First linen test ruff completed
Mar. 11th, 2012 07:15 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
life_of_glamourI took some pictures to show the process because this is, without a doubt, the most accurate period ruff I am capable of producing. It is all, every stitch of it, completed by hand, and it is all, every stitch of it, based upon documented extant examples and techniques. I am basing it upon pictures, diagrams and descriptions from Janet Arnold's Patterns of Fashion 4.
So, the first thing I did was to cut enough strips of linen to make 10 yards of ruff. I wanted a good wide ruff so I did 5 inch wide strips. I also cut a piece of linen for the neck band, 17 inches long (1/2 inch of seam allowance on each end) by 7 inches wide (1/2" SA again).
Next I joined together my strips into one continuous 10 yard strip by stitching the edges end to end with a very fine, small stitch. Then I finished 3 edges of the ten yards strip using an invisible rolled hem (this is a stitch I like to call a "spit-roll hem" because you have to lick your thumb continuously as you move along to get the linen to roll nicely - it makes a gorgeous finish though). The descriptions in Arnold are of 2 types of edge finishes - one simply using the selvage (not possible with the fabric I had on hand) and one being a tiny hem less than 1/8", so this edge treatment is perfect, I think. I didn't finish the inside edge of the strip that would be attached to the neckband because there was no need and I'm not a masochist.
Ok, once I had all the hem done, I marked the fabric for pleating. I decided I wanted a 2-inch deep ruff, so I needed to mark 2 inch intervals on my strip. I used a light blue tailor's chalk.
Once the entire 10 yards was marked out I began pleating, I use a doubled thread (for strength - having this thread break would suck hard, and it's going to be pulled out later anyway so it doesn't really matter whether I use one or two or red or blue) and just go over and under on the marks.
This didn't take long at all. Less than a half hour and I was done.
It is very ruffly at this point, looks more like a harlequin's ruff than a 16th century noble.
The next step is to attach the pleats to the neck band. First I measured out and marked 1 inch intervals on the neck band (16 inches total expected final length). Then I counted the pleats I'd made, so that I could know how many pleats to attach to each inch. I had 86 pleats, so I divide that by 16 and come up with 5.375. That means when I start attaching the pleats to the neck band I would need to attach 5 pleats per inch, plus a little extra. It's not strictly mathematical, those fractions are the point where you kind of have to massage things a big.
First side attached:
Look how ruffly and floppy it is:
The next step was the part I was having trouble wrapping my head around. In the past when I've made ruffs, it just never occurred to me to do them this way. The period method says to attach the other end of the neck band to the other side of the pleats. My mind said that wouldn't provide any stability. In the past when I've made them I've tacked them down on the outside of the neckband where they hit on it, but the period method in the extant examples in J. Arnold left the whole of the neckband width just flopping around. It did, however, have the advantage of elegantly tucking all of the unfinished edges on the inside. Here's a picture after I'd finished the 2nd edge which illustrates what I mean (and looks just like the diagram in Arnold):
It was starting to look much more stable once both edges were attached. It was interesting to see as I was following the period methods, despite my instincts, that with each step the ruff shape crystallized more and more.
The last step was the put three lines of stitching along the inside of the neckband near the top, to hold the pleats to the neckband in place. This was the stability I'd been trying to emulate in the past, achieved following the period methods. I stitched the hook and eye closure on and voila - perfectly period linen ruff, ready for starching and setting!
I'm kind of surprised by how well it holds the shape and pleats without any starching whatsoever yet. This linen isn't particularly stiff at all, it's pretty soft so the fact that these pleats are standing out straight, not drooping too much, and appear fairly even really does, to my mind, speak to the elegance of the period construction methods.
Next step - making up a big batch of wheat starch and getting some setting rods (or getting together with![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
trystbat to try hers out). I need to make another one of these, preferably with some new linen that has a nice selvage edge!
Also, I worked my way through all 6 episodes of "Elizabeth R" again, back to back, as I was stitching on this. God those costumes are amazing!
So, the first thing I did was to cut enough strips of linen to make 10 yards of ruff. I wanted a good wide ruff so I did 5 inch wide strips. I also cut a piece of linen for the neck band, 17 inches long (1/2 inch of seam allowance on each end) by 7 inches wide (1/2" SA again).
Next I joined together my strips into one continuous 10 yard strip by stitching the edges end to end with a very fine, small stitch. Then I finished 3 edges of the ten yards strip using an invisible rolled hem (this is a stitch I like to call a "spit-roll hem" because you have to lick your thumb continuously as you move along to get the linen to roll nicely - it makes a gorgeous finish though). The descriptions in Arnold are of 2 types of edge finishes - one simply using the selvage (not possible with the fabric I had on hand) and one being a tiny hem less than 1/8", so this edge treatment is perfect, I think. I didn't finish the inside edge of the strip that would be attached to the neckband because there was no need and I'm not a masochist.
