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.

Burgundy velvet - client photoshoot

Here are some great shots of one of my clients wearing his new burgundy velvet series nine coat I made for him.

He took them at a castle near where he lives, giving it a feel of Heaven Sent, one of his favourite episodes.

Hope you like them.

Burgundy velvet - photoshoot TEASER

One of my clients has been out with his camera getting some great photos in his new burgundy velvet coat I made him.

I’ll be posting the full pictures on Sunday evening, but for now, here’s a little teaser to whet your appetite.

Bon appétit!
Or should I say
Guten Appetit!!!!

ZARA Ripped sweater - don’t rip a rip-off!

For those that missed out on the Paul Smith holy jumper, they had an extra life with the TopMan Laddered Crew Neck, which itself became canon in series 10.

Now that that has sold out too, there is another life-line - in the form a a Rpped Sweater from high street retailer, Zara.

ZARA Ripped Sweater

As you can see, it has the same style of holes and some ladders, but not as prolific as the Topman jumper, or the Paul Smith before it.



The overall shape a cut of the jumper is near identical to the Topman version, so in that regard it is a good stand-by while you track down a Topman screen-accurate version.

Given the availability of the preceding jumpers, this may be a good-enough alternative for the casual cosplayer.

It is, however, slight cheaper than the Topman jumper - and radically cheaper than the Paul Smith - which is always a good thing for the wallet!

Burgundy velvet - the full works

This week I delivered a rather nice example of my replica burgundy velvet Capaldi coat.

The client really wanted to all out on getting the coat made as absolutely authentic as possible, so he provided his own screen-accurate Holland & Sherry velvet, as well as the correct shot twill lining.

The screen-used cloth is not the cheapest option when it comes to velvet, so can add nearly half the price to the cost of making the coat.

The buttons are again the screen-accurate real horn, with the matt red cuff button from the original shop ray Holman got his from.
My client provided his own shiny button for the other cuff.

This client is a chest 38, so it snugly fits my mannequin, showing of the fit and cut to its absolute best.

The problem sometimes can be making a coat to fit a client, and still keeping true to the appearance and proportions of the original we are trying to replicate.

A taller frame will inevitable elongate the coat; a more stocky frame will widen the silhouette of the garment.Thus neither will look right seen out of context, but on the wearer they are cut for, the fit will carry off the look wanted.

I don’t specifically know Peter Capaldi’s size, but this particular coat certainly feels to be the closest I have made to his fit.

This means the proportion of the lapels and button placements can be their nearest to the screen-worn coats so far.

Keeping a good drape on the front of the coat where the lining comes right to the leading edge is deceptively challenging.

The coat was sent out to the client this week, and arrived safely the next day at its intended destination.

To say the client was happy is an underestimation - he’s been posting his photos to much praise on Facebook and Instagram ever since, with a photo-shoot planned at a castle very shortly.

I’ll bring you the results from that as soon as I can.

TOPMAN Ladder jumper - the last rung

As per usual, it looks like the last of the BLACK Ladder Crew Neck Jumpers from Topman are now sold old, both online and in-store.

Personally I came across a stone colourway in their Hemel Hempstead store, and at the time I saw it they were still available online.

No link I’m afraid, by the time I got to write this, they had gone and Topman had removed the page.

But while the page was up I did download the detail shots of the jumper for reference.

What I will say is that having seen a number of the jumpers together at the same time, the holes and laddering are 100% consistent between jumpers. that is to say they are identically placed and shaped - probably knitted in as a pattern, and are not randomly applied  during manufacture - ie by some mangle that distresses the jumpers on the fly.

So although the jumper in this posting is most definitely not the right colourway, I thin the photos show the holes and ladders to a higher level of detail than the images of the black version.

You can see the holes and ladders towards the bottom of the jumper a lot clearer in the stone version.

Having taken some professional advise, one final point - it should be noted that the jumpers are made of 50% Acrylic 50% Viscose, rather than the high-end wool used to make the Paul Smith jumper which these are somewhat of a rip-off of.

This means they will NOT take to dyes - the acrylic content will just shrug the dye off, no matter what type you use.

So please don’t buy one of these light coloured jumpers thinking you can dye it to black - it just won’t work.

TOPMAN Burgundy Slub Longline T-Shirt

Opinion online seems to be that the dark red t-shirt at the bottom of Peter’s look for the Valencia filming is, like the jumper, from Topman.

They seem to still be available on the Topman website, and presumably inistore.

As ever, catch them while you can!

TOPMAN - Burgundy Slub Longline T-Shirt

TOPMAN Moth Distressed Knit - detailed pictures

Before the images disappear from the internet forever, I thought I’d share with you the official detailed views of the new Moth Distressed jumper Peter is wearing for series ten.

Here is the back of the jumper.

The jumper is an amazing rip-off of the Paul Smith original, but I guess it is sufficiently different to avoid a copyright lawsuit!

And here is a close up, showing the distressed holes a bit better.

I’m kinda surprised no-one noticed it as an alternative the the Paul Smith shirt before it got used in Doctor Who itself.

Moth Distressed - the US name for LADDERED!

If you have missed out on getting your hands on the new hole-ridden jumper from Topman in the UK, there’s a chance you can still secure one - in the US!

