Embroidering a Saga

In one of the rooms of the Textile Center in Blonduos where I lived and worked in May, the Vatnsdæla Saga tapestry is being embroidered. It tells the story and history of a family who moved to northern Iceland from Norway, very close to Blonduos and in the area of Johanna Pálmdóttir's sheep farm. Johanna had the idea to create an embroidered tapestry in the style of the Bayeux tapestry to tell the tale of the people of Hof during the 9th to 11th centuries. The saga was written down in about 1270 at the monastery that stood at the current location of Pingeyrakirkja stone church, built in 1877. There is a visitor center near the church that tells about the saga.

The main character in the saga was a Norwegian who fought along Harold Fairhair and was respected by the king. He later moved from Norway to Iceland, perhaps influenced by a Sami sorceress's advice.

The tapestry will be 46 meters long when it is completed, which could be by the end of this year. . In 2011, art students from the Icelandic University of Arts drew the cartoons for the saga tapestry. While the style is consistent, there are noticeable changes in the illustrations since different artists drew different sections. Perhaps you can see some changes in the photos of the cartoons. . The yarns were produced by Istex in Iceland using Icelandic wool in only 9 different colors.

It was great fun to join the local embroiderers and to get a chance to work on the saga tapestry. The stitchers met at least twice a week. Steina gave me a lesson and encouraged me. Design elements are outlined in stem stitch and filled with long stitches close together using 2 ply yarn. The stitches are then couched or stitched down with a single ply yarn in the same color. The lines of couching are less than a quarter inch apart. I saw this technique called Iceland stitch at the museum. It does a tidy job of covering areas well and neatly.

As you can see a lot of people lost their heads in this saga.

Steina also served wonderful birch leaf tea (Who knew that was delicious?) and cakes for a break in the afternoon work. I only worked on the tapestry one day but totally enjoyed working with the women and listening to them talk to each other in Icelandic. Someone always stopped and told me what they were talking about. I wish I had not waited until the last week of May to join them. I would have liked to spend more time with them and the tapestry. Since I have worked on the piece, my name along with over 1,400 others, will be included in a book that records the history of the embroidery and will remain with the tapestry.

This is my small contribution to the tapestry. It is the first of the three sod houses. The blue marks are there to mark the linen but will be able to be removed when the entire piece is embroidered.

When I was at the National Museum in Reykjavik, there was a display of medieval church textiles. When the Reformation came to Iceland in the mid 1500s, churches were stripped of ornamentation and catholic monasteries and churches were closed or destroyed. The pieces on exhibition were made with the same couched stitching that is being used in the saga tapestry and date from before the Reformation.