American Duchess Historic Shoes Blog
Pompadour French Court Shoes, 12.5 Years Later
Our Pompadour 18th Century Shoes are an American Duchess classic! With their custom, curvy Louis heel, easy-to-use tabbed latchet closure, and period accurate white rand, these babies are a tried-and-true...
Pink Popularity in the 18th Century
If you're anything like us, you have probably been really into the moment the color pink is having in fashion this summer, thanks to a certain iconic doll. It's been...
Fit for a Queen Collection Pre-Order
Hear ye, hear ye, our June pre-order has started! We are thrilled to present the Fit for a Queen collection, which combines 18th century and Regency silhouettes with fantasy and...
Mules in Art: Part Deaux
Nearly ten years ago (omg), we published a blog post featuring mules in 18th century art for the first release of Antoinette Mules. Now that spring has arrived, Fêtes Galantes...
Fabrics for the 18th Century and Beyond
Robe a la Francaise, 1770, LACMA M.2007.211 - beautiful and expensive printed cotton One of the top questions I get from budding 18th century costumers is "what fabric should I...
The February 2021 Collection is Here - {Pre-Order Open!}
Time for the first collection of 2021!This year, the big plan is to do a pre-order every single month through August (yowza!). Our February collection got off to a bit...
My 2020 Costuming Year in Review
This has indeed been a weird, challenging, rough year. I think I've left my house, like, 20 times max for 10 months. During this time I feel I sewed very...
Petticoat Pitfalls for Grand Panniers
Well shoot, this didn't work.... Don't you just love when you finish up a project, perhaps the first part of an ensemble, something you've maybe done numerous times before, only...
How to Avoid Lampshade Hoops in the 18th Century
It's a thing in the Georgian period too! I've recently started on my next big (physically big), early 18th century project, a Robe Volante. One of the reasons I felt...
1765 Robe a la Bon Bon - Simplicity 8578 - Trimming the Beast
Cutting strip after strip of pinked trim - the trick is the fold up your fabric three or four layers and cut through all at once. A plain sacque in...
1765 Robe a la Bon Bon Sacque - Simplicity 8578 - Construction Complete!
Trying on the new sacque - it's always nice to have something, y'know, fit at its first real try-on. Next time I say something like, "oh I'll just throw this...
Pattern Notes on Simplicity 8578 - Robe a la Francaise Dress Pattern
A couple years ago now we worked with Simplicity to create a Robe a la Francaise pattern (Simplicity 8578) based on Abby's sacque in The American Duchess Guide to 18th...