Blue court gown

There is one word that describes the way you feel wearing all these ruffs. REGAL. They really do take this dress to a higher level.

I made this dress in the late months of 2004. I have to say that no matter how stunning it is, for summer wear this is not a suitable dress as the outer fabric is a poly/cotton blend.

Paolo Fiammingo 1590's painting called Dame Veneziane.

This is probably the nicest example of a set of ruffs with an open front Venetian gown. It also show ruffs worn on closed front dress, and what we may think to be various social statuses of women in Venetian society.

There are a couple of things that I need to address with my dresser for next time. I need to make sure that the standard ruff has a better support to ensure that it does stand the way I want it to. (He changed the ruffs while I was still in the dress and he didn't stab me with pins.)

All of the ruffs are pined into place so that they can be easily removed for storage after wear. The neck ruff is pined to the lace of the partlet as this is harder wearing than the silk organza. The shoulder ruffs are pined onto the shoulder straps. Each has a small flange for pining. When the shoulder ruffs are pined in and the chemise is pulled through the spaces between the buttons, you can't see the flange of the ruff.

I only wore the veil with the standing ruff. Partially because I wanted to get a back shot of the ensemble, and partially because the highly starched lace on the ruffs was catching on the chiffon. (That lace really is lethal, think razor wire!)

Over all I am really pleased with the way this has all come together. I am so looking forward to wearing it to an event as the complete outfit.

A special thank you to Mio Ragazzo, who helped dress me and then photographed me. Isn't he wonderful. I am getting him trained as a ladies dresser. Considering he is not SCA I think he did a pretty good job.

*A special note on these photos. I did not know at the time these were taken that I was in fact pregnant with my second child, due early December 2005.

All intellectual content, composition, layout, designs and photographs, unless otherwise noted are copyright 2007 to Deborah Lane ©, or, copyright 2003 to Deborah Murray © also known as Mistress Oonagh O'Neill ©. All Original renaissance art works and artefacts are not copyright to Deborah Murray, and are shown for educational use only . If you see something you'd really like to use, please contact me!