Suit Jacket - pattern cutting

As you may have been reading over on my Five Costume Blog, I have been attending a College Course to learn some tailoring skills and improve my work quality.
My plan is to apply these skills to a variety of projects including an Inverness Cape over on my new Three Costume Blog.

I also intend to use the course to help kick-start my Tennant Suit work, which has rather lapsed of late.

The last work I did on the suit jacket was way back in May 2009, when I cracked the Faux Flap Pockets. (see right). That work is still valid, as too is the design I did for the Box-Pleat Breast Pocket I had done earlier (see below).

However, the one thing I was having issues with was the body shape of the jacket itself.

Being self-taught has got me a long way, but doing a fitted jacket was proving to be challenge that was stretching my skill too far. My plan is to gain the knowledge I need form the course to rectify this and crack making fitted jackets!

I discussed this with my tutor, Nicola, and she explained that I needed to first create a ‘block’ for my jacket.

A block is a term used for a non-pattern specific shape used for fitting, from which usable patterns can be easily derived.

She explanied to me the best way to arrive at my block.

Firstly, we need to draw everything in pencil at quarter-scale. From there we make up, again at quarter-scale, a thin cardboard three-dimensional test which checks it all meets up at the seams correctly. Once that is done, I can then work to full size to check sizing and fit. Finally, we can plot the position of the seams for a given jacket style to cut the pattern I need.

The Five Doctors

No, the title of the posting is not a reference to the classic 20th Anniversary special from 1983, but to collectively the Third, Fifth, Sixth, Seventh and Tenth Doctors!

Confused?

Well, I have been having a lot of fun recently, slowly expanding the costume pieces I do.
To start with, they all appeared together in the original Tennant Coat or Tennant Suit blogs, but I have since started building separate