And the winner is.... Romanadvoratrelundar

This year is looking to be very successful for the costumes I have been making.

Back in February I won Best In Show for my Ultimate Six Frock Coat, and I have now learned that a number of my other clients have been strutting their stuff and winning competitions along the way.

I made Claire a Romana Pink Frock Coat outfit in February, and soon after she attended a regional convention called Coast Con 36 in Biloxi Mississippi.

It’s a small general sci-fi fantasy event attended by approximately 1,200 to 1,500 people over the course of the three days.

This convention is not specific to any one sci-fi genre, so there were people from many different sci-fi platforms.

Claire attended with her little brother who dressed as a mini Fourth Doctor alongside her as the companion, which made for an interesting combination!

When he wasn’t taking The Doctor role, her brother was inside their Dalek acting as operator!

Homemade from the original plans by their grandfather, their Dalek is a curious combination of classic and new series styling, in a mid-1970s colour scheme ala Genesis Of The Daleks, with Destiny Of The Daleks grenades around the shoulders.

Also at the convention was a superb replica K-9 - the perfect foil for Romana.

Claire had already got her cuff boots and long white scarf as well as a suitable blouse to wear.

I made her the Pink Frock Coat and matching Pantaloons with braces to match.

Part of the convention involved a costume competition, which had several prizes up for grabs.
There was Male/Female hero, Male/Female villain, and group as well as a Best In Show.

They competed and won the Group division, with Claire’s brother inside his fill scale Dalek. There was much discussion about giving them the Best In Show prize too, but the award was a six-foot sword which is not the most appropriate prize for a child to win so a $40 cash prize was given instead.

Claire’s thinking on entering the competition was that it would be a good opportunity for her little brother to have some fun and that if we won something that would just be lagniappe.

Claire told me about her costume:
As for my costume, I absolutely love it. It fits perfectly and it looks amazing. I am easily recognizable as Romana from Destiny of the Daleks. The workmanship is fantastic and I am extremely pleased with the overall result. My favorite part of my costume is the coat itself. It is the best fitting coat I have ever owned which I find astounding since you never saw me in person and did all of it off of measurements sent over email.

Replica 4th Doctor costumes on eBay

This past year I’ve spent a lot of time working on screen accurate replicas of the Tom Baker season 16 Frock Coat, as well as preparing to make a proper replica of the Romana Pink Frock Coat as seen in Destiny Of The Daleks.

I’m by no means the first or last person to have a go at either of these costumes, and if you cast around there are alternative cheaper options out there.

So I thought it timely to take a look at what can be bought for a more modest budget.

 At first glance these coats look pretty good, but at closer inspection there are a few shortfalls worth noting if you are looking for something more screen accurate.

Ecru brown long trench coat

Having worked on this coat extensively this year, I can immediately see a number of serious shortcomings in the cut of this coat. Some are quite picky, but others are more obvious.

• One of the outer pockets is missing! The lower left-hand pocket has been omitted

• The lower pockets have been confused, and large flap-less pockets are added at the back

• The waistline pocket is too big and crashes the buttons. It should be close, but not that close. The buttons could be moved, and should be in a slight diagonal line, converging at the bottom

• The piping around the edges of the lapels and pocket flaps are not the right colour. It needs to be a real dark brown (almost black) rather than a mik chocolate colour

• The buttons on the back are set too far apart, and the back vent is exactly central, where it should overlap and be off centre

Romana Frock Coat (blue version) - a special visitor

If you follow my Tennant Suit Blog you will have seen I recently had a very special visitor - Doctor Who costume designer Louise Page.

She came to see me so we could chat all things Tennant about the iconic suit and coat she designed for the Tenth Doctor.

Well while she was here, and before the Romana coat was sent off to the client, I showed it to her.
The coat it is based on was a personal favourite of hers from the classic series, so she instantly recognised the inspiration behind it.

To complete a faux Fourth Doctor look I threw my old scarf - hand-knitted by my mother back in the late 1970s. It nowhere near screen accurate, but of immense personal sentimentality.

Romana Frock Coat (blue version) finished!

I’ve been working so hard on this Romana Fock Coat, I clean forgot to take anymore pictures of it being made! Sorry.

But what I have for you today is the finished thing, all sewn and ready to wear!

The lapel buttonholes are for show only, and are not cut though. This is how the original coat was.

The buttons were specially made using the same velvet as the collar and trim.

The coat is designed to be double breasted and it has been cut to work properly in that regard.

The outer pockets are as the original coat, with one in the waist-seam on each side, and a larger pocket below.

What I have done though is make the waist-seam pocket real! On the original coat the flap is just for show - it has no practical pocket underneath it.

I couldn’t make it too deep as the opening is quite narrow. It would serve well as somewhere to keep a mobile phone!

Finally, here is the lucky recipient of the finished coat!

Romana Frock Coat (blue version) collar and lapels

So far on the blue version of the Romana Frock Coat I have been commissioned to make, I have assembled the body and sleeves, and prepared the underside of the lapels with the necessary pad-stitching.

My next task was to create the lining with the lapels and collar attached.

Once this was done I could then stitch around the lapels and down the fronts, before sewing around the collar.

I paused halfway through just to check the lapels were going in okay, which they were.

The collar is designed to lay flat around the shoulders (see right) but is intended to be worn with it raised with the scarf underneath (see below).

After this it is the slow plod to completion, with the hemming and sleeve linings to finish it off.

I do have the trimming around the lapels and down the front edges to do as well, but this shouldn’t be too much trouble.

The coat is starting to come together a look someway finished.

