DIY Shoe Repair: Resoling American Duchess Shoes

About 5 or 6 years ago I bought a pair of secondhand American Duchess 18th century latchet shoes off Poshmark, the Georgiana style, one of their very original designs from around 10 years ago. The leather soles started to separate from the shoe after a very intense day competing in the 2022 San Diego Comic Con Masquerade. Of course I put them away in their shoe box and promptly forgot about the issue until I wore them to a photo shoot in February 2024.

Fast forward a few months, I have another event I need to wear the shoes to, so what better time to try my hand at at-home shoe repair! This is my first time ever resoling shoes myself, so disclaimer, I am not a professional cobbler. I have my shoes resoled by cobblers all the time because repair & rewear, make do and mend, loved clothes last. Seriously, I have a pair of chelsea boots that are over 10 years old that I've had professionally resoled every year or so because I wear them so much. 

This is just a fun do it yourself attempt I wanted try simply to see if I could.

How it started. One sole completely fell off ( and I misplaced it) while the other sole was partially detached.

Since I misplaced the second sole, I needed to make a new leather sole. I traced the remaining sole with parchment paper to get a rough pattern.

I transferred the parchment paper pattern to sturdier butcher paper, using Wonder Clips to hold it in place while I checked the edges and made adjustments. 

Once I was happy with my pattern, I cut out my new leather sole with some thick veg tan leather that matches the weight and thickness of the original sole.

The heel of the sole is tapered, so I carefully skivved my leather sole to match.

The trickiest part was applying contact cement to all the right spots on the shoe so there's strong coverage but not glue peeking out. And then of course lining up the sole when attaching it.

Quick tip: If you're using contact cement, these plastic spatula glue spreaders are the best. Just flexible enough and once the glue dries, you can just peel it off and reuse them. 

Contact cement needs strong contact over 24 hours while it dries, which for a shoe, was the most unknown territory for me. I ended up using some cotton twill tape to wrap around the shoe to hold the sole tightly to the shoe uppers. And for good measure, a c clamp at the instep with a piece of scrap leather to avoid leaving any marks.

So did DIY shoe repair work?

These 18th century shoes held up for a full day of pirate adventuring on a replica 18th century tall ship HMS Surprise where I wore my Pirates of the Caribbean 1740s Elizabeth Swann cosplay!

Photo by Mark Edwards Photography

Ways to Style a Linen Coat

 Living in the San Francisco Bay Area means being ready for 50 degrees in the morning, 70 in the afternoon, and 60 degrees in the evening. The advice I give friends and family visiting when they ask what do I pack for a trip to San Francisco is: wear layers. 

Naturally, I love coats and I'm almost always wearing some type of outerwear whether it's a jacket, puffer coat or oversized wool blanket (trust me on this). 

So when Son de Flor reached out to gift me one piece of linen fabric clothing from their collection, I immediately picked the Victorian Coat in Natural Linen*. Their pieces are all made with OEKO-TEX certified linen, ethically made in Lithuania.

The neutral beige linen color is different from other coats I already own. It's light weight enough for summer coat or to even fit into a suitcase when traveling. I styled it above with the linen gingham two piece skirt & top set I sewed two summers ago. The swingy wide skirt on the coat means that it flares out nicely when worn over skirts & dresses. Plus the length will match most midi length dresses. Accessorized with Saint Savoy Riviera swing dancing shoes in Quicksilver color and my Meri Meri woven Bunny Basket as a purse. Yes the coat has pockets!

As a costumer and cosplayer, I love having versatile items in my closet for a closet cosplay. A nice swishy coat immediately made me think of that infamous scene in the 2005 Pride and Prejudice where Mr. Darcy walks across the foggy sunrise towards Lizzy Bennet. 

 

 

How did I do with my hand flex in this Mr. Darcy cosplay? I styled the Son de Flor linen coat here with an oversized linen Banana Republic shirt and wool Uniqlo pants.

And of course who else is more iconic with an oversized long khaki colored coat than street urchin Eponine? I've cosplayed Eponine a few times before but I was always missing this coat factor.

 

 

Les Miserables Eponine cosplay wearing the Son de Flor Victorian Coat*, an antique cotton corset cover, a cotton skirt I dyed & sewed, a veg tan leather belt I tooled & dyed, and Christy Dawn's Victorian inspired Dawn Boot.

Thank you Son de Flor for gifting me this beautiful linen coat that will be a staple in my closet. The Son de Flor summer sale* runs through June and you can use code ADRIENNE5 for an additional discount on top of sale prices!

*affiliate link