Ok, once I had all the hem done, I marked the fabric for pleating. I decided I wanted a 2-inch deep ruff, so I needed to mark 2 inch intervals on my strip. I used a light blue tailor's chalk.
Once the entire 10 yards was marked out I began pleating, I use a doubled thread (for strength - having this thread break would suck hard, and it's going to be pulled out later anyway so it doesn't really matter whether I use one or two or red or blue) and just go over and under on the marks.
This didn't take long at all. Less than a half hour and I was done.
It is very ruffly at this point, looks more like a harlequin's ruff than a 16th century noble.
The next step is to attach the pleats to the neck band. First I measured out and marked 1 inch intervals on the neck band (16 inches total expected final length). Then I counted the pleats I'd made, so that I could know how many pleats to attach to each inch. I had 86 pleats, so I divide that by 16 and come up with 5.375. That means when I start attaching the pleats to the neck band I would need to attach 5 pleats per inch, plus a little extra. It's not strictly mathematical, those fractions are the point where you kind of have to massage things a big.
First side attached:
Look how ruffly and floppy it is:
The next step was the part I was having trouble wrapping my head around. In the past when I've made ruffs, it just never occurred to me to do them this way. The period method says to attach the other end of the neck band to the other side of the pleats. My mind said that wouldn't provide any stability. In the past when I've made them I've tacked them down on the outside of the neckband where they hit on it, but the period method in the extant examples in J. Arnold left the whole of the neckband width just flopping around. It did, however, have the advantage of elegantly tucking all of the unfinished edges on the inside. Here's a picture after I'd finished the 2nd edge which illustrates what I mean (and looks just like the diagram in Arnold):
It was starting to look much more stable once both edges were attached. It was interesting to see as I was following the period methods, despite my instincts, that with each step the ruff shape crystallized more and more.
The last step was the put three lines of stitching along the inside of the neckband near the top, to hold the pleats to the neckband in place. This was the stability I'd been trying to emulate in the past, achieved following the period methods. I stitched the hook and eye closure on and voila - perfectly period linen ruff, ready for starching and setting!
I'm kind of surprised by how well it holds the shape and pleats without any starching whatsoever yet. This linen isn't particularly stiff at all, it's pretty soft so the fact that these pleats are standing out straight, not drooping too much, and appear fairly even really does, to my mind, speak to the elegance of the period construction methods.
Next step - making up a big batch of wheat starch and getting some setting rods (or getting together with
trystbat to try hers out). I need to make another one of these, preferably with some new linen that has a nice selvage edge!Also, I worked my way through all 6 episodes of "Elizabeth R" again, back to back, as I was stitching on this. God those costumes are amazing!
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no subject
Date: 2012-03-12 02:51 am (UTC)Also I'm jealous of your long neck. I feel like I look like a dork in big ruffs because I have a short neck and no chin... Hope you don't mind if I live vicariously through you. ;)
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Date: 2012-03-12 03:52 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-03-12 04:04 am (UTC)I learned it at the first Collegium I ever attended in ~1995 from Hillary of Serendip. I carried that handout around with me for years and years, but somewhere in the 10 or 12 moves since the last time I saw it it disappeared. I'm sad because it was perfect, but I think I'll just have to settle down and make my own drawings so I can teach it myself. :-)
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Date: 2012-03-12 05:17 am (UTC)Question - what kind of thread are you using? I ask because it's something I've messed around with in recent years - I got a bee in my bonnet a couple of years ago about using the best materials I could on a project and discovered reeled silk thread, and it led to one of those massive "OMG" moments for me - why in the name of all that's uncouth do I use POLYESTER THREAD when I'm going out of my way to use wool/silk/linen fabric??? Poly thread is remarkably strong, but not that much stronger than the silk for the same weight, and certainly it's a lot cheaper, but that's about all I can find to recommend it. The fact that silk comes in weights so cobwebby you literally cannot see it on fine linen or fine silk makes it amazing for handwork - using regular sewing thread looks like rope to me now so I pretty much don't use anything else for handwork. As far as I know (and I am FAR from any kind of expert on anything) in our period sewing thread would have been linen or reeled silk, so I've tried working with both, but the only linen thread I could get is chunky and fragile, so I'm a fan of the silk. I also think I've heard of pulling threads from the loose end of the fabric itself and using that to stitch, but I don't know if that's accurate or not. Anyway, the thread thing has been kind of an interesting little tidbit of experimentation for me so I always like to find out what other people use and why.
I also love your commentary about finding that the period methods produce surprisingly effective results - I know this is a "duh" for people a lot farther along the road than I am, but I've really enjoyed those discoveries in my haphazard experimentation and I thought it was really cool that you found that in this process too.
