The Doctor at Collectormania Milton Keynes

This past weekend saw a big convention in Milton Keynes. In attendance were not only Karen Gillian, in her first convention appearance since finishing work on Doctor Who, but ALL five surviving classic series Doctors.

There was one other Doctor there – my friend Matt Elliott, the stunning Matt Smith look-a-like.

While he was there is met up with a mutual friend who now owns my original prototype Green Greatcoat.
It was a no-brainer Matt would get to try it on!

The coat is a “large” and Matt is a “medium”, so it’s a little big for him – though irritatingly it looks brilliant on him regardless!

Prototype Green great coat FOR SALE

This coat is now SOLD!

I’ve made a couple of Greatcoats now, including a new one for myself, so I am looking to sell my original prototype.

Made from top quality dark olive moleskin, it is a sturdy winter coat and would keep you warm as we head into the darker, colder nights.

The sizing is as follows:

Chest
40 to 42 inches

Sleeve Length
25 inches

Overall length
44 inches

Across shoulders
21 inches

If you are interested in putting in an offer, drop me an email to tennantcoat@me.com

Greatcoat - finished!

I had to skim through the making of my Greatcoat, but at last it is now finished and ready to wear!

I previously posted a quick iPhone photo, and I did promise some better images, so here goes.

I’m very pleased with the result, and I can report it is the most comfortable coat to wear.

I have given it very generous pocket depths, and it’s really nice and snug to put your hands in the vertical pockets.

I decided to keep some of the tailoring on the collar down to a minimum so it can be worn as a reversible collar – ie it can be flipped up at the back.

Greatcoat - and skip to the end

As you may have been reading, I’ve been having a bit of a roller-coaster couple of weeks since just after  Let’s Kill Hitler was shown.

Doing my best to keep my mind off things, I have immersed myself in finishing off my Greatcoat.

As I mentioned before, I haven’t documented its full creation, but here are a number of photos of it at various stages.

Stage 1 - Body panels
First I made the panels for the fronts and the back. The pocket were made and set, and the storm vents on the front and back were sewn in place.

As a quick check I pinned the shoulders together and put it on my mannequin (see left).

Greatcoat - work starts

WARNING

The following entry contains information some reader may find extremely upsetting and distressing, which you may want to skip.
This I have put under a spoiler button.

I have only now been able to think back about these events, but I want to share them for anyone who understands my love of cats.

So in the continuity of making my Greatcoat, Let’s Kill Hitler has just been screened, and I now know everything I need to know in preparation to make my coat.

So as The Doctor checks his watch, he sees it’s time to start cutting cloth!

The fabric I have sourced is a superb heavyweight cotton moleskin, comparable to the Malabar I use for Tennant Coats.

Since I have worked the pattern out carefully, I can plough straight through to get everything cut and ready for making up. You can see me cutting the fronts (see right) and the backs (see below).

There are lots of other bits to cut, so once I have them all done I can look at beginning to put it all together tomorrow.

Now, it was at this point that I came down on Monday morning to make breakfast and feed the cats (we have four). Everyone was milling around, trying to catch my eye for some food - except our ginger tom, Chester, who was sitting on his favourite cushion in the lounge, and was frankly looking a little odd. He slowly turned his head towards me as I came into the room, as if trying to say ‘I don’t feel well’. . . .

The story of Chester: 

Our concerns quickly grew as he showed no interest in eating and was becoming increasingly listless and limp.

This was not the best day for this to happen - I am NOT blaming him - it just happened to be a public holiday in the UK and my local vets was closed for the long weekend. We knew he needed urgent medical care, so we rushed him to the Royal Vetenry College not far from us, where they gave him the care he needed. Having been told we had got him them just in time, we left after an hour or so, confident he was being well looked after and reassured he would be nursed back to health. We returned home, shell-shocked.

Trying to prevent my mind from running away with things, I refocused on making the coat, but I was not in a frame of mind to document the work. I think you can forgive me just this once.

