Around the time of the turn of the 20th century, a new dance craze swept the Western world. The dance was risque and immensely popular, first introduced to Paris by the sons…
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The 1630s Dutch Thang – Badonk-a-donk, Petticoat, and Starting the Bodies
Just playing around with pinning things on my dress form Now into the making up! I’ve been stitching on my big 1630 project and quite enjoying the process. There’s enough weirdness here…
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The 1630 Dutch *Thang* – Beginnings
A still from “Tulip Fever” (2017) – outstanding costuming by Michael O’Connor. As so often happens, after a no-sew period of downtime and feeling phlegmatic about costuming, I was struck by a…
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18th Century Printed Cotton Do’s & Don’t’s
A beautiful printed cotton gown, 1785-95. The Met. A very condensed version of this essay, without pictures, appears in The American Duchess Guide to 18th Century Dressmaking. Because there is *so much…
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Holiday Shipping Deadlines, 2019
Here’s just a quick reminder to get your American Duchess and Royal Vintage orders in by the following dates so we can ship them out and get them to you on time:…
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Historic & Retro Winter Shoes & Boots
Sleigh bells ring, are you listening? In the lane snow is glistening… <3 Here’s our annual guide to this year’s historic and retro winter shoes and boots from American Duchess and Royal…
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The Countess of Melbury’s Ball c. 1789 – Inspo!
The Met, 1780s Italian gown. Inspiration for my own gown for this event. Next March, 2020, I am attending the Countess of Melbury’s Ball in Walnut Grove, California. The event is set…
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Book Review: Women of the 1920s: Style Glamour, & the Avante-Garde by Thomas Bleitner
Louise Brooks On the eve of the 2020s, the spell of the exciting and revolutionary 1920s looms large. It was an unforgettable era with deep cultural shifts and powerful aesthetics. Women, in…
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Winter SALE at American Duchess & Royal Vintage
La la la la la – it’s that time of year where we put, like, everything on SALE! Here are the links: American Duchess This year we have the traditional FREEBIES –…
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The Isabella Mactavish Fraser Pattern & Documentary!
Ladies and Gentlemen, we are very proud to release to you today the Isabella Mactavish Fraser gown pattern and construction PDF along with our short documentary about this famous tartan gown and…
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The Reno Tweed Ride, 2019
Chrissy wore her bicycling pants, spatterdashes, and a corset on her Columbia 1920s reproduction bike. The same weekend we invaded Virginia City with our Spoop-Troupe, we enjoyed the local Tweed Ride. Tweed…
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The Nevada Statehood Ball – An Evening in 1864
The crew – Abby, Chrissy, me, and Caroline at the Nevada Statehood Ball, 2019 – photo by Chase Stevens. A few posts ago I shared how I refit my 1860s Aubergine evening…
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A Spoopy Day in Virginia City, Nevada
The Spoop-Crew in Virginia City, NV. No actual buckets of blood were consumed, but we thought about it…. Several weekends ago a group of friends came to visit us here in Reno.…
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Altering My 1860s Evening Gown
Currently on my sewing table is a “simple” alteration to my one-and-only 1860s evening gown. I made this gown, along with a matching day bodice, back in 2014 and over the years…
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Adventures in England – Nature, Painting, and Fashion
Hadiran’s Wall, UK Chris and I have recently returned from a vacation in Cumbria, UK, visiting the famously gorgeous Lake District. We rented an airbnb cottage for the entire length of our…
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I Made a Vintage Style Raincoat…Somehow
I live in the desert. We get, oh, a handful of days of novelty rain per year and so a raincoat is not something that regularly factors into my wardrobe. So it…
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Pattern Review: Decades of Styles #3011 1930s Stardust Skirt
Hey Everyone! Abby here, and today I want to share with you a very quick pattern review for Decades of Style’s #3011 1930s Stardust Skirt.* Before I get into the review –…
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The Isabella Mactavish Fraser Project – Day 2
Georgia Gough wearing the finished Isabella Mactavish Fraser wedding gown and arisaid – Edinburgh, Scotland I’m back with the second day reporting from the Isabella Mactavish Fraser wedding-gown-in-a-weekend project, a wonderful demonstration…
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Fall Historic & Vintage Shoes – Pre-Order is OPEN!
It’s that time of year again – the best time of year – Fall! Fall is a busy time for us here at ADHQ. We have a lot going on and so…
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The Isabella Mactavish Fraser Project – Prep and Day 1
Braining hard on the Isabella Mactavish Fraser wedding gown – Edinburgh, Scotland, June 2019 Abby and I are back from our whirlwind trip to Scotland, and I’ve had a nice little run…