Doctor Who Festival

Hello, fellow whovians!

Yesterday I went to Day 2 of the Doctor Who festival.

As soon as the first panel was over, I rushed straight to the costumes! After standing in a line for about 20 minutes, I finally got the chance to get up close to the screen used costume variant used for the Magician’s Apprentice and the Witch’s Familiar. I was happy to finally find out that the hoodie worn with this variant is indeed the BLUE variant! 

Thanks, Tristan Maddocks for the photo!

I also had a chance to see those lovely grey check trousers up close.

Moving on from that, I ran to the new velvet variant. Having found the velvet already, I wasn’t to interested about that. I wanted to know three things. First, where the new series 9 lining was from.

Thanks, Tristan Maddocks for the photo!

As you may know, the series 8 lining was quite fragile, and from my own personal experience of handling the lining (and wearing it with my own coat), I can say that it couldn’t hold up to all the action it would need to see on set, so for this reason, as well as the quantity issue, it was changed to a more durable lining that is red shot with black. I have now been given a tip by Ray Holman where this lining has come from, and have now found it.

As usual, if you would like to get some, get in touch!

The other thing I wanted to clear up was the buttons. As you may have noticed, one of the changes for series 9 was the addition of a red button on both cuffs of the coat.

As for the velvet coat, the buttons are actually mismatched, one shiny and one matte!

Ray has also told me where these buttons are from. I have a supply of both matte and shiny ones. Unfortunately, they aren’t available online though!

I was also interested in the new waistcoat worn with the velvet. From promotional pictures, I thought that the waistcoat was a blue colour, and I was shocked to find out it is actually a black waistcoat!

The waistcoat is from T.M. Lewin! After going on their website I have managed to find it! 

While talking to Ray, I managed to catch ModernBoy from instagram for a photo!

I also met with DoctorWhoCollector himself, one of the first clients to receive my Series 8 lining!

I was very jealous to see his screen accurate Paul Smith jumper :-) I also couldn’t resist getting a photo with Ray Holman!

After asking all my questions, it was time for the Cosplay Showcase. After finding out I had got to the final, I walked to the production village. The contest was held by Christel Dee from Doctor Who - the Fan Show. I ended up in the 11-16 age category. She asked me a bit about my costume, and I mentioned that I spent 4 months looking for the exact lining, then custom dyed it. It was for this reason, along with most of the screen accurate items, that I won the contest in my age group!

And if it wasn’t good enough for Ray to approve the costume, I also got it approved by the man himself - Peter Capaldi!

‘Till the next time :)

The Check Trousers

Hello, fellow Whovians! 

You may have seen the latest episode "The Girl Who Died". Today, after seeing a tip off straight from Ray Holman, the current designer for Doctor Who, I took a long journey to find the exact trousers worn in this episode! 

We saw the first pictures of the trousers back in May, during filming -

At that time, people where so busy identifying the t-shirt worn by Peter Capaldi, that no one really bothered to look for them. After Ray Holman himself confirmed the shop the trousers where sourced from, I quickly popped over to see for myself.

The place the trousers were sourced from is a small shop called Mendoza Menswear.

Mendozas was founded in 2005, and they take style choices from the late ’60s & early ’70s. I have been told they may have been visited during the time of the 11th Doctor.

Once I entered, I was greeted by a man named Scott. Once I explained my reason for coming, he was very happy to show me the EXACT trousers bought! 

He pulled the trousers from a vast range of different patterns - 

The trousers are made from a wool blend, and a woven with a yellow and "peach" check pattern - 

Although the trousers are already cut to the exact fit pattern, the pockets were altered by the request of the BBC to be at an angle. There was also a 1 inch fold added to the bottom of the trousers.

These trousers can be yours for 180 pounds, but the quality and fabric of these trousers are worth every penny! But from what I have established, these trousers are from an "exclusive range", meaning they will eventually sell out for good, so if you're toying with the idea of getting them - hurry up! 

As these trousers are not on my priority list at the moment, I will be hopefully be getting the fabric separately, and then when I have the money, with the kind help of Mendoza, get them made into the trousers!

I was also shown a sample book, which was shown to the BBC during the time the new look was being decided. We'll have to see if anything else worn on screen might be from this pile!

Also, as a coincidence, the fabric used for the trousers was also used to make a coat! Imagine Peter Capaldi wearing the two together! 

The Velvet Coat

Hello, fellow Whovians! 

I recently bought the latest issue of the Doctor Who Magazine, as I had heard about there being an interview by Ray Holman, the Costume designer for the 11th Doctor, and now for the 12th Doctor. It was a very interesting article, but what I was most looking forward to was the scans of fabric included in the sea of pictures. Or, rather, looking forward to the labels stuck to them. Once I bought the magazine, I ripped open the packaging, and flicked straight to the interview. at the bottom, I saw two samples, a burgundy and a green, of velvet that later was confirmed by Ray himself to be the very velvet used for the new velvet coat seen in pictures.

As the sticker in the picture suggests, the samples are from Holland and Sherry. After googling, I found out that it was not far away from W Bill, where many other Doctor Who fabrics have been sourced from over the years. I was in the area, so I decided to pop in.

Located just next to the shop where “Kingsman: The Secret Service” was filmed, it was quite an easy find. I rang the bell, and came up.

Once I walked out of the lift, I asked the people that worked there if they could show me the sample of the velvet. I was given their book of luxury velvets, and looked inside. 

At first, I didn’t quite believe I was looking at the right fabric, as it appeared way too dark, but after moving it around in the light and comparing it to some photos I had with me, I understood that it was indeed the right velvet!

The fabric itself is made out of a blend of 71% Cotton, and 29% Modal, a semi-synthetic fibre. Modal is used alone or with other fibres (often cotton or spandex) in items such as pyjamas, towels, bathrobes and other things. 

To the touch it is very soft, unlike some other velvets I had seen before this, and I'm sure is a joy to wear once made up into a coat! 

I might be getting a length soon, but until then, I’ll have to do with the samples :)

Dying Batches!

Hi, fellow Whovians!

Just a quick post - 

I’ve been busy getting batches of the lining ready for people, and just wanted to post some pictures for you!

The suppliers I have been getting the fabric from has put the entire remainder of the fabric in reserve for me, and I have bought the last metres of the purple variant, so there is still a good amount of the fabric left, so if you would like some, don’t be afraid to email me! :)

The Time Lord's Shirts

Hello, fellow Whovians! 

Yesterday I had the chance to pop in to Budd Shirtmakers in Piccadilly arcade, not far from where many of the Doctor Who fabrics are bought from.

In the shop, I spoke to James, the man who cut the shirts for Peter Capaldi! He had been telling me that when Peter first came in for his fitting, he had only just been announced as the Doctor, and was very shy and quiet when having his fitting. 

At first, there were about 4 shirts commissioned. When filming began, it was obvious they would need loads more shirts, so they ordered in lots of 4 or 6. James told me that everyday a shirt would be damaged or ruined, so shirts would be sent in for repairs, and often on a short notice! Often shirts were damaged beyond repair, so new shirts would have to be cut. 

A bit later, James took out THE bolt of fabric from which Peter's shirts were cut from!

It's a very thin and luxurious fabric. It's a cotton called Soyella, woven in Switzerland, and is very soft to the touch, almost like silk. After feeling the fabric for a couple of minutes, James proceeded to get the patterns out for Peter's collar.

As you can see in the photo, Peter has a longer collar than normal, ending quite sharply at the tips. These are the templates they used -

Once we finished chatting about the white fabric, James got out probably the coolest scissors I've ever seen, and cut out a long big swatch for me.