My work progressed well until late afternoon we had a call that we should return to the RVC. There we found that Chester's condition had deteriorated and he was now in an incubator, hooked up to ECGs and the like.

We discussed his condition further with the doctor caring for him, and it was not good news.

The diagnosis was that he had a blocked bladder. This affects male more than female cats, and often in overweight cats. Natural crystals that form become united with loose cells from the intestinal track, and these block the narrow pipework leading from the bladder. Once blocked the levels of electrolytes in the cat’s system go through the roof, causing secondary organ failures.

It was starting to look as though he would have a slim chance of recovery, and if he did he would be severely affected, requiring a long recovery period. While discussions were heading in only one direction, a nurse interrupted us, asking for us to return to his bedside right away.
In the time we had been chatting he was starting to show some signs of awareness and his heart rate notably increased as I positioned myself in his eyeline. His ears twitched as I said his name and he was trying to raise his head.
This was almost more heart-rending than the discussion we had just been having. We HAD to give him the chance he deserved, so requested his care continue through the night and we would convene again in the morning, unless his condition changed.

Now dazed and perplexed we returned home to a subdued house. It was difficult to sleep and impossible to think about the coat now.

We were awoken at 1.30am by a call from the RVC asking us to return as Chester was starting to deteriorate at an alarming rate. There by 2am, we could see it was becoming increasing desperate. His blood pressure was unreadable; his heart rate low; his breathing shallow and slow. The difficult decision had been made for us.

At 2.30am, wrapped in a warm fur blanket, his paw in my hand and his eyes looking deep into me, he slipped painlessly away, only five years old.

We returned home, Chester still wrapped in his blanket.
Not knowing where to put him, I placed him on top of his cushion in the lounge.

In the morning I returned to find that a orchid, which sits on the window ledge just above where Chester sat, had dropped a flower. It had landed on top of him.

Chester was buried in our garden, the base of the hole lined with he cover from his favourite cushion, along with some of his personal things. I covered him in a towel and placed the orchid flower on the top.

Farewell my little boy. We shan’t forget you. Promise.

Work on the Greatcoat was now very much on hold.

Greatcoat - pattern testing

So I have found myself an ideal pattern on which I can base my Greatcoat, but you might be interested to read how I got to that point.

College finished for the summer term back in July and because I am on an adult learning class we don’t start back until after the main juvinial students have settled in. This was going to leave me around 12 weeks without college support! Something I greatly value.
It kick starts projects; gives me incentives to maintain them; sets short-term deadlines to meet; as well as the help and advise from a knowledgeable tutor.

Before college broke up, she was encouraging us to join some one day classes running during the summer break, mainly about patchwork and machine embroidery, so not really any direct help to me. I suggested holding a one-day sewing workshop with no specific agenda, so we can catch up and maintain continuity with our ongoing projects. A lot of my classmates agreed this was a good idea, and our tutor said as long as eight of us signed up it would run.
Well, enough did and on 23rd August we had the class – perfectly timed as it was only a few days before the return of Doctor Who. My plan was to use the five hours of it to nail this pattern ready for cutting.

My tutor recommended referring to my copy of Metric Pattern Cutting For Men, which has proved to be a reliable source of pattern essentials. I have used it before when I was designing the collar to the Ultimate Tennant Suit with good results. I do prefer to use my period cutting guides, but this would still be a good place to start.

An outer garment needs to be that bit larger around the middle, to allow for a jacket or suit to be worn underneath. So it’s worth following this block rather than enlarging a jacket.

Greatcoat - pattern research

I am now well into researching a pattern for my Green Greatcoat.

Some of you may recall that I found a Cutters Guide from the 1890s (see right), which contained instructions on the construction of a basic lounge jacket block.

This has severed me very well, and was the basis for both the Ultimate Tennant Suit AND the recent Shetland and Donegal Tweed jackets I have made.

