The birds and beasts of the Bayeux borders (how alliterative!) are often amusing, and make a good small exercise in laidwork. The motifs on this page are a bit smaller than actual size. Isela recommends Appleton wool or DMC’s Medici wool as good threads for this kind of work.

Studying a good photo of a border “beast” or bird will show the directions in which the stitches are worked. As you can see in larger overviews, pairs of mirror-image beasts separated by diagonal bars and a small plant motif are common in the Bayeux borders. The diagonal bars are also worked in laidwork, the plants often in simple outline or stem stitch. Most of the animals and birds have darker stem-stitch outlines as well.

Bayeux Laidwork

	Threads of second layer being tacked down
Changing direction in different blocks of stitching	Blocks of vertical stitches with a hidden join