History

13 Things 18th Century Women Didn’t Have to Do Because of Their Clothes

A lot of the time, we look back at 18th century clothing and develop a serious case of presentism: we decide that our clothing today is so much more practical and comfortable. However, 18th century women’s clothing was designed for practicality and comfort in their daily lives–and maybe fewer serious body image issues! Here are … Read more

The Riding Habit & the Brunswick

In A Gentleman’s Daughter, Cassandra and Helen wear riding habits for travel. That was inspired by this 1770s riding habit at the Victoria and Albert Museum. ©Victoria and Albert Museum. Used with permission I also liked the idea of having them wear a fashionable Brunswick traveling ensemble, but I thought that might be harder to … Read more

What’s it really like to wear 18th century clothes?

Like most of us, we thought that 18th century clothes were silly and impractical as we started working on our stories in this time period. And then we saw this video that totally changed our perspective. Let’s just say we’re shopping for stays now.

Historical Fun Facts from A Gentleman’s Daughter!

For character names, I found a set of tax and constable records from 1772 Philadelphia and analyzed them. I was looking at the list and decided David would perfect for him. Cassandra’s name was chosen because I was looking at some historical fiction and was reminded that Jane Austen’s sister was named Cassandra—and in Greek mythology, Cassandra was … Read more

What We’re Listening to: Bardcore

Obviously this style of music and Early Modern English predate the setting of Sisters of the Revolution, but while we were writing the first two books, these medieval style covers of popular songs were posted on YouTube. This one in particular was appropriate for A Gentleman’s Daughter! Not sure what part made us think this? … Read more

Dressing the 18th Century Woman

We enjoyed this video as part of our research. Here’s how an upper class (“better sort”) woman would have gotten dressed!

Dressing the 18th Century Man

Not only is this video informative, it’s spot-on perfect and hilarious. I’m pretty sure it influenced the character of Lord David. Like, a lot. I know we never say this, but seriously: read the comments!