During the second World War, over 400,000 women served in the US military, and nearly half a million women served in the British military. In fact, women served in the military all…
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Heck Yeah, Witch Shoes
This month we’re all about unexpectedly ‘modern’ designs in historical fashion. The May ’22 “Avant-Garde” collection explores bold colors and geometric shapes in 1930s/40s shoes, and also an older trend, the late…
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A Little History of Shocking Pink
For the first time in American Duchess history, we’ve created shoes in several very strong pinks, all drawn from and inspired by a late 1930s “Surrealist” palette. As with many things in…
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Let’s Make Some Men’s Shoes
…for real. A couple years back we made a stab at developing a men’s historic footwear collection. We did a pump, a latchet shoe, and a boot all from around the 1780s-1810s.…
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April Vintage Pre-Order is OPEN!
I will admit I haven’t been sewing much (Covid energy-sap), but I do have plans. Honestly all I’ve really been up to is -work- but at least it’s fun work, getting so…
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The {FREE} American Duchess Cape Pattern
Click Here for the pattern Howdy! Since we put our Patreon to sleep, we needed to find a new place to host the #ADCapeCult 1910s Wrap Cape pattern. So it’s going to…
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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 little, but…
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The Pincurl Diary – How to Do 1930-50s Hair for a Whole Week
How remiss am I in never posting this video I made earlier in the year. This is a tutorial of sorts for how to set wet-set one’s hair and then maintain it…
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Marilyn 1940s Pumps – Pre-Order OPEN!
We’re not quite done with the Fall/Winter 2020 shoe releases yet! As much as we’d liked to have introduced everything at once, this year has scuppered those plans. We’re still makin’ it…
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Finished Vintage Dress UFO #2 – Simplicity 3280
Simplicity 3280 1939 dress in rayon faille Two weekends, two finished vintage dress UFOs, and I have to say it feels *great* to pick up old projects and finish them! I hate…
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Finished Vintage Dress UFO #1 – Simplicity 8248
Simplicity 8248 1930s day dress with alterations. Reader, I must admit I am *terrible* at finishing UFOs – “unfinished objects.” I have two sewing mindsets: I want something quick, easy, and satisfying…
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Review: Vecona Vintage Three-Piece Ladies’ Suits
Sporting the Vecona Vintage “Viktoria” three-piece suit in grey wool blend, in Portugal. Anyone who follows my personal Instagram page (@lauren_stowell) will know I’m a *big fan* of menswear, particularly three-piece suits.…
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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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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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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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A Quick Ladies’ Waistcoat
A very simple ladies’ waistcoat in linen, lined with silk – linen shirt, Walker Slater tweed trousers, a silk floppy bow tie, and saddle shoes from RoyalVintageShoes.com When I was in Scotland,…
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Vintage Capsule Wardrobes
May 1940. Marie Claire. Though the term “capsule wardrobe” wasn’t coined until the 1970s, the idea stretches much further back. The general purpose of such a collection is to have a wardrobe…
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LacedNYC – A New York Party to Remember
The Bathtub Ginnys perform at LacedNYC Once upon a time, Abby and I went to New York to meet up with our favorite people – Cynthia of Redthreaded and Dandy Wellington –…
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Meet our New Theatrical Footwear Line!
American Duchess Spring/Summer 2019 Theatrical Line We are trying lots of new things this year in shoe-company-land. For years we have (rather unexpectedly) supplied historical footwear to the opera, ballet, and theater,…