Quaker Tapestry facts for kids

The Quaker Tapestry is a huge and beautiful artwork made up of 77 embroidered panels. It tells the story of the Quakers from the 1600s until today. The idea for this amazing tapestry came from a Quaker named Anne Wynn-Wilson. You can find the tapestry's permanent home at the Friends Meeting House in Kendal, Cumbria, England.

About the Quaker Tapestry

The design of the Quaker Tapestry was greatly inspired by the famous Bayeux Tapestry. It shares similar features, like having three horizontal sections within each panel. The faces and hands are outlined with embroidery, and the clothing is filled in with solid stitching, just like the Bayeux technique.

How It Was Made

The tapestry is created using a type of embroidery called crewel embroidery. This means it uses woollen yarns stitched onto a background made of handwoven wool. The artists used four old and well-known stitches: split stitch, stem stitch, chain stitch, and Peking knot. Anne Wynn-Wilson even invented a new stitch called the Quaker stitch. This special stitch helps create neat, tight curves for the letters in the tapestry.

Each panel is about 25 inches (64 cm) wide and 21 inches (53 cm) tall.

Over 4,000 people, including men, women, and children, from 15 different countries worked on these panels. They created the tapestry between 1981 and 1989.

Seeing the Tapestry

The panels have traveled around the world in special exhibitions. For example, they went on a tour across North America in 1993 and 1994. In 2012, an exhibition of 39 panels at Ely Cathedral attracted over 11,000 visitors in just 27 days!

Even though all 77 panels have been shown in books and online, only about 40 are on display at the museum at any one time. Some people have noticed that 23 panels have never been shown in public. This is simply because there isn't enough space to display them all at once.

In October 2021, the museum received part of a £35-million fund from the government's Culture Recovery Fund. This money helps museums and cultural sites in England.

List of the Panels

Here is a list of all the panels that make up the Quaker Tapestry: