The Open Neck Ruff- Dressing Your Inner Noble Part 1

I am heavily involved with my local (and some more) renaissance faires and even more involved in sewing my own outfits. Why you ask? Mostly because I was raised by an eastern European mother who was thrifty and had an "If I can make it myself, no sense in spending the extra money" kind of attitude. Growing up, I thought it was silly to spend SO much time making something (i.e. bread, pasta, clothes) when it was easier just to go out and buy whatever you wanted from the store. As I grew older it started making more and more sense. What really hit it home for me is when I bought my first kilt and than a year later realized I could have spent half the money I bought the kilt for and just bought the materials myself to make my own. After that, I vowed to never buy an outfit for faire again and just make them myself. This last season I saved roughly 500 dollars making my own outfits.

In part one of my "Dressing the Noble in You" series I am starting from the top by showing you how to make a basic open neck ruff.

First things first, you will obviously need materials for a good project is...well...nothing unless you got something to work with. This particular ruff will cost you roughly under 10 dollars.

1. 2 yards of 2" wide ribbon of choice (I will be using grosgrain)
2. Matching thread
3. Hand sewing needle
4. Scraps of fabric

Got all that? Good? Wait.....you don't? Fine, I can wait.

Okay, now you got it? Splendid! Lets move on.

Now, there is 2 things you can do here. You can just sew the whole 2 yards and be done with it OR you can measure your neck. Before you jump the gun and measure your neck and cut the ribbon remember, this will be bunched and will shorten the ribbon. So follow this formula where A is equal to your neck measurement and B is the final number:

A x 5 + 2 = B

Now that you have all your materials ready and measurements at hand let us begin the fun. I have made a few videos demonstrating what to do for those who learn better visually. For those who do not like video, do as follows.....

1. Mark with a pencil small dots 1/2" from long edge every 3/4" of an inch
2. Thread needle close to the edge and on the next 4 marks catch threads over the dots, pull to gather
3. Hold gathers together and thread around them twice to hold them in place
4. Do a basic in-out stitch to the next mark, thread through the mark than catch threads on the next four, gather, thread around to hold them, repeat until you reach the end.
5. Once you reach the end, cut your thread and get some new thread.
6. Take your ruffles, at the bottom, and set two to the left and two to the right. I suggest using a small pin to hold them down
7. Now, following the in-out stitch line, sew over that with another in-out style stitch line. This process will hold/form the S shaped ruff you are looking for.
8. Once the ruff has all the parts sewing down take your fabric scraps and pin one on either side of the ruff, do this one at a time.
9. Sew through all layers to secure the first piece of fabric
10. Repeat with the other side.
11. Turn inside out and there you have it! A renaissance ruff to use at your discretion.