4 MONTHS of HAND SEWING to FINISH THIS RUFF!

Well beautiful humans, it has been a ruff 9 months of recovery, physical therapy, and at times bed rest. Today we are going to discuss the hand sewing project I was going to work on the day I injured myself, and the 4 months it took to complete it while I relearned to walk and strengthen my leg.

In this project I used:
lace I purchased from DSA Threads which I already post a video of me prepping:
www.dsathreads.net
   • How To Prepare Machine Embroidered Lace fr...  
-Linen Sewing Thread and hand needle
-Beeswax
-Fine Linen Remnant
-Straight pins
-Chalk
-Breakfast tray

Other costumers and sewists have been reacting to their projects in 2022, and honestly this took up so much of my sewing time. I had to table some of my other projects while I could not stand because I could not cut out the fabric for next steps. This project was something I could work on through. I've never before make an iconic 16th century ruff before and the project had a lot of personal meanings and hang ups for me. When I was new to the Society for Creative Anachronism someone told me that I would never become a laurel if I had not made a ruff. This of course is ridiculous, but at the time I worried about it and allowed those insecurities to live rent free in the back of my mind for years. So this is me telling you as a laurel, follow the dopamine and joy to do the projects you want and interest you.

I made so many mistakes while sewing this ruff which is a big part of why it took me so long to finish. It was deceptively difficult to finish the project while I was on pain medication, or having to practically lay down to keep my leg from swelling. I think my best disability sewing hack from this experience was something I worked out with my mom. There was a time I wasn't able to sit on the bar height chairs at my table, so if I was in bed or on the couch sewing my project and hand box all went on a breakfast tray. The breakfast try was then able to be moved around the house without me leaving something I needed for my project, and I did not spill a bunch of pins into my soft furniture items.

Even after I finished this ruff, it was still several months before my mobility had improved enough to wear the clothing I loved and it would be appropriate for. It was a giant relief when I was able to start wearing my Italian Renaissance clothing again. I did not realize it until I put it on that I had been worried I would never be able to wear it again.

Have you ever been placed on bed rest before? Did you have a project you decided to sew while you were to pass the time? I would love to hear about your projects in the comments section.

The products below are affiliate links if you would like to support my channel and see some of the books I referenced while getting ready for this project:
Renaissance Patterns for Lace, Embroidery, and Needlepoint https://amzn.to/3jw93LG
Pattern Book of Renaissance Lace: Reprint of 1617 edition https://amzn.to/3villKg
Moda a Fireneze (Elenora di Toledo) https://amzn.to/3GfGUBo
Moda a Fireneze (Cosimo de Medici) https://amzn.to/3I1QTvj
Patterns of Fashion 4 https://amzn.to/3w3y9EE

Thank you for watching!

Social Media and other Places to Find me:

Instagram: @maridith.smith
Blog: https://www.tudorrevolution.blogspot.com
Pinterest:   / tudorrevolution  
Ko-Fi: https://ko-fi.com/maridithsmith

All Music was Provided by the YouTube creator studio.
Video edited with DaVinci Resolve 17.
Filmed with Cannon M50 https://amzn.to/3Xaqbpf