At last, at last! My Robe a la Bon Bon 1750 – 1770 sacque is complete! I finished this gown a little while back but it’s taken me quite some time to…
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Event Announcement: 18th Century Hair at National Arts Club, NYC
News! Abby and I are back to the incredible National Arts Club in New York City on September 13th, 2019, to do an 18th century hair demo and talk all about the…
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18th Century Hairstyles for Long Hair
Jenny’s long hair was plenty to go over the ski slope hair cushion. Nearly as often as we receive questions about doing 18th century hairstyles for short hair, we see the question…
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18th Century Hairstyles for Short Hair
Nicole’s chin-length bob was perfect, if not even a little too long, for the early 1780s crape’d hairstyle once supplemented with a few hair pieces at the back… One of the most…
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#ADBeauty – 18th Century Hats, Caps, Bonnets, and Accessories
Jasmine wearing her Therese hood, a very simple early 1780s accessory It is my belief that one can never have too many 18th century accessories. Hats and caps are essential to getting…
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#ADBeauty – 8 Authentic 18th Century Hairstyles!
Big Hair? Yes you can! Possibly the post you’ve been truly waiting for, today I’m going to give you some previews of the hairstyles in our next book “The American Duchess Guide…
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#ADBeauty – 18th Century Cosmetics and Hair Care Products
Cynthia applied 18th century rouge in The American Duchess Guide to 18th Century Beauty. “The American Duchess Guide to 18th Century Beauty” is a how-to book broken into what could be considered…
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Introducing “The American Duchess Guide to 18th Century Beauty”
We’re official one month away from the release of our second book, “The American Duchess Guide to 18th Century Beauty” ! This time last year we were sewing, styling, and photographing with…
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How to Scale Up Gridded Sewing Patterns with Adobe Photoshop
If you’ve been into historical costuming for any amount of time, you will be familiar with many a book featuring gridded (or scaled) sewing patterns. The Tudor Tailor, Patterns of Fashion (all…
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The State of the Book (2) Address
Abby works on Cynthia’s (Redthreaded) hair while I photographs each step for “The American Duchess Guide to 18th Century Beauty,” coming July 2019. Hi! I’ve been a pretty terrible blogger again this…
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Book Signing Soiree at Lacis Museum of Lace & Textiles
This past weekend we popped over The Hill down to Berkeley to visit on of our favorite shops *ever* – Lacis Museum of Lace and Textiles. We were honored to be invited…
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The Creature Reborn – Retrimming the Pink Polonaise
Once upon a time I made a pink taffeta polonaise and trimmed it in organza, a very 1770s thing to do. At the time, I tried hand roll hemming and found it…
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1765 Robe a la Bon Bon – Progress on the Gown
The sacque back is looking swell I’ve been sewing on-and-off on my new sacque for a few weeks now. I only have the weekends to fiddle these days, but luckily progress happens…
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1760s Robe a la Bon Bon – The Petticoat
Finished sacque petticoat over pocket hoops I’ve been steadily progressing on my new sacque, using the Simplicity 8578 Robe a la Francaise pattern we released December 2017. Since I already had pocket…
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A *New* 1760s Robe a la Bon Bon (or Sacque-a-Macarons?)
I have a confession to make. I admit to feeling quite jealous whenever I see Abby dressed in the pink and white 1768 sacque from The American Duchess Guide. To me, that…
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2017 – Costuming Year in Review
Jane Austen Festival, 2017. Photo by Tony Tumbusch. It’s that time – that year-end-year-beginning-blog-post time. This year I feel I was a terrible blogger. One of the side effects of building out…
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CORRECTION – 1780s Cap Pattern – American Duchess Guide
Hi gals! We’ve been alerted to a flaw in the 1780s cap pattern from “The American Duchess Guide to 18th Century Dressmaking,” so before you all tear your pomaded-and-powdered hair out trying…
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{Video} Wherein Lauren & Abby Get Racked
…or Racked gets Lauren’d & Abby’d. 😉 In early December, Abby and I took our annual trip to New York City to do *all the things.* One of the things we had…
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Simplicity 8578 and 8579 – TWO new 18th Century Patterns!
Ladies, we are SO excited to finally announce two new 18th century American Duchess patterns from Simplicity! Simplicity 8578 is the Robe a la Francaise (Sacque) and petticoat and Simplicity 8579 is…
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BOOK RELEASE: The American Duchess Guide to 18th Century Dressmaking
Today’s the big day! Our book, The American Duchess Guide to 18th Century Dressmaking: How to Handsew Georgian Gowns and Wear The with Style has officially been released! While you can buy the…