A tie at the Eleventh Hour - the finishing touches

My plans to make a perfect copy of the Eleventh Hour Christian Lacroix tie have been going well. So well I now have a handful of finished ties. I was kind of expecting something to go wrong along the way, but all has gone to plan, which is reassuring.

The last thing I need to do is add some special colour to finish them off.

When the tie first appeared there was a lot of debate and speculation about the colouring of the tie. The blue swirly design has areas of enclosed shapes, which look red, but not quite the same as the tie worn by David Tennant.

As we now know, it wasn’t the same tie, hence the differences between them.


But if you look very closely during The Eleventh Hour, three are inconsistencies even within the episode. This is because there are multiple copies of the tie used.

If you look at the location scenes, there are no red sections to the tie.

These scenes would have been shot first, so it is possible the red areas were not yet painted.

The blue highlights are present.

But if you look at the studio scenes, the red patches are very prominent.

The placement of the blue swirly pattern is also notably different.
If you look at the section below the knot (with the two red patches) the location used tie has this moved over to the right.

When I saw the real tie close-up I found the red patches of colour were actually just simply painted on.
There were also some dark blue highlights on the embroidery.

I needed to match these to make the ties complete.

I’ve kept some off-cuts of the brown silk which I can use to swatch test the red paints on.


There are a number of fabric paint suppliers on the market, and before committing to which to use I went through quite a few.

Some are transparent paints, for painting on light colour fabrics; others more opaque for use on darker colours.

I found the latter to be too dominant, so a blend of the two produced a result I liked.


Now I’ve got a good mix of red I can begin painting.

This is all a bit out of my comfort box, so I just have to trust that the paint will take and settle down to an even coverage.

When the paint is first applied it looks a lot brighter and blotchier than it ends up.

A second light coat evens out any remaining inconsistencies.


Finally I need to add the blue highlights.

Comparing the photos I took of the screen-used ties to my Lacroix, I realise the highlights are in corresponding places, so I use my tie as a guide as to where to put them.

I need a very dry brush and to just lightly rub the paint on. You can see the before and after here.

Here’s the finished tie.

What do you think?

If you’re coming to Gallifrey One this week, look out for me wearing it!

A tie at the Eleventh Hour - the tie making

The making of my ties are now out of my hands, but I’m confident that the guys working on them are the best in the business and are doing it with the same passion I put into my own work.

Almost everything about these ties is a bit of a pain to handle.

First the ties have to be cut. As a long experienced tie maker, they have pre-made patterns to use for all common sizes. Luckily they have one which is just the job.

The card template gives the cutter the shape he needs to cut. The window inside this is the finished visible face of the tie.

This was positioned over the embroidery, referencing my Lacroix tie which I left them as a guide.

The ties are made in three pieces: the front leading up to and including the knot; the tail which has a partial repeat of the embroidered design; and a joining piece between the two.

Here they are, all cut and ready to make-up.

The ends of the tie are lined in red silk, and I provided them with some suitable fabric to use.
This is machined in place before the three sections are joined together.

The ties are then folded along the length, pinning them together at the seam. The seam is then hand-sewn together, leaving a short opening at each end.


A strengthening stitch is added at the end of the hand sewing to stop it accidentally tearing. This is on the original tie, and has been replicated in a red thread to match.

It took a couple of weeks for the ties to be made, but I now have the first one finished and it looks FAB!

I still have some work to do, which I shall do soon.

A tie at the Eleventh Hour - finding a tie maker

So far I’ve gone through the process of making a vector-based trace of the Christian Lacroix tie and had it embroidered into suitable dark chocolate brown fabric.

Now I need to make them up into ties.

I have absolutely no experience on making ties, and the thick embroidery isn’t likely to make it easy, so I’m gonna find a proper professional company to do the work.

Through some fabric weaving contacts I’ve been given the details of a company that will fit the bill.
They do massive runs of thousands of ties for major high street names - and on the other end of the scale will hand make ties in short runs with minimum quantity.

I’ve called and spoke to their boss, outlining what I wanted to do, and it is something he would be more than happy to take on.

I’ve arranged to go down to visit their workshop after the new year and personally brief the job over. I’m keen to get a little insight into the tie making process.

Chatting to the boss I quickly realised that the Doctor Who connection was piquing his interest and a number of staff are excited to see what I will be bringing along to show them.
It seemed this will be one job everyone wants to be involved with!

I found out that although the 10,000 run jobs are where they make their money, the little one off commissions are what made their day-to-day production that bit more interesting and enjoyable.

For now the fabric is sitting in my room, and every time it catches my eye it makes me smile.
I can’t wait for thew new year and to see the ties taking shape.

