Editing Overlord Embroidery

{{Short description|Embroidery commemorating the D-Day invasion of Normandy}}
[[File:Overlord Embroidery 6.jpg|thumb|right|Part of the Overlord Embroidery showing The Blitz]]
The '''Overlord Embroidery''', echoing the [[Bayeux Tapestry]] created 900 years before to commemorate the reverse invasion of England from Normandy, is a narrative embroidery that depicts the story of the [[Normandy landings|D-Day Landings]] of 6 June 1944 and the subsequent [[Battle of Normandy]]. The story is told across 34 hand stitched panels running in total to 83 metres in length.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=https://theddaystory.com/discover/overlord-embroidery/|title=Overlord Embroidery|website=The D-Day Story, Portsmouth|language=en-US|access-date=2018-04-20}}</ref> The embroidery was created between 1968 and 1974, and is now on permanent display at [[The D-Day Story]], [[Southsea]], [[Portsmouth]].

==Creation==
[[File:Making of the Overlord Embroidery.jpg|thumb|right|Part of the D-Day Story museum is dedicated to the creation of the embroidery.]]
The piece was commissioned by [[Lord Dulverton]] in 1968 and made by the [[Royal School of Needlework]] from designs by artist [[Sandra Lawrence]].<ref name=":0" />

In a speech delivered on 6 June 1978 Lord Dulverton described his motivation behind the commission.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.sandralawrence.co.uk/Overlord%20Embroideries.htm|title=Overlord Embroidery {{!}} designer and painter Sandra Lawrence|website=www.sandralawrence.co.uk|access-date=2018-04-20}}</ref>

{{Quote|text=The Embroidery is a tribute to our Country and Countrymen over the part played in defeating a great evil that sprang upon the Western World. It is not, and was never intended to be, a tribute to war, but to our people in whom it brought out in adversity so much that is good, determination, ingenuity, fortitude and sacrifice. It focusses upon one historic and explicitly important campaign, to which the world conflict had led and made possible; and the Bayeux Tapestry nearly 900 years before D-Day certainly beckoned it to be made.|sign=Lord Dulverton|source=}}

Lord Dulverton established a committee which included retired senior officers to advise on the project. In preparing her designs Sandra Lawrence studied archive photographs as research. Her subsequent sketches were then submitted to the committee for approval. After approval, she would then paint a colour version to the same size as the planned embroidery panel (2.4x0.9 metres). Then she would then use [[tracing paper]] to record the outlines of all the details. The original paintings from the design stage hang at the [[The Pentagon|Pentagon]], [[Washington, D.C.|Washington D.C.]]<ref name=":0" />

The team from the Royal School of Needlework used the technique called [[appliqué]] to bring the designs to life. Then attached to linen using a method known as [[pricking and pouncing]]. That is pricking thousands of tiny holes in a tracing paper template, placing them on a panel and applying a fine powder known as [[Pounce (powder)|pounce]]. This makes a trail of dots which are joined with a pencil to reveal the design.<ref name=":0" />

The embroidery was completed in January 1974.<ref name=":0" /> Since 1984 it has been housed in the D-Day Museum (now renamed [[The D-Day Story]]) in [[Southsea]], [[Portsmouth]].

==Description==
The embroidery tells the story of [[Operation Overlord]], which was the code name for the [[Allies of World War II|Allied]] invasion of [[Normandy]] in June 1944.<ref name="Burgis1989"/> The narrative begins well before the invasion, with war-time production and [[The Blitz]]. It continues through the entry of the [[United States]] into the war, and the planning and preparation of the invasion. The majority of the work covers the crossing of the [[English Channel]] by the invasion fleet and the combat once the troops landed on the French coast. The embroidery ends with a scene of British [[infantry]] advancing as German troops retreat across the [[Seine]].<ref>{{cite web |title=The D-Day Story |url=http://www.dday.center/d-day-at-home-the-d-day-story-portsmouth.html |website=www.dday.center |access-date=18 June 2019 |location=Portsmouth, Hampshire |date=2018}}</ref>

There are 34 panels which together measure 83 metres (272 feet) in length. The Overlord Embroidery is one of the longest works of its kind in the world, at 10 metres (33 feet) longer than the [[Bayeux Tapestry]], but shorter than the [[Prestonpans Tapestry]]. Twenty embroiderers worked for five years to create the embroidery. Battledress [[khaki]] and [[gold braid]] were [[appliqué]]d onto the panels.<ref name="Burgis1989">{{cite magazine |last1=Burgis |first1=Rosemary L. |title=The Overlord Embroidery |url=https://www.americanheritage.com/overlord-embroidery |access-date=18 June 2019 |work=American Heritage |date=May–June 1989 |volume=40 |issue=4}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* [https://theddaystory.com/discover/overlord-embroidery/ D-Day Story - Overlord Embroidery] 
* [http://www.sandralawrence.co.uk/Overlord%20Embroideries.htm Overlord Embroidery at Sandra Lawrence's site]

{{embroidery}}

[[Category:English embroidery]]
[[Category:1968 works]]
[[Category:Modern tapestries]]
[[Category:Works about World War II]]