The linen has arrived!

How crisp and nice it feels too!  The 5 oz is in the wash right now.  The 3.5 oz will get washed soon.

I finished the second sleeve on "T"'s gown this morning.  I looks good on her.... a bit loose but I meant to do that for growing room.  Now I just need to hem it and embroider the neckline.

Oh, I was so excited today to finally find a source for solid brass lacing rings!  I have been searching online for a week now with no luck.  I need them for "M"'s bodice on her dress and more projects in the future I am sure.  I found them at Renaissance Fabrics.  I also purchased some brass buttons, lacing and trim from here as well. The shopping cart wasn't working but I sent them an email with what I wanted and she is going to invoice me.  Yeah!

Change of plans...

Well, maybe not a change of plans.  More like an addition!

I had originally thought I would make "T" a copy of the Holbein's daughter's hemd and sleeveless dress.  Then it occurred to me that the Winter Solstice event is in December and it might be a wee bit chilly.  So, in doing a bit more research on children's clothes I came across the Herjolfsnes finds.  Herjolfsnes 44 is a child's gown with long sleeves and originally made out of wool.

So based on their layout I pattern drafted it out to be sized for almost 2 year old "T" with a bit of growing room as well.  I had some cast off "first garb" blue linen pants that had been given to me and I cut them apart for this project.  I had just enough to piece this dress together.

I got most of it sewed tonight.  I have one sleeve left to attach and then the hemming.  I lined the collar with the oatmeal linen I used as guarding on "M"'s dress.  If I have time I would like to do some simple embroidery at the collar to hold the lining in place.

I also finally settled on who to order my wool flannel from: The Wool Connection.  Once the wool comes in I can start on "E"'s tunic and maybe a few other projects as well.

Linen is on it's way...

I ordered linen online tonight.  They didn't have any colors that called out to me so I just got some white linen in 3.5oz and 5oz for the kid's hemds, coifs and possibly an apron and headcloth of some sort for me.  I ordered it from fabric-store.com.  Can't wait for it to get here so I can start sewing.

Inspiration for children's garb

So, in preparation for the German themed Winter Solstice event on December 11th I need to sew garb for the kids.  Calum and I have garb we can wear for this event (although I would love to make some new items for me as well) but the kids have no garb to wear at all.  Searching the internet I found a few inspirational images...

The painting "The Artist's Family" by Holbein in 1528 shows a toddler in a simple short sleaved hemd and sleaveless gown.  This should be easy enough to duplicate for our 23 month old daughter, "T".  I will use linen or a linen/cotton blend.  The hemd will be white and the dress whatever period color I can find.  I will probally do hook and eye closure on the bodice instead of spiral lacing.

For "M", our 6 year old daughter, I will make a campfrua overdress using the pattern from Reconstructing History #504 as a general guidline.  I have some pieces of linen (deep red and oatmeal) in my stash that I hope will be large enough to use for her dress.  The hemd will be from white linen and drafted from the Reconstructing History #505 pattern..  If I have time I would like to experiment with pleating and smocking the neckline in a honeycomb stitch.

Finally, "E" is our 8 year old son.  He is not so keen on dressing up so I need to make something simple and not to weird looking for him.  The plan is to make a plain white linen shirt, linen or wool T-Tunic in red (his favorite color) and flannel loose pants.  I plan to follow the T-Tunic pattern from "Practical Worksheet for Tunic Construction" by Cynthia Virtue.

For all the kids I would like to make linen 3 piece coifs but not sure any but "M" will actually wear them.  Cynthia Virtue also had great write up on Coif construction at "How to make a coif: 1 and 3 piece patterns".

So, that is my starting plan.  I am sure it will evolve as time goes on.

And so it begins... again!

My husband Calum Mackay (SCA name) and I met almost ten years ago while both involved in the SCA in the East Kingdom.  Calum had been a Scadian for many years and I was a just getting into it.  We both really enjoyed it but within 2 years of becoming a couple we found ourselves in a new state, with a new baby, in a new Kingdom.  After we got settled we tried to get in with the local group but it wasn't the same for us without our friends there.  We had busy lives and just kept telling ourselves that one day we would be back to the SCA again.

So eight years, a move to yet another state and two more kids later, here we are... ready to take the leap and become true Scadians once more.  I have contacted the local Canton of Buckston on Eno (Durham, NC) and their next regular meeting is on November 23.  We plan to be there!