect and catalogue it. He spent 2 years making an in dept studies of it, and devised a program of restoration. In 1842 repairs were affected in Bayeux; it was removed from the scroll and displayed under glass. Then in 1870 the tapestry was removed during the Franco Prussian War and returned in its glory 2 years later. It was on display until 1913 prior to the outbreak of World War I, where it was removed for safe keeping, and out of the hands of Nazi Germany, who tended to collect art from conquered countries. On June 6,1944 or otherwise known as D-Day, to avoid the tapestry from being damaged; it was secretly moved to Louvre in Paris where it was stored in their vaults. After Germany surrendered, the tapestry was displayed in Paris. The following year it was returned to Bayeux under the jurisdiction of the municipal library. Today it is on display in Bayeux, and can be viewed by the general public. The tapestry consists of 623 humans, 55 canines, 202 horses, 41 ships, 49 trees, almost 2000 Latin words, over 500 mythical and non-mythical creatures such as bird and dragons, and at least 8 colors of yarn are discernible. We must all be grateful that this relic has survived when so many others have not.

Soumak is another example of weaving. Wrapping colored yarns around the wraps; usually single warps or pairs can do more intricate patterning. This technique is very time consuming; it is used more for making bags, and other small sturdy weavings. Soumak wrapping most often covers entire surfaces, although occasionally figures are scattered about on open, plain weave fabrics. Kurdish weavers in eastern Turkey have sometimes produced weftless soumak bags, with no intervening ground wefts. Variations in soulmak structures occur when the direction of wrapping is altered, or when the weaver outlines their design in diagonal directions. Sometimes the yarn segments are offset; other times the structure is reversed, so that the usual back side serves instead as the front. There are few design restrictions with these techniques.

Brocading is a technique where designs are produced entirely on the loom, as the fabric is woven. Soft, lustrous pattern yarns are interlaced entirely by hand, and these pattern rows alternate with thin, plain-weave ground wefts. They are often mistaken for embroidery. To produce a brocading tapestry, the weaver works facing the back of the textile. Each pattern yarn interlaces back and forth in its own pattern area, using small finger skeins, which dangle on the back when not in use. The inlaid brocading on Turkmen tent bands is an exception; it is worked from the front, and is often combined with knotted pile. Middle Eastern weavers, especially Yoruk, Turkmen, and Kurdish tribal

Some topics in this essay:
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