Well, I have now found a much later (1949) Cutter’s Guide which covers  a number of garment disciplines, from clerical to court; from Scottish to garments for the tropics! (see left)

But of particular interest is a section regarding British Navy, Army and Air Force uniforms and greatcoats, including the instructions for how to cut them!

THIS is what I will use to create a basic pattern from which I can extract what I need and adapt to create the Green Greatcoat design.

Below is a list of the patterns in the book which are of interest to me, some more than others, but here they all are.

Greatcoat - reference material

So, you’ve guessed it, I’m gonna have to make myself one of these green overcoats! How can I resist?

But where to start?

Well I’m already a couple of steps ahead – when I first saw the coat I did recognise that it was a moleskin fabric. It just has that certain look that only moleskin has. I’ve done my research and sourced the perfect fabric to use. What I’ve got to do next is devise a suitable pattern.

Now, I’m not expecting you to remember this (but bonus points if you did), but back in February last year I went to a surplus costume sale at Angels, the UK’s largest film & TV costume supplier.

You can read my full report here:

Angel’s Retro Costume Sale

It was a total bun fight with rooms filled with shirts or hats or trousers or ties – all of which were not much above the quality of the lesser stock seen in a charity shop. Precious little had an Angels (or Berman’s) label in – and nothing was attributed to any actor or production. It really could have been anything.

However, there was a room which did interest me, one which contained all manner of military uniforms and greatcoats. The only problem was finding stuff of a decent size (most seemed to be for a chest 36 or smaller) or that still retained its original buttons (most had been ripped off and were bare).

Green herring? (as opposed to the red type)

Well here’s a funny thing.

I’ve been looking at the possible inspirations behind the new Green Greatcoat, and I came across this little curiosity.

I found it on the website for June Hudson.

 Design © June Hudson, 2010

It’s a speculative design by the legendary costume designer  – the goddess of Who clothing in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

It is described as:

Coat design for
the Eleventh Doctor
(Matt Smith) 2010
Speculative design: a green, military-influenced overcoat for Matt Smith as the Doctor. Produced in association with a class at the University of Redlands - Designing for TV Science Fiction.
May 2010.

Now this pre-dates Matt’s season six costume fittings by about a month!

You can see the original on June Hudson’s website:

June Hudson : Recent Designs

Could it be that June’s influence is still felt today – I very much hope so – or is it just an amazing coincidence?

Greatcoat - where did THAT come from?

So, the first episode of Season Six part two has been shown, and we’ve now finally seen the new Green Greatcoat in action.

With it being mainly set in pre-War Germany, I think we were all expecting (certainly I was) that given its military style and appearance, the coat would be picked up somewhere along the line as part of the plot.

But no – Matt popped up wearing it from his very first shot! No explanation. So what was all that about?

Greatcoat - first official look

It’s less 48 hours now until the second half of Season Six kicks off, and we will finally get to see a much anticipated addition to The Doctor’s wardrobe: the Green Greatcoat!

The very first hint and glimpse of it appeared in March this year, when Matt was spotted filming scenes for what we now know to be episode 12, Closing Time.

But what has tasken us by surprise from the episode previews of Let’s Kill Hitler, is that Matt will be wearing the new coat right from the outset (see below).

The BBC have also issued their promotional image to launch Season Six part two (see below) and the new coat is featured prominent there too.

At last we are now get a proper look at the coat, and I must say I am liking it even more.

OMG -The Doctor has got a new COAT!

Filming on the new series was back on location this week, and we got the very first look at a brand new addition to The Doctor’s wardrobe – a Green Overcoat!

The crew had been filming in a Cardiff department store for what is expected to be an episode from the latter part of Season Six, with James Corden looking like he is returning to play Craig from last seasons The Lodger.

It looks like the Cybermen may be back, with Matt holding what looks like a re-imagining of the cybermat, not seen since 1975.

Luckily some keen Who fans were around to snap some pictures, and these initial images give us the first hint of the rear of the coat, which has a very distinctive yolked back, which seems to hang separate from the body of the coat.