IRCC Update

I just sent in my first update for the IRCC! We are only allowed to send in one picture per week, so I tried to artfully squish everything together. :)



I got a bit of a late start on my projects because my son was baptized on Easter day and I made his baptismal gown. My main focus in these first couple of weeks has been to get everything fitted properly and the basic embroidery pieces done. The blackwork on my son's collar is completed and my husband's collar and cuffs are next on the embroidery list. I have done several trials of various blackwork patterns for all three of us. The blackwork is being done with silk embroidery floss. Fitting has been going...fitfully. My son is the easiest, I want this outfit to fit him for the winter events here in Utah, we have our two dressiest events in December and January. I will be laying a modern pattern out and then drawing the correct lines around it so that I can get a good guess at a correct size in six months (he will be one year old in December, so his size changes every day!). My husband's doublet pattern needs some minor tweaking. Mine is a whole different ballgame. I haven't updated it since my son was born and my body is very different! It's coming along, though and is almost done.

Almost all of the fabrics are on hand already. Starting in the upper right hand corner of the picture is a linen lawn that will be my camacia and partlet. It's absolutely wonderful to the touch, but is terrible for counted blackwork. The partlet will be pulled work, which I think will go smoothly with this fabric. The orange is a silk that has been sitting in my stash for quite some time (I got it on an irresistible sale at the fabric store). It will be my gown, my husbands underdoublet, and the poofy part under the panes of the pants for both my husband and son. The brown is a cotton velvet that will be panes for my husband's pants, his jerkin, and (if there's enough of it) my son's doublet. The white is a medium weight linen for the two shirts. It has a lovely drape and has been a joy to embroider on. The pink is my fitting bodice (it was once attached to a skirt of it's own and once I have the pattern perfected, it will be re-attached). I have a running list of the fabrics I still need, the most important are silk taffeta for the panes on my son's pants, something wonderful for my loose gown/coat, and something for my husband's outer clothing item. The original plan for his was a hip-length cloak, then I started falling in love with a particular style of jacket that men were wearing in the mid-16th century. That decision will wait until I see what presents itself fabric-wise.