Early Irish Tygers

 I was requested to prepare Tygers for the backs of the coronation cloaks for the East Kingdom Fall Coronation (October 4, 2015).  The "garb of the day" for their incoming Majesties was to be early Irish, and a design was provided, evoking the East Kingdom Tyger in a Celtic style.

It was decided that for His Majesty the Tygers should stand approximately 10 inches and for Her Majesty 8 inches.  I prepared blow ups of these designs using my copier.  I also used the copier to prepare mirror images so that on each cloak there will be two Tygers, facing each other. [In period, all of this work would have been done for me by an artist, since I do not have artistic talent myself...I need to give the copier a nice medieval artist name.]

The first plan was to prepare the Tygers in Applique.  Pre-washed wool was ordered from the same source that the cloak fabric itself was to come from.  Unfortunately, the wool did not arrive in time for my comfort in completing the project.  I quickly developed a fall back position -- Bayeux style embroidery.

Bottom left, yes that's all white linen

I selected some nice firmly yellow linen from my stash (remember those shelves full of linen?). New plan involved stitching the Tygers on the linen, cutting them out and appliqueing that to the backs of the cloaks when they're ready.

So glad Medici is available again!

I then selected some DMC Medici wools in three blues and a yellow nearly matching the fabric, burgundy for outlining and red and black for the finishing touches.

All ready to go. 

Since I had already prepared my designs, transfer was quick. Again, I opted for completely modern techniques for this.

First, I prepared the fabric by ironing freezer paper to the back (shiny side to the fabric). This trick, which I learned while working on the Plymouth Jacket keeps the fabric nice and steady while drawing on it.

No more sticky residue

Next, I taped the design down on the glass of my light box. I use painter's tape for this, having learned my lesson to not use packing tape (some day I'll get the rest of that residue off).  The use of a light box has roots in period methods, it's just a lot safer than supporting the fabric in a frame over a candle.

Ready to trace

Next, the fabric was taped down over the design.  I used a Pigma Micron pen. These are available in various sizes, quite fine pointed, and archival ink.  A period embroiderer would have used a pen and ink.

Not quite done.... 

The light box I have has a nice rocker switch with which I can reduce the level of light, so I can check progress.

All ready. 

I marked in each section a letter code to remind myself which thread I want to use in each.

Next I mounted the fabric on stretcher bars to be nice and firm. Time to stitch.

Not *quite* a stitch by numbers kit.

First, I used stem stitch for all the lines, using the burgundy thread I had chosen. The Bayeux Stitch portions were next -- body, face, legs, paws and mane.  Finally, the yellow detail and the tail were filled in with stem stitch, resulting in the first of the Tygers for Her Majesty,  Then I did it all again for the first Tyger for His Majesty.  Time was not on my side and only two (one each) Tygers were done -- and still late -- to be handed off for application to the cloaks. 

Photo by Brendan Crane

Photo by Brendan Crane

Temporary application was made by neatening up the yellow fabric and applying the Tygers on their fields of yellow.  Two more Tygers will be made, and all four will receive a different, more time intensive, application process -- but that, as they say, is a post for another day.

Photo by Brendan Crane

Below are some close ups of portions of the finished Tygers.  

Wait, something's missing

What a difference a tongue makes
(Yes, that's two different Tygers, at different resolutions, because I'm dumb and didn't take before and after shots)

A couple more close ups:

A bit of body in Bayeux and detail in stem stitch

A bit of everything

Round and round and round the tail we go.