Ruffs-what size? and what is the best low maintenance material?

[Rowan MacD]

  I just finished a neck ruff using the costumers page ruff generator.
  For this first effort; I used 2" grosgrain ribbon with 1" setts sewn to a  1" grosgrain neck band.  All edges were melted to prevent fraying.
  It looks nice, but the ruff looks to me to be too wide, so I'm going to do another in 1" to see what that looks like.
   Anywho-Grosgrain is wonderfully low maintenance- but are there other materials like this that will hold their shape, resist crushing and spring back into lovely setts after a quick hand wash?  I don't care if they are HA, since I don't want to spend a few hours starching a ruff if it needs washing.
   

[Lady Kathleen of Olmsted]

Rowan....


There are plenty of How To Make Ruffs using Grosgrain ribbon on You Tube. Check some of those out to get the height and width of the figure 8's you want.

Happy Ruff making.

[Rowan MacD]

  I have made 2 so far from grosgrain-Is there any other fabric that works?

[isabelladangelo]

Linen with a thin heavy twill inside it or a bit if millinery wire would probably work.  I haven't washed my ruffs - there hasn't ever been a reason to.  I wear them over my chemise/smock - not directly against the skin.  Even so, you could easily just clean the inside band and not the entire ruff.  I have two linen - nothing inside them- ruffs and one of an organza like ribbon that has a rolled edge.   I think I also have a fourth one but I can't recall what it's made of.

Given that ruffs were of various sizes as various times and places, any size should be okay depending on what you are attempting to portray.   

[Lady Kathleen of Olmsted]

A narrow polyester, horsehair braid works well in keeping the figure 8's permanent. I suggest linen with lace at the ends.

The Renaissance Tailor site has lovely ruffs they sell. They are gorgeous and reasonably priced.

http://www.renaissancetailor.com/store/products_linenlaceruffs.php

http://www.renaissancetailor.com/store/products_plainlinenruffs.php

http://www.renaissancetailor.com/store/products_blackworkruffs.php

[Rowan MacD]

  Where would I find this braid?

   I have looked at the RT ruffs-they are seriously gorgeous and reasonably priced for the materials (huge amounts of lace) and construction hours that go into them; however,  they are definitely high maintenance (needs starching and ironing when washed), not to mention that they run about $100.00 for a suit.
   I'm not on cast, so I don't see spending that much for something that is 'just for me',  and I would rather make it myself anyway.

  Isabella-I have thought about linen w/stiffener.  I may just try some fusable interfacing and spot clean the ruff if it needs it.....

[Lady Kathleen of Olmsted]

You can get horsehair braid at JoAnn's or Hancock Fabrics. You may have to ask someone who works there to help you find it. It does come in narrow as well as wide. I hem a lot of wedding dresses and I take a lot of that out.