Regency: White Cotton Neck Frill

I made a silly accessory just for fun! My original inspiration for this frill (also called a ruff or fraise) came from two places:  this pointed and ruffled chemisette made by Sarah at Romantic History, which was based on a Janet Arnold Patterns of Fashion pattern, and which I love to pieces; and the ruffled collars worn in the 2020 movie adaptation of Emma by Emma and Mrs. Elton.  

I haven’t seen these frills terribly often in fashion plates or in impressions by other costumers; but I did manage to find a couple of historical examples in museums and fashion plates: 

1800s ruffed frill from Meg Andrews auctions

1807 ruffled collar from the Metropolitan museum

ruff worn with a pelisse; no clue if it's part of an underlying chemisette or not. 
LACMA

another similar fashion plate

Mrs. Elton’s orange ruffled collar in 2020 Emma

I essentially copied Sarah's design for the ruffles and neck band, and omitted the chemisette panels.  My ruffle pieces were 34” long and 3” wide at the widest point (narrower in the front, about 1.5”); and the neck band (finished) 17” x 1.”

The fabric is cotton voile, starched a tiny bit to make the ruffles stand out.  I didn’t have any starch on hand, so I mixed a tablespoon of cornstarch into 2c hot water and sprayed the fabric with that before I completed assembly. I honestly had no idea you could do that. No, seriously, all my life I thought laundry starch was just some magical (and probably dangerous) chemical concoction.  The more you know. 

pinning the ruffles to the neck band

I used two ruffles, each gathered and sewn into the neck band of the same fabric, one at the top and one at the bottom. I cheated and cut them as one piece and hemmed the pointed edges that way before cutting them apart, to keep the straight edges from fraying while I worked on the points.

TINIEST ROLLED HEM EVER

I attached a vintage silver-colored 1/8” silk tape to the neck band ends that I had in stash, and left long tasseled ties in the back to hang down. 

the finished fraise/ruffled collar

Tada!  I love this piece. It’s very silly and froofy, and I had a lot of fun making it. In retrospect, I think I should have paid more attention to staggering the ruffles so they weren't so stacked on top of one another; and I think I should have made them longer on the bottom than on the top to accentuate the layers more.  Overall, I like it, though, and I plan to wear it with...a dress I haven't made yet.  More on that at a later date.  

No BAM for Hrefna - What's Next?

 So it turns out that I can't make it to BAM this weekend after all.  My ride got very sick at the last minute, and I can't make the trip on my own or find another ride.  So I'll have a nice, long weekend off work to myself, to rest and work on various projects around the house.  Here's what I've got going on right now, which I'll be posting about in the coming weeks: 

• SCA:  I'm crocheting a new Hedeby bag (yes, crochet, I'll tell you all about it soon) - I need to finish it and then dye the finished product
• SCA:  I've decided to update the male Viking tunic I made for myself over a year ago, which will involve changing the neckline and sleeve cuffs
• Regency:  I'm in the middle of working on a new hat for myself, which I need to finish and then trim up with ribbon and floral elements
• Regency:  I have a new outfit planned, and some accessories to go with it.  That'll be a lot of pattern drafting and engineering patterns from pictures I've seen online

Plus I have about a million other little projects around the house to get done, some of which I'll post here and some I won't (you don't care about the doorknob on my pantry, right?)  I have plenty of things to keep me busy over the long weekend, as well as a birthday dinner for my best friend and roommate; and lots of projects to plan and work on over the coming winter.  

One of the many crochet things I've been working on

SCA: Prepping for BAM

 The third week of November is "BAM" - Bordermarch Autumn Melees, now called War of the Rams.  It's a five-day event in the middle of east Texas, and it's usually wet and cold...and a TON of fun.  