An America online reseller still appears to have stock - but just to confuse things they have renamed the jumper as the MOTH DISTRESSED LONG SLEEVE KNIT, as opposed to the original UK name, Black ladder Crew Neck.

If you want to find one I suggest you act soon as they are likely to be sold out before you can say Raxacoricofallapatorious!!!

NORDSTROM - Topman Moth Distressed Long Sleeve Knit T-Shirt

TOPMAN black ladder crew neck

I’ve been reading rumours that Peter is wearing a notable new jumper.

You may remember that from the middle of series eight Peter started wearing an ill-fitting and looking black jumper from Paul Smith.

Full of designer holes it was well over £300 when bought new at their stores and having only been made in limited numbers, was quickly sold out.

it’s not uncommon for other retailers to pick up on new trends and style and produce their own version of garments. This has been useful to cosplayers in the past when it has been possible to find cheaper versions of look-a-like garments in stores two or three seasons down the line.

What appears to have happened is Topman have followed this pattern and made their own version of the Paul Smith jumper, calling it their Black Ladder Crew Neck Jumper, and it is this that has been picked up by Hayley Nebauer for the latest look The Doctor is sporting for filming in Valencia.

I have heavily brightened the cropped image to the left so you can see the holes showing through the deep red t-shirt below.

As is typical for new costume garments, the jumper is already sold out online, but I have been reading that in-store stocks are still around if you are willing to do the footwork to track one down.

At the moment that seems to be the only option.

TOPMAN - Black Ladder Crew Neck Jumper

Doctor Who mag - ANOTHER new coat??

Today I found the latest issue (502) of Doctor Who Magazine on my doormat.

It’s the first issue to feature new imagery from series ten, currently in production.

Not unsurprisingly the cover features Peter in his new costume, alongside Pearl MacKie as new companion Bill and Matt Lucas as returning as Nardole.

As an aside, that TARDIS doesn’t look quite right to me - it looks more like a Tennant’s version than the Capaldi, but I might be wrong.

Now, am I the ONLY person so far to spot that this is NOT the same coat that Peter has been seen wearing so far on location for series ten?

From what we have seen, the new coat is a black velvet frock coat-style, with a light blue lining.

Obviously the coat in this photo is also black with a light blue lining, but looking closer the way the shoulder is catching the light it is not velvet and looks more like a wool coating cloth, akin to the previous navy blue crombie-style coats he wore in series eight and nine.

Furthermore, although it has been covered by the hood of the hoodie, the velvet coat has a revere lapel (where the lapel tip points upwards instead of down) and this coat clearly has a conventional downward pointing lapel with a classic single faux-buttonhole.

The edge of the lapel is also topstitched, whereas the new velvet coat is not.

It’s hard to see the closure buttons, but these do not appear to be the new mother of pearl style vintage buttons and look a lot darker, possibly being the same black horn buttons as on the crombies.

NB: I have massively lightened the image below to pull out some detail to show the buttons and lining.

The lining, although the same colour as the velvet coat, looks to be going to the leading edge of the coat in the same way as in the crombies (the new velvet coat has a distinctive step in the edge of the lining at the was it level).

So is this a new BLACK crombie with a blue lining?      What do you think?

Series 10 filming: it’s alright for some!

The Doctor Who crew are out on location again - this time it looks like they are in Valencia in Spain!

They kept that quiet - until now.

From the press release the BBC have issued, they are filming at the City of Arts & Science Museum for what will for episode two of the next series.

It looks to be a VERY striking building - very futuristic and worth a look.

The release includes a photo of the lead stars - taking a selfie outside the museum!

So, what clues can we green from Peter’s latest costume combination?


Well, he is wearing the new VELVET FROCK COAT with blue lining.

Under this is another new HOODIE TOP, this time in a burgundy colour.

Below that is some form of BLACK JUMPER.

And under that what looks like a new deep red coloured T-SHIRT.

It’s hard to keep up with all these new casual hoodies and t-shirts!

Burgundy velvet - a job in a rush

Blimey, I have been so busy lately.

As fast as I am making stuff I am getting new orders. It’s manic!

The last few weeks I have been engaged on a rush job for a client who needed one of my Capaldi Velvet coats as part of a wedding party taking place very soon.

Though I’d have liked a bit more time to do the coat, it wasn’t impossible to make it in the time allowed, so I agreed to take the job.

Today the client collected the jacket in person and before he did I took  these photos as I was very pleased with he result.

I am using a top quality screen-matched velvet, along with the shot twill lining from the original source.

My buttons are screen-accurate real horn, with the matt red cuff button from the original shop ray Holman got his from, and my shiny cuff button, though not 100% screen-accurate, was seen by Ray and he approved it as a good substitute.

I am very satisfied how the coat drapes and sits. Velvet is a notoriously difficult fabric to work, but through the multitude of coats I have been making lately, I feel I have mastered the manipulation of this cloth.


The design of the coat is simple in its cut, but can be tricky in its assembly.

Keeping a good drape on the front of the coat where the lining comes right to the leading edge is deceptively challenging.

I’m relieved to have competed the coat in time for the wedding, and hope the client enjoys wearing it.