"they were shown in white ruffs - white was probably "Sunday best" and a symbol of purity - important for Elizabeth 1. But, chances were they liked colour for day to day wear as much as we do now..." Jane Partridge Another good point. Yellow wouldn't show soiling as much as white. So much of what was worn had underthings to save on cleaning since much of what they wore (well upper class) wasn't really cleaned, just discarded when soiled. Then when you think about cleaning and starching and shaping ruffs...seems nearly as tedious as making it! (Just kidding!) Dyeing lace yellow and later cleaning it, could make it more susceptible to uneven color after washing, vs. putting it in the starch, one could remove it more easily and thus have more even yellow coverage with future repetitions of care. Is it my imagination that there would be molds to shape some of these ruffs, just as a milliner would have a hat form? Many of them have a strikingly repetitive pattern, though working by hand would be difficult and hard to make consistent along with thread thickness and density of work. Also, it is interesting that no one has brought up flax as a stiffener. It is a good one, though more slimey (but starches are). It is popular in organic hair products nowadays, for instance Aveda uses it as Horst, after much testing found it to be the best, and apparently non-yellowing to hair. It definitely holds. Best,Susan Reishus
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