I wanted a 1570's ruff - the kind that aren't the same width as your farthingale.
I used a scrap of linen from the scrap pile, some dead dino ribbon for the tie in front, and this lovely edged poly organza ribbon I picked up at Pennsic a couple of years ago to make a ruff. It's not a period fiber bit it looks good as a ruff. The lady that sold me ten yards showed me her ruff she made from it and it looked awesome so...
Cost, nothing! All stash stuff. I think the faux organza was maybe $1 a yard? I didn't use the full 10 yards - by a long shot- so maybe a couple of bucks?
The actual project:
First, I needed a base.
I cut out a 14" by 3" rectangle from the scrap linen I had. I have a 13 and 1/2" neck and I wanted to make sure I included seam allowances. With the ribbon closure, I can easily control how tight or how loose I want it to be.
I sewed the ribbons on first so that they would be stable. I then folded the rectangle in half, lengthwise, and sewed down the open side. I turned the tube and stitched closed the two open edges.
Once that was done, I took my measuring tape and marked off dots every half inch and inch on the bottom of the collar and every 1/4" and 3/4" on the top. These were may markers for where to sew the organza down to for each of the folds of the ruff.
I then pinned the organza to the linen collar at each of the bottom markers. It looked nice enough with just the bottom pinned to start sewing.
I then sewed the organza down at each of the markers with three stitches and one long stitch to the next marker, going lengthwise. Once the top of the ruff was done, I slowly took the pins out and worked the bottom of the ruff the same way. This is the result:
Grand total of time from cut to finish: a little less than 2 hours. Not bad for hand sewing!
Not the best picture of me -Mom said I look like I'm on the way to the guillotine - but the ruff fits!
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