Bright lights! Bright lights!

The spring sun is shining, warm, bright, beautiful sunshine and then you realize, while enjoying the first event of the season, that the neckline of your dress is no longer flattering since you got the sunburn from hell. Sounds familiar? I guess I´m not alone. So here is how to cover up and still be true to the late 15th Century - the linen gollar.

When I first saw this high-cut gollar in pictures I mistook it for a chemise with a high collar, but with a little more research I was proven wrong. As seen in this portrait of a young girl by Albrecht Dürer, the linen gollar covers the neck, chest and shoulders in a rather lowcut dress.

And this is how I made mine, that I will be sure to bring to the first outdoor events.

 I first cut it in three parts, but in order to make it fit nicely into the neckline I decided to make a seam in the back as well. I made it in double layers and hid all the seamallowances, so that it is reversable.

 Here  you see it on top of the neckline that I want to cover, and then how it looks when neatly tucked in and pinned in the front. No more sunburn for me! And it is also good in winter, under a furlined gollar for instance, protecting the fur from the warm and sticky skin of the neck, or protecting that sensitive skin from a itchy wool gollar or overdress.