As an aside, if you didn't already have an SCA name you like I would try to convince you to do something with "swan" involved because you truly have an awesome neck.
Aside the second - I have a copy of that Hilary of Serendip handout. :-D Let me know if you want a copy! I don't know if I do the spit-roll thing right or not - I will have to have you show me sometime - but what I learnt from that class and why I still have the handout is the pleating-your-veil-across-the-top-of-your-head thing that produces those beautiful ripples along the edge beside your face. It was really cool and I've pretty much always worn my veils that way to excellent effect.
Can't wait to see and hear about the starching and finishing process!
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Date: 2012-03-12 05:26 am (UTC)I'm so excited that you have one! Also, I used to pleat my veils like that for YEARS before I started doing late period because of all the techniques she showed, I thought that one was the prettiest. Wow, I'm so tickled you have a copy of the handout still! Can you scan it?
Thread...I admit I'm just using the regular old Guterman because, uh, it hadn't occurred to me that I could get silk thread. Thank you for the comment, I had totally overlooked that aspect of it! Hmm. Where do you get the silk thread you use?
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Date: 2012-03-12 05:57 am (UTC)I will totally scan it for you when I get home! It'll be a couple more weeks but I will for sure, it's safely held in my Binder of Handouts Worth Keeping. I took her class at West Kingdom 25th Year when I had been in the SCA for about 6 months and knew no one and nothing, so it stands out as one of my best early memories and I've kept a deathgrip on the handout this whole time.
Thread was seriously one of those things that I was totally blind to until I...wasn't anymore, I guess! It was a fun "aha" moment for me because it came up totally spontaneously, and it's made a big difference in my sewing since then.
I use Fujix Tire thread, and I get it here:
http://www.thesewingparlour.com/cstore/products-by-manufacturer/fujix.html
Other places do carry it but I tend to find they don't have all weights or colors.
The 100-weight is the lightest, and only comes in Black, White and Off-White (or whatever the names are). It's the absolute best for hand-finishing and will actually kind of "blend in" on a lot of other colors because it's so fine.
The 50-weight still works well for handwork but is also gorgeous in the machine, and comes in 121 colors so you can color-match it to just about anything.
30-weight is a little heavier than 50-weight if you need stronger attachment, you want more visible texture on surface work, etc. but still does fine in the machine.
The 16-weight quilter's silk is substantial but actually can still be put through a machine - I just assembled a heavy wool coat with this because I know how springy wool can be, and when you sew a stitch with no tension on the fabric and then the fabric gets stretched, the stitch will often pop if it's normal thread. With this silk thread there is no way that will happen. It's also awesome for hand eyelets and buttonholes, though I tend to use the 9-weight for that...
Which is why the 9-weight is called "buttonhole silk". Comes on cards and just rocks for eyelets/buttonholes. The 9-weight has a bit tighter twist, while the 16-weight is a bit looser, each of which has pros and cons.
I *highly* recommend getting the full color card, which has little "tassels" of each color on flexible strips so you can lay the strip across your fabric and see which color will go best with what you are doing. It also has a sample of each weight and a card that cross-references the weights and colors (the only weight that comes in all colors is the 50-weight) so you can see what colors you can get in your preferred weight. The Sewing Parlour doesn't seem to have the sample card listed, but Lacis has it:
http://lacis.com/catalog/data/AA_CordsThreadsSilk.html (most of the way to the bottom)
I recommend getting one spool of each weight in black, as that is the most useful and versatile color, and getting the 100 and 50 weights in white (or off-white if you tend to use that variant). Spend a little time with it and I suspect you'll be hooked, and then you can start ordering colors...it gets kind of addictive, I'll warn you!
As a final note, these are all *awesome* for making fingerloop cord, which I have found to be endlessly useful and are apparently highly period. As best I have learned, fingerloop was commonly made from reeled (not spun) silk, so this is about the closest we can get to that, and fingerloop made out of this stuff is unbelievably strong - I've even done very thin cords out of the 50-weight thread, using either a 5-loop or 8-loop pattern, and it's pretty awesome. I use it for button loops, gown lacings, doublet lacings, any cord-based attachments really. It also seems from what I've learned that fingerloop was a reasonably frequent element of couched embroidery, which is about the only kind suited to my ineptitude and impatience, so that's a neato bonus too.
OK, I'm shutting up about the silk thread now, but I hope you end up loving it! :-)
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Date: 2012-03-12 06:17 am (UTC)I don't suppose you're going to be teaching spit-rolled hems at any A&S events soon? That's a technique I'd really love to learn.
I have some sources for reeled silk thread and linen sewing threads I could probably dig out if needed. I haven't tried any yet, since I'm still so new to the construction end of things. (I only found the sewing threads because I've looked pretty deep into the world of period embroidery materials.)
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