Ruff- moving onwards

 The ruff continues..........

Jumping ahead! The sandwich of silk and crin was basted together, then machine stitched to hold all the layers securely.
The outside edge was finished with a baby lock edge in metallic thread, silver on one side and gold on the other. The 1/4" seam allowance on the outside edge was cut off in the process.

The inner edge of the circle is not happy to be serged, and believe me, we tried. It was easier to use the industrial zig, and sew a very close zig over the machine stitch, then cut off the seam allowance by hand. A bit tedious, yes, but less
tedious than fighting with a serger!

After the edges are finished, marks must be made for gathering the edges into the figure eight formation. For this ruff, we knew that each section was cut to be 10 wedges, so the sections were remeasured and compared to the original pattern. The outer edge had stretched ever so slightly as may be expected with circles (bias). We decided to divide the sections into ten to maintain our plan, and marked both the inner and outer sections accordingly. Then, by hand with a strong thread, pick up those marks and create an accordion fold of fabric. Secure the thread, set aside and admire!

The next step is to prepare a neckband. We used two layers of grosgrain ribbon so it had some inherent strength. This is also a good time to sew snaps to the neckband, because it is irritating and awkward to sew them on later.

Once that is prepared, mark the neckband top and bottom edge every 1cm ( that is our chosen spacing), offsetting the marks on one edge by half.
For this particular ruff, K started setting the ruff to the band at the centre back. I had cut an extra four wedges at the front as insurance and I wanted the ruff to be symmetrical from the back. once we fit it to the garment, we could remove any extra.
 In even sized ruffs- that is with a single depth overall, you can start at one end and make your way to the other, but a good rule of thumb is to cut just a bit more than you think you need, because it is nothing to cut away excess, rather than trying to add more in.

Almost done by this point!