Dacorum College - 50th Anniversary

You may know that once a week I attend college in Hemel Hempstead, where I have been learning hand-tailoring as well as improving my all-round sewing skills.

The college has been going for many years now, and I recently discovered it is celebrating its own 50th anniversary, one year before The Doctor celebrates his.












As part of the look back over the past 50 years, some has put together a series of boards, covering the past five decades.
Each includes some genre series and films, and two of them feature the intrepid Time Lord.

The 1960s

Listed here are: The Avengers, Barbarella, Star Trek, the moon landing, pop art, Berlin wall built, The Monkees, Psycho, Vietnam war protests, Twiggy, The Prisoner, Mods, Rockers, Batman TV show, The Sound Of Music, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Kennedy assassination, Charles Manson, Bob Dylan, Woodstock, The Profumo affair, The Graduate, Civil rights movement, Motown, Mary Quant

Tom Baker scarf - the OFFICIAL replica!

This posting has now been

CENSORED

Bonhams FLASHBACK: 11th May 1991 Doctor Who - The Auction

Over the past couple of years, as well as keeping up to date with the latest costume auctions, I’ve done my best to track back over the various sales held at Bonhams over the years.

Their online records only go back seven years, but one sale I’ve been wanting to find out about was a dedicated Doctor Who sale from 1991.

This week I managed to pick up a copy of the sale catalogue on eBay, and it makes interesting reading.

The catalogue is a very different beast to what we see now.
There are no photographs of the items on sale, and no estimates are indicated.

It is divided into roughly one episode per page, on which all the lots relating to it are listed. One or two publicity stills from the episode are included, which may or may not show the items being listed!

As usual I have separated the items by Doctor era, and you can see the rest of the items here:

Lot 7-59
5th Doctor (1982-1984)

Lots 60-115
6th Doctor (1984-1986)

Lots 116-155
7th Doctor (1987-1989)

Here are just the lots relating to the Fourth Doctor era

Robots Of Death
The Invasion Of Time

The Androids Of Tara
The Creature From The Pit

The Horns Of Nimon - Full Circle

Click here to download a PDF of the catalogue

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.

The Twelve REGENERATIONS Of Christmas

If you regularly follow my blogs, you may have seen The Twelve Regenerations Of Christmas strand that I have been running on the Eleventh Doctor blog.

I have been sharing a mixture of fun things you might have missed; stuff from my archive; and a few new revelations.

As well as new series stuff, I have touched on some classic Who.

Here are the entries of Forth Doctor interest worth look over.

Day four

Since a lot of people would not have seen my original posting here, I shared my childhood scrapbooks.

These were assembled towards the end of the Pertwee era and into the early part of Tom’s.

Amongst the gems on show was my treasured signed copy of the Doctor Who And The Loch Ness Monster Target novel (see right).

Day eight

I took a trip back through all the surviving costume designs I could find for the Doctor.









I found two for Tom – one by james Acheson,; the other by legendary June Hudson.

Day nine

I took a look back at the 1970s BBC vt Christmas tapes that were assembled for the infamous Xmas parties.
One contained a specially shoot skit with Tom Baker and Mary Tamm; another featured a dalek.

Happy Christmas to all my readers!

Wow - another year has flown past - and what a year it’s been!

Photo by Scott Sebring

It started back in January with a once in a lifetime opportunity when I made the Ultimate Tennant Suit. To have the chance to put into practice the actual way the suit was made was an amazing experience. The timing was perfect, as I had a couple of months before started learning traditional hand-tailoring techniques, which I put to great use in making the suit.

Photo by Scott Sebring

I had to follow the suit, and with three days notice ended up going to Gallifrey One in LA!
There I met up with a number of my online friends and many of my readers who had no idea I was going. I also had the privilege of arranging a group photograph with four of my Tennant Coat clients, which was the highlight of the trip.

By the end of April news broke that THE Series Six Shetland Tweed fabric had been found, as well as the Series Five Donegal.

It was like the Tennant Suit all over again: making an iconic jacket in the exact fabric. I was lucky to find the correct buttons and elbow patches to finish it off.

In August the culmination of many month work came to fruition when I took delivery of  my rewoven Tennant Coat lining. I had been searching for years to find a suitable alternative, but finally took the plunge and commissioned my own recreation of it.

The past few months of the year have been taken up with making a popular new garment in my repertoire - the Green Greatcoat.

I spent a while carefully researching the pattern, fabric and construction until I got it just right.

Then in late November I attended Chicago TARDIS, where I entered the masquerade competition wearing a test version of the Colin Baker Six Frock Coat. I won Best In Show: Workmanship for my tailoring – for which I am very proud.

This was one of three coats I had made, the other two were for the wedding of some close friends which is due to take place just before Christmas.

Looking back it has been an exciting year, with more projects than I could have thought to have taken on.

And as the year comes to a close, an even more exciting development is breaking.

More on that in the New Year, but trust me, it’s gonna be worth the wait . . .

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.

Vrooop! Vrooop! Vrooop!

Wednesday this week I had a fun afternoon in London for a change.
It kicked off with a trip to some bootmakers for my Matt Smith series six boot fitting, after which I headed to the West End.

The reason for going was to visit the Cartoon Museum on Little Russell Street, hidden away in the backstreets of Bloomsbury.

They currently have a fantastic exhibition of Doctor Who comic strips through the years, dating right back to its beginnings and coming bang up to date with the current generation of artists.

The exhibition showcases works by the cream of British comic book artists, such as Frank Bellamy, Martin Geraghty, Dave Gibbons, Dave Lloyd, John Ridgway, Andrew Skilleter and Lee Sullivan.

However, my personal favourite piece was an uncredited artwork (see below) done for a annual exclusive to Marks and Spencer!
For me it just fires up memories of the Dalek annuals I read as a small boy, and the Dalek Death Ray ice lollies I would buy from the Toni Bell ice cream man who would frequent the cul-de-sac I grew up in in the 1970s.

The exhibition overall is seriously well worth a visit.

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!

Scarf improvement at The Experience

A week or two back I returned to the Doctor Who Experience at Olympia as I had heard there had been some revisions and additions to the displays.

Most of the additions, naturally, are relating to the current season, but the revisions are mainly centred around Tom’s costume.

When the exhibition first opened back in February, the scarf on display was apparently two of the promotional scarves issued by the BBC during the Fourth Doctor’s era.

The colours and design is pretty good, but it wan’t quite right.

Well now there is a new, much improved scarf on the display.

I gather the scarf has been knitted by a fan who knows the exact pattern and colour match for the yarns.

The garter stitch is much deeper and more noticeable than before.

Further on in the exhibition I spied another Tom Baker scarf which wasn’t there before . . .

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.

Doctor Who Experience - in 3D!!!

I have got an absolute TREAT for you today!

This week I had the opportunity to revisit the Doctor Who Experience in Olympia, and thought rather than just get some more endless photographs of the displays, I would do something EXTRA special.

I know a lot of my readers are in the US, so are unlikely to get the chance to see the exhibition at first-hand.

So what I’ve got for you is the near next-best thing - a walk through the displays - in 3D!!!! Well, one of those panoramic views you can interact with.

Below are the panoramas relating directly to the Fourth Doctor.
You can see all the panoramas
I took by clicking this link

Doctor Who Experience - in 3D

First up is the line-up of The Doctor’s costumes, giving you a real sense of how they are presented.

The Ten Doctors

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.