A tie at the Eleventh Hour - the design

After seeing two of the original ties from The Eleventh Hour at the Doctor Who Celebration, I’ve been inspired to have a go at making my own, as close to the real deal as possible.



The ties were copies of the original Christian Lacroix tie worn by the Tenth Doctor.

The blue swirly pattern, which is part of a woven pattern on the original, was recreated by embroidering the design onto brown silk fabric and then making it into a tie.

I’m lucky in that I have an actual Christian Lacroix tie, abet in a alternative colourway. Nevertheless, the design is the same size and weave, so I can use it as gospel to match to.


The first thing I did was to scan the tie in using my desktop scanner.

This had to be done in sections, which I stitched together in Photoshop.


I also needed to scan the reverse of the tie so I could catch the sections of the design that wrap around to the back.

Once this was assembled into a single file I then imported it into Illustrator where I could trace the edges of the design to make a vector based file my embroider could use.

It took a bit of jigging around for the embroider to make it work, but finally she broke if down into manageable sized sections to stitch which once joined together create the full design.

I also needed to provide the embroider with a lay down to show how to place the artwork on the fabric.

I used a section of fabric to plan it out, and cut some paper so they laid diagonally across the width of the material.
I laid my Lacroix tie in place and traced around its shape.


Next I put the tie under the paper and traced the design to show how it fits in place.


I then passed this to the embroider to help her place the design on the diagonal and with enough space around it to cut the finished tie.

We didn’t know how well it would work or how hard it would be to make the fabric up into ties, so we sewed half a dozen to give me some spares in case of problems.

Here’s the finished embroidered fabric ready to be made into ties.
I’m very pleased with the result, and it’s made my Christmas getting it done so well.

Check back and see how things progress.

Doctor Who Celebration - wardrobe trailer

Fans of the costumes on Doctor Who had a treat in store with the extensive exhibition, as well as the Wardrobe Workshop where you could meet members of the costume department.

But one little gem tucked away in a corner of the main hall was an original wardrobe trailer used by the costume department.
This was one of the big green buses you see loitering around when location filming is taking place.

Its plain exterior hid the treasure trove of costuming contained inside, and once you did get inside - there was only space for a dozen people at any one time - there was not restrictions to rifling through the racks and having a good nose at the contents of the hangers.

Just inside the door is a sort of office area, with benches on each side where sewing machines could be set up for use.

On the walls were a variety of continuity photos from the filming. Beyond this area were the costume rails. They roughly went in season order down one side, and back up the other.

Above the rails are tags, which once you looked closely didn’t always relate to what was below.

Amongst all the monster and supporting players costumes, there were some choice items for die hard Doctor fans.

Most of the costumes were pretty standard off the peg clothes used during the Tenth Doctor’s era.

But the Eleventh Doctor items proved to be the real treasure trove.

A total of three Donegal tweed jackets were on show.

One was on a display mannequin at the far end, along side an ironing board.

One the rails was another plain Donegal, plus the heavily distressed, burnt and torn version seen in The Pandorica Opens and The Big Bang.



Next to that was a number of Paul Smith shirts in burgundy and blue. One of the burgundy shirts was dirtied down to accompany the distresses Donegal jacket and another was a replica.


Speaking to the costume staff, these were made when original shirts were becoming thin on the ground, although none were used in the end for main shoots, though they may have been seen worn by stunt doubles.


The Tenth Doctor was also there, and you can see what I found over on the Coat Blog.

The final gem was the replica Christian Lacroix ties made for The Eleventh Hour.

These have the blue swirls embroidered on with the reddish patches.



Two were here, one in pristine condition, the other torn and distressed.




It was jaw-dropping to discover the red patches on the tie are just fabric painted on by hand. I’m sure we all thought there were sections of red fabric appliquéd on, but as is often with film and tv work, the simplest solution is often the best.

It was quite inspiring to see the ties first-hand.
I might even have a go at making my own. Hummmm.

Louise Page - when is tie four not tie four?

Over the past couple of weeks Louise Page, costume designer for the entire Tennant era, has been sharing her recollections of the ties worn as part of the Tenth Doctor’s costume.

We are currently up to Tie Four, the ever popular swirly or Christian Lacroix tie.

Today over on the Suit Blog we have heard how this tie was her first choice for Tennant’s swan song, since it meant so much to Louise and David alike.

But the opening episode of Matt Smith’s first season proved to be a problem, as there was only one of the Christian Lacroix ties.

Louise now explains how she handed over to Ray Holman and the way a replica had to be made to allow for the subsequent rough treatment the tie received.

Thanks to Kevin Coppa for giving the interview clips the polished look, and enormous thanks to Louise Page for sharing her memories of dressing the Tenth Doctor with us all