Art on Fabric
Lesson 9
Medieval Textiles
PREP NOTES FOR LESSON 9 You and your child might enjoy watching The Animated Bayeux Tapestry-You Tube. Always preview it first. You can stop at “William prepares for Battle” if you don’t want to view the battle scenes. www.youtube.com/watch?v=LtGoBZ4D4_E Before beginning this project, you or your child must prepare a chipboard frame as shown in Video #3. Allow the frame to dry completely. Heat setting locks the color into the fabric and prevents smearing. Use an iron to heat set the oil pastel picture once it is finished. Place the picture color side up on a safe surface. Place a sheet of copy paper on top. Set the iron at medium heat. When hot, move the iron over the paper for one or two minutes. Allow the frame to cool. Life in the Middle Ages lacked a lot of things that we have today. Wealthy people had horses. Those who did not, walked everywhere that they wanted to go. Homes had little furniture, no books, and possibly a single cup that was used by the whole
family. In this environment, fabric was highly valued. People typically owned one set of plain clothing. At this time, people with wealth began decorating cloth by sewing stitches into it that made pictures. A medieval person’s reaction to a piece of decorated fabric was one of complete awe. They saw signs of wealth. A cloak with a black lion on a red background spoke to them of their ruler. When they looked upon red robes and gold embroidered sashes, they saw symbols of those that had spiritual power. Cloth was so rare that in Northern Europe it was used for money, to buy other objects. Men might cut a chunk of cloth out of their bag to use as payment for cattle.
31
Made with FlippingBook Learn more on our blog