Romana Frock Coat (blue version) cutting and assembly

After several months of on-off work I am now finally ready to start cutting some fabric for this cornflower blue version of the Romana Frock Coat.

Cutting has been pretty straight forward.

The only point worth showing is the front panels which have been aligned with the centre front seam on the grain (see above, left). The lapel is similarly positioned (see above, right). When the bust darts are sewn the side will swing into place.

Assembly has been done quickly and simply, with the front panels faced with horsehair interfacing and the large lapels pad stitched all over (see left).

It isn’t too long before the body has taken shape and I can put it on a mannequin (see below).

Romana Frock Coat (blue version) calico fittings

I’m working on the blue version of the Romana Frock Coat for a client’s wife, and so far I have made the first calico test for fitting to see how my pattern is coming together.

I have kept it fairly basic, just blocking in the main body shape; hem length; pocket positions; sleeve length; and bust fitting (see right).

The proof now will be in how well it fits. I am ideally aiming for the front edges to butt together, defining the centre front for me.

Well, I got some photos back from the first fitting and there’s some good new and some bad news!

Romana Frock Coat (blue version) pattern grading stage two

So, my college tutor has been an enormous help with my initial efforts at pattern grading the Romana Pink Frock Coat up in size.

I am making a special cornflower blue version for a client’s wife, so I now need add a bust allowance, something I’ve never needed to do before!

I have been given the measurements needed and with the guidance of my college tutor we now need to incorporate these into the existing pattern.

First thing to do is trace off the front panel onto some paper, and cut off the lapel at the centre front line.

The remaining part leaves me just the chest, around the underarm and up to the shoulder.

The bust point is then estimated, being relatively central in the chest area. We are looking to create the capacity here.

I then cut horizontally, passing through the bust point; and then from the shoulder without breaking the shoulder seam, down through the bust point again and on to the waist seam.

The cut pieces are then manipulated to add capacity as shown (see left, bottom).

A sheet of pattern paper is laid carefully over the top and the outermost shape is traced off (see right).

To then create the bust shape, the slice to the underarm and waist are converted into darts, converging on the bust point, but stopping an inch short.

Romana Frock Coat (blue version) pattern grading stage one

I'm still working on my Tom Baker coat - but things have been a little slow of late as I’ve been distracted with a number of other projects - Ultimate Tennant Suit ... Season Six tweed ... Six Frock Coat ...

One of them has also been a commission from a friend to make a proper Romana Frock Coat for his wife!

Like a few of my other commissions, the request has been slightly left-field from the original: rather than in PINK it is to be in a cornflower blue; plus I need to make it for a larger dress form - all of this is easily done, but it just takes a bit of attention and application to make it work.

Firstly the fabric is fairly easy.

I am using my new supplier who I have been working with on the Six Frock Coat. He can dye short-run wools for me to match my exact colour requirements.

I then need to adapt my pattern block to fit the shape I require.

To recap, the work I have done so far on my Tom Baker coat involved creating a block true to Lalla Ward’s size from the pattern trace I took. I then went through a couple of rounds of pattern grading to bring it up to a male form size.

Lalla Ward was literally a size zero and the Pink Frock Coat she wore was tiny. For this commission I will need to create a block to the same vertical dimensions, but increase the girth by grading it accordingly.

My starting point where I will jump back in will be the original Lalla Ward block.

I had already done an initial enlargement of the block by using focal points, from which I projected the pattern shapes larger.

Luckily for me when making the Tom Baker block, Lalla Ward is fairly flat chested, so there was negligible bust allowance to remove, but now I need to go the other way and build it in to create a proper bust shape.

But before I can do that I need to size the block up further.
This time round my tutor favours a slicing and dicing technique.

Here is how we did it.

Season 17 Frock Coat - pattern grading

Things seem to be going well so far on working towards making my Tome Baker season seventeen Frock Coat.

So far I have traced the Romana Pink Frock Coat and cribbed the individual pattern shapes.
My next step is to unite them into a single block from which I can work.

My college tutor had been a little skeptical of how well I could trace the pattern from a made-up garment, but when she saw what I had produced, she was impressed. The proof though would be seeing how well they matched up when drawn as the block.

Remembering how I drew my Lounge Jacket Block, I started with the back and worked my way around the body to the front, before adding the skirt panels below.

To my satisfaction they came together, forgive the pun, seamlessly, and made for a very unified and conjoined block.

The parts of the pattern I concentrated on were the sleeve opening, the waist and hemline. Keeping these in alignment is important. The finished result certainly looked and felt right (see left).

Season 17 Frock Coat - plans

After making a number of frock coats recently (the Five Coat, and a Bespoke one for my client Ian in Australia), my next goal is to make a Season seventeen Tom Baker Frock Coat.

It may prove to be a bit of a long-term project as I am running a number of other items at the moment, but I’ll get there!

My route will be a bit round the houses, but the journey will be worthwhile as I will be learning some new skills along the way, specifically pattern grading.

A while back, when I gained access to the Original Six Frock coat and costume, I was also able to see and take photos of the Romana Pink Frock Coat as seen in Destiny Of The Daleks. (see below)

It was a surprising costume piece to look at, as it wasn’t entirely what I was expecting. For me, Lalla Ward’s Romana was always feisty character, but a with a delicate and playful sense of fashion. The Pink Frock Coat has a very girly look to it, so I was surprised to find it was made from quite a coarsely woven wool.
Interestingly this matched a couple of the fabric types used on the Six Frock Coat, so if I found a match for it I would kill two birds with one stone so to speak.

This, however, is only the beginning of my plan.