Nadine is wearing the 1909 Robe de Toile, or “Linen Dress” along with the 1905 Chapeau de Pâques or “Easter Hat”. The dress has a “large cape collar” that is embroidered in a flower motif design. The color combination used by Agnes Sura on her Bleuette dress featured on the cover of the Summer/Fall 2002 issue of Doll Costumer’s Guild inspired me to use a similar color combination on my own.

New Irish linen was used for the dress and chapeau and plaid silk for the bias trim. The chapeau has ruched vintage ribbon around the outer edge. The cocarde is from silk with hand dyed ostrich and emu feathers.

Bleuette ~ 1909 Robe de Toile

La Semaine de Suzette ~ 1909 Robe de Toile

1909 Robe de Toile ~ Upper Detail

1909 Robe de Toile ~ Collar Embroidery Detail

1909 Robe de Toile ~ Belt

Bleuette ~ 1905 Chapeau de Pâques

La Semaine de Suzette ~ 1905 Chapeau de Pâques

Capeline pour les Sorties du Soir – a cape for going out in the evening. The pattern states that it is an “informal headcovering, but extremely useful”. It’s a very simple crochet pattern using basic stitches.

For my Bleuette, Nadine, I made the capeline up in cotton crochet thread. The pattern suggests that if the “ball” stitch around the hood seems to complicated for a younger girl, she could use the “lace” trim (shell stitch) that was used around the rest of the cape instead, and then trim the left side of the hood with a ribbon bow. I chose to do the “ball” stitch AND a silk ribbon rosette on the left side of the hood.

Bleuette ~ 1905 Capeline pour les Sorties du Soir

La Semaine de Suzette ~ 1905 Capeline pour les Sorties du Soir

1905 Capeline pour les Sorties du Soir ~ Hood Detail

1905 Capeline pour les Sorties du Soir ~ Front Detail

In 1908 a pattern was offered for Bleuette to dress as the French Breton character Bécassine that appeared in La Semaine de Suzette.

I was astonished that I couldnt find an appropriate green fabric in my vast vintage stash! So I had to break down and buy some new green fabric. The red plastron fabric had to be new also. But the black bands on the costume is vintage velvet. I was able to get her bonnet, apron and guimpe from a large vintage handkerchief of very fine linen. Vintage lace was added to the apron hem.

I made felt chaussons or shoes for my Becassine costume. These would be more of a “house shoe”. However, the pattern also suggests making a pair of “festival shoes” from one of your fathers old leather gloves. These shoes were to be embroidered. Maybe another time….

The wool felt for the shoes came from an old hat. The tops of the shoes are trimmed with vintage cord that has a tiny thread of metallic running through it.  And finally, my favorite part of the entire costume…the stripe stockings! I love, love, love the stripe stockings! Made from an old childs t-shirt.

Bleuette ~ 1908 Costume de Bécassine

La Semaine de Suzette ~ 1908 Costume de Bécassine

Bleuette ~ Pintucks and Lace on Apron

Bleuette ~ House Shoes and Stripe Stockings

My Bleuette, Nadine, models the very popular and important Costume de Quartier-Maître or Sailor Dress. The 1906 pattern was the first nautical costume offered for Bleuette.

I chose to do this outfit in the traditional dark blue with white color scheme. The fabric used for this outfit came from a vintage skirt of fine wool, while the jacket collar is made from a lovely vintage pique. The anchors are embroidered in red silk floss. Vintage mother-of-pearl buttons were used for the jacket closure. I had a wonderful tiny antique anchor pin just waiting for an outfit such as this.

One suggestion the pattern gave was to embroider the name of a ship on the beret. I chose to work the ship name L’ETOILE (The Star) in silk floss. A red silk cocarde finishes off the beret.

Bleuette ~ 1906 Costume de Quartier-Maître

La Semaine de Suzette ~ 1906 Costume de Quartier-Maître

1906 Costume de Quartier-Maître ~ Beret

1906 Costume de Quartier-Maître ~ Back Collar Detail

1906 Costume de Quartier-Maître ~ Jacket Front Detail ~ Antique Pin

Nadine is wearing the Robe de Maison, or “At Home Dress”–the first pattern offered for Bleuette. The doll arrived wearing only a chemise and so was in need of a full wardrobe. The pattern states that since the most important thing is that the new recipient of Bleuette will want to show her to their friends, a dress for “at home” is necessary. This is the reason for the first pattern. The pattern further instructs the child to ask their mother or big sister for the key to the closet that holds the fabric remnants.

My Robe de Maison is made from a lovely piece of vintage checked cotton. The finish is very smooth and fine, just like the cottons from Liberty of London. I found one tiny scrap of beautiful vintage lace that just fit around the neck, and so vintage tatting was used to decorate the sleeve and hem ruffles. Crisp vintage silk taffeta ribbon worked well for the rosettes and sash.

Bleuette ~ 1905 Robe de Maison

1905 Robe de Maison ~ La Semaine de Suzette

1905 Robe de Maison ~ Upper Detail

1905 Robe de Maison ~ Lace Detail

1905 Robe de Maison ~ Lower Detail

Bleuette ~ 1908 Costume de Mariée

My premiere Bleuette, Nadine, wears the Costume de Mariée. I actually finished it at the end of 2005, but had never done the jupon or slip that went with it, nor had I ever gotten the right pair of shoes to go with the dress. Now, 2½ years later, it is finally a complete ensemble. I worked on the embroidery off and on over an 18-month period. I think my eyesight got worse during that time! LOL

The wedding dress is made from silk shantung embroidered with silk floss that is a shade or two lighter than the fabric. The silk floss was a joy to work with and it has a beautiful sheen to it!

The guimpe is made from some lace that someone gave to me so I’m not totally sure if its vintage, but if not, it sure does pass for it! The little piece used for the collar is vintage.

The jupon that I just completed is made from the same tissue-thin silk that I lined the wedding dress with. I used a piece of a favorite vintage lace that I have been saving for some time. It is rather wide for Bleuette, but worked just right for the slip since it can be wider there, and I didn’t want to cut it up. Perfect!

A disintegrating antique headpiece and a piece of vintage tulle found new life as Nadine’s headpiece and bouquet. As always, the entire ensemble was sewn by hand.

1908 Costume de Mariée ~ La Semaine de Suzette

1908 Costume de Mariée ~ Upper Detail

1908 Costume de Mariée ~ Bouquet from antique headpiece

1908 Costume de Mariée ~ Embroidery Detail

1908 Costume de Mariée ~ Jupon