Kit for an Elizabethan ruff - plain or lace trimmed

Everything you need to make an accurate starched linen Elizabethan ruff!

Ruffs are the quintessential item of Elizabethan neckwear. Beginning as the gathered frills on shirt collars and cuffs, they grew into separate, exaggerated, formal ‘sewts’ (neck and wrist ruffs).  Despite the popularity of the fashion, such excesses were prohibited to the majority of the population. An edict of 1611 attempted to restrict the size of ruffs and the material from which they were made for grocers’ apprentices and women servants. The apprentices were not to have ruffs exceeding 2in (5cm) in depth or 3yd (2.7m) in length before gathering. The women servants were allowed 3in (7.6cm) in depth and 4yd (3.7m) in length.

These kits will each make one 4yd (3.7m) ruff, either in plain linen or fine, lace-trimmed ramie, according to your station!

Kit contains:
• Paper pattern
• Instructions
• ½yd (45cm) of bleached linen or ramie
• 2oz (60g) of conservation grade wheat starch (corn starch can be provided as an alternative on request)
• ½yd (45cm) of linen cord for neck ties
•4yd cotton lace (ramie version only)

Please choose plain or lace-trimmed ruff kit below.