This ruff is currently able to worn on its own, and will go on over the collar of the organza bodice that is still in-progress. I may decide to leave it stand-alone or I may decide to attach it to an overcoat/vest type of thing I have in the planning.
The foundation of the collar is leftover scrap from my new ironing board pad - thick but soft. I should probably line it, but since it isn't going to be in direct contact with my skin, I'm undecided on that. The wire is floral wire, which I bent so the ends all point up and out, and sewed onto the fabric. Both the bending and sewing around the wire in several places along the length of each bend keeps it in place remarkably well.
Here's a couple shots of the lace going on. I had to start at the bottom since that's where the fabric is, but I wanted to overlap the top of each lower row over the bottom of the next row, which meant remembering to leave each row unattached on the top half of the trim, attaching the next row, then going back and securing the top of the previous row to it. Mostly, I remembered to do that...
I also was periodically inserting a pleat, both to ease the trim around the curve I was creating (the wires go up, out, and away from each other), and to create a more dimensional piece. Although the human tendency is to create patterns, I purposely did not keep track of specifically when I was pleating or not, to try to give it a more organic look.
Working around the wires was kind of a pain, but overall it went pretty well; didn't poke out an eye or anything!
Once I had the trim all sewn on from the outside perspective, I put on a couple more rows on the inside, as the trim has a definite front and back, and the upper edge of the collar along the sides and back will be seen from both sides. This part I was able to attach working from the top down, which was a good deal more sane to do than the outer layer.
Next was attaching some plastic rhinestone mesh I got last year, on sale in the floral section of JoAnn's. The collar is fastened with three snaps -- I'd first thought to use velcro but I only had it in black, then remembered the snaps on my old wedding dress -- part of the over-train, which has to come off anyway.
I also did some securing between the inner and outer layers and stitched some of the gathered trim into tighter pleats to create a little more depth and texture. I'm afraid I didn't get a photo that really shows that, but here you can see it on me.
Oh, and I glued glass faceted beads onto the ends of the wires so it's safe and pretty. I'm not sure where they came from but I'm guessing an old broken necklace maybe? I've been storing them in an old allergy tablet bottle that expired in 1986, so it's anyone guess at this point.
