Experience: I’m making a lifesize replica of the Bayeux tapestry

‘The more I sew, the more is behind me, and I feel quite sad about that’: Mia Hansson with her tapestry. Photograph: Fabio De Paola/The Guardian

I first set eyes on the Bayeux tapestry thanks to a wrong turn. My husband was driving us across France, missed an exit, and we accidentally ended up in the town of Bayeux.

I live in Wisbech, Cambridgeshire, but having grown up in Sweden, I’d only been vaguely aware of the tapestry. I knew 1066 was a significant date for the English, but history lessons had bored me at school. I’d always had a love of needlework, though – my grandmother taught me to embroider – so we decided to see it.