Following on from the replica 16th century corset I made in 4th year, I decided this term to make an historically accurate ruff. I chose a pattern from Janet Arnold’s Patterns of Fashion 4; one of five books so far released dedicated to finding, measuring, and recording the patterns of extant historical garments in museums and private collections across Europe. Having selected a pattern I then scaled it up onto a large piece of card and cut it out. I pinned the pattern piece to fine linen fabric; the same kind of fabric that would have been used in the 16th century.
The pattern was surprisingly large – I ended up with over five metres of linen that would form the basis of the ruff.
