The Building of an Elizabethan Wired Ruff (II)

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Lift off the ruff and work at a table for the next step; applying paper. Any paper can be used; we used lightweight craft paper. Cut the paper into strips 1” (2.5cm) wide and at least as long as the collar is high at its deepest point, in this case 12” (31cm). Tape the strips over the wire ruff at right angles to the neckline (fan like) piece by piece. The paper will be on the front of the ruff and the tape will be on the back, the strips are necessary because there are many subtle and not so subtle angles and curves to be accommodated. This may seem like a mundane process but it is important. Be careful not to inadvertently bend the frame while attaching the paper. Replace the ruff on the garment and check the shape, bend it if needed back into shape or adjust the shape if you think it needs to be adjusted. You can now design your outline or outer edge, keep in mind the ends need to be supported by wires and these wires have to be incorporated into your pattern. For your first ruff keep it simple.  Remove the ruff before drawing on the outer edge pattern and wire lines. This is a very visual aspect of the ruff building. Ours was done freehand but you may want to use a formula or tool of some sort. The support wires can still be changed at this stage if necessary. Note that the fewer joins the stronger the structure.

The photo above shows the wire ruff with the pattern for the outer edge and the decorative wire supports drawn on. The excess paper has been partially cut away. Note the front wire extensions are now tucked into the front of the bodice. A small piece of bone casing was stitched to the inside of the bodice to hold the wire in place, anchoring the front of the ruff.

Cut away all the paper around the outer edge to complete the image of the finished ruff. Transfer the wire markings to the underside as shown in the photo at right. Your mock up is now complete. Notice the three wires at the top right corner of the picture. These are the original neckline wire, the first support wire and the second support wire and they get taped together to create the extension that slides inside the front of the neckline to attach the ruff to the dress.

To build the real ruff you may wish to use heavier wire for a more sturdy ruff…..ruffs by nature are not durable garments and cannot withstand much abuse. Consider this when you are designing the shape and size. For theatrical use you may wish to use piano wire instead of millinery wire but this type of wire is much more difficult to work with. Remember the higher the gauge of the wire the finer it is in diameter and the more easily it will bend. Millinery wire in gauge #19 was used here, but gauge #16 is slightly heavier and would work well for the support wires.

Begin by recreating the neckline shape and the outer support wire by placing two new wires over the mock-up (which should be upside down on the table); be sure to include the extensions you will need at the front to insert in the bodice. See photo below.

Take a third wire and replicate the middle support wire, these three support wires can be in either #16 or #19 gauge wire, #16 being the strongest. All three wires should be long enough to be part of the front extensions; their ends will be bound together with thread later. You can tape these together for now

Once the three support wires are shaped and in place you can remove them as a unit, put it aside for later and begin the decorative support wires. From this point on I will refer to these wires as the “looped wires”. You may wish to use lighter gauge wire for these as it will be easier to shape and they create a more delicate look.  We used our finest wire in #21 gauge. Use as few pieces as possible, the points that meet at the neckline are not cut ends but tightly bent angles (see photo below). To create the loops in our ruff we used two 3meter long pieces.  The wire is taped to the mock-up in place over the drawn lines, (with the mock-up right side up on the table) tape it wherever needed to keep all wires in place.

When all the looped wires are complete and taped into place on the mock-up, pick up your support wire frame that was put aside earlier. Place it over top of the mock-up upon which the loop wires are taped. You will now tape the support wire structure to the loop wires at each intersection. Once this is done you can remove the tape attaching the loop wires to the mock-up and remove the ruff from the mock-up. The ruff will look like the photo below

(Instructions are continued...)

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