In 2020 and 2021, my Pandemic Project was an all-new Viking wardrobe - two new serks and three new apron dresses.  By the time the Pandemic blew (mostly) over and we were free to hold SCA events again, however, I'd gained enough weight that exactly NONE of my new dresses fit, so earlier this year I rushed to make two new serks and two new apron dresses that would work for me (the teal one that I've never blogged about (oops), and the blue herringbone).  

However, in August I started hitting the calorie-reduction and daily-walking bits as hard as I could, and I'm pleased to say that I've lost about 25lb since then - enough that I can fit into all of my Viking clothes, both the pandemic projects and the new pieces, as well as some older apron dresses that I spiffed up in 2020 and have never worn since.  

So, I've been spending my spare time in fixing up these older new dresses. All of my newer Viking clothing is seamed on the sewing machine and then finished by hand, and constructed in as period-correct a way as I can make them.  Except the older new dresses weren't - some of them were hemmed on the machine, so I'm picking the hems out and re-doing them by hand to make them look a bit better.  I did the same with my serks, which were all made entirely by machine - I picked out all the necklines, hemlines, and cuffs, and re-did them by hand in either a herringbone stitch (on the inside, which looks like a running stitch from the outside), or a running stitch. 

linen serk with new neckline stitching

All of my clothing is ready for BAM, and all of my packing is as pre-packed as I can make it, and I still have a week and a half to go.  So I'll be re-hemming dresses, ironing things, and working on various crochet projects until then.  I can't wait! 

It Goes "Ding" When There's Stuff!

 MAN I have been busy the last few weeks.  I haven't been blogging much, because I've been too caught up in my work.  I went to two SCA events in a row, and then threw a big Halloween/birthday party at my house.  So the past three weeks or so have been spent spiffing up garb and costumes, cleaning the house and getting ready for the party like a crazy person, and decorating for our local Baronial event, which was last weekend.  Our decorator got sick, so I took over for her, and made fences and flags and tablecloths and all sorts of neat stuff.  

Now that it's all overwith (all three events were awesome and made my heart full!), it's time to turn to the next set of Things: 

1. BAM (Bordermarch Autumn Melees, now called War of the Rams, in Gleann Abhan on the 17th) 
2. More Regency stuff
3. Prepping for next Halloween - yes, already

For BAM (War of the Rams, whatever, we all still call it BAM), I need to delve into my Viking wardrobe and see what fits and what doesn't.  During the pandemic, I made like five new apron dress outfits, but then quickly grew out of them and had to replace them with two more in a hurry before this fall.  But in the past two months, I've lost some weight, and I think my "old" new dresses might fit me again.  So I've got a lot of trying on and possibly altering to do, in order to have enough to wear for a five-day event.  I also need to repair my camp chair, as the seat blew out at baronial two weeks ago.  Whoopsie! 

For Halloween, I wore my white Regency round gown and the teal cap I made a couple of months ago.  Unfortunately, I didn't manage to get any decent pics of me in the dress for you.  A few friends have recently expressed a desire to get dressed up in Regency finery and go to tea somewhere.  The local English-style tea house is very expensive, and booked up months in advance; so I decided that next Spring I'll just host my own tea party and invite all my Regency-costume-minded friends.  I just happen to have a heap of teal cotton, so I'm planning on making this dress to wear: 

Elizabeth Lisee Vigeé Le Brun, by Tatiana Potemkina, Met Museum

And for next Halloween, I want to change up my decorating scheme, so I'm starting with my collection of (8?) brass candlesticks.  I got them at a thrift store for a couple of bucks each many years ago, and smeared them with black paint to make them look gross and tarnished.  I decided for next year (and for the tea party) I want them gold again, so I tried to take the paint off, but it's been stuck on there for so long that it wouldn't come off no matter what I tried.  Rub N Buff to the rescue!  

So far, so good.  I'm still not finished with them.  

So there's a very random, stuff-filled post for you.  I'll show you my progress as I work towards getting my wardrobe ready for BAM; and I'll certainly be back with more Regency stuff soon.  Ta!