Series ten finery - blue brocade waistcoat

Filming on series 10 continues a pace, and Peter has been seen on location wearing a variety of new costume pieces in varying combinations.

The one for me that catches the eye the most is a Victorian-style ensemble in range of quality silk and velvet fabrics.

The coat, in black velvet with a light blue lining, is a strange semi frock coat cut with revere lapels.

Underneath is a even older period-style royal blue brocade waistcoat with a distinctive stand-up collar.

I’m already working on my version of the coat, but in the meantime I’m going to have a quick go at the waistcoat.

The cut, with the stand-up collar is a little unusual and does not feature in any of my vintage pattern books, but I did find an image of a similar garment online for reference. Interestingly it’s also made from a very similar fabric.

I devised my own pattern, using a basic waistcoat for the body and working a set in collar until I got the right shape. It came out surprisingly small in the end.

The fabric for Peter’s waistcoat, I gather, came from a shop in Soho called Misan Fabrics, but there was only ever a limited supply which since it was bought for Doctor Who, has long since gone.

However, just down the road at another shop often frequented by the Doctor Who costume designers, I stumbled upon a fabric you’d be forgiven for mistaking for the screen-used stuff.

I had fully worked up the waistcoat on calico before cutting the brocade cloth, so it was a simple job to apply what I had learnt to the finished prototype.

The pockets are very straight forward - just a horizontal welt, so I was able to use pattern cutting I had done for other garments here without any adaption.

Some of my prototype is guesswork for now, so I have just used a simple navy blue satin for the back.

No point over complicating things we I don’t need to.




Since I had the fabric, the next thing to do was track down the buttons I’d need. They aren’t anything real special - just a small back plastic 4-hole button with a narrow rim.

The buttons for the accompanying coat had come from The Cloth House on Berwick Street in London’s Soho, so I figured that was worth a look.


It didn’t take more than a minute to find them, and looking at them they are the right ones - screen-used!

The best part about buying them was getting the little calico drawstring bag with the shop’s initials on it!

I’d love to hear what you think of the waistcoat it’s been quite a fun little project to do.