I am planning to buy myself a couple metres for commemorative purposes, as well as get a shirt in the same fabric, with the Peter Capaldi collar. If you want to ask for a swatch - don't hesitate to ask me :)

After finding out all I could about the white shirt, he told me that they had also made some other shirts for Peter, but using fabric brought to them by the costume designer. 

Yes, this is the polka dot shirt from Kill the Moon. 

It is believed that the shirt is a black and white shirt. In actual fact, the fabric used is a printed design of white spots on a navy background. 

The fabric itself is a silk twill, woven in Italy, with the design being double printed on. The production team ordered 4 of these shirts (notice the crossed out "Capadil"!)

I think the reason the BBC went through so much trouble to have this fabric printed out, and have the shirts custom made, only to be used for 5 minutes of screen time is because the episode didn't really demand many new costumes, as most of the space suits were reused from previous seasons, so to spend the budget, they had to literally "waste" money on something - hence the shirts. I have a supply, so if you want some - please contact me. 

I do have one last present on the way for me, but I'll have to wait another week for it to arrive... 

Stay tuned! 

'Till the next time :) 

The Magician's Lining

Hello, fellow Whovians! 

Last week I wrote about the fabrics used for the 12 Doctor’s coat, tried to find the best alternative, as well as gave a little insight into the progress of my costume. As I promised, today’s post is about the lining! 

Most people believe that the lining is a plain red. In actual fact, the lining is a quite unique weave of two colours - red and blue! If you look closely in the photos of Capaldi in his costume, you can see the pattern woven in. 

The costume was revealed in January, and the costume itself would have been made slightly earlier. Because of this, much like the coat fabric, the lining is out of stock. Back in June, after many hours of walking up and down 29 fabric shops (yes, I counted), I managed to find 2 shops that used to sell the fabric. According to the one of the shops, the fabric was woven in Italy, then sold to John Lewis for a while, until the remaining stock was bought up by the first shop. I have not tried to contact John Lewis, so cannot validate this, but it’s an interesting idea anyway. I bugged the sellers about samples, but they had nothing left of the fabric. 

The second shop also could not provide me with any samples, although I did have an interesting chat with the sellers about the Doctor Who fabrics, and was told that designers Louise Page and Howard Burden were regular customers, and would often buy things from them. When I asked exactly what they had bought, the sellers shrugged their shoulders, and said “way to many things! We can’t remember!”. So with this information I left.

Recently, I found the time to visit those same shops, but this time to try and find the fabrics from the 12 Doctor’s new tartan trousers, but more on that later :) While looking through the fabrics in the other shop, where the lining fabric was sold, I saw something familiar in the distance. I walked up closer to check… “No!” - I thought to myself. “Can it be?!!”…

… And, surely, I was not blind! In front of my eyes where two variations of the lining! In a purple and green colour variant! 

I ran back to get the seller, and asked him whether this was the lining. He confirmed it, saying that they were all made at the same time. I instantly bought as much as I could. As I, honestly, wasn’t expecting to find anything, I had a small amount of money with me, so I used that to buy 1 metre of each colour. 

After stroking the fabrics for 5 hours, I then moved on to contemplating whether it were possible to dye these fabrics. I had a pack of yellow dye lying around, so I decided to try it. And it worked perfectly!

As this test worked perfectly, I then proceeded to buy red dye. And, well… It turned pink -

 I then ran back to the shops to get a darker shade of red. And… That didn’t work well either -  

After this, I had lost all hope of dying the fabrics. Until a friend suggested trying a mix of a few colours. I adjusted the formula for this, and after I did a test swatch, and after being happy with the result, dyed the rest of the fabric. And it came out like this - 

Perfect! Red and blue, just like the original!

As I only had a couple metres, I instantly rushed back to the shop to buy the remaining stock.

As you can see, comparing it with the photo, it matches up quite well!

As I have a fair bit of the fabric now, so if you would like a couple metres, or a commemorative swatch to stroke for 5 hours (it’s such a lovely fabric!), then please do get in touch, and I’ll do my best to help! 

‘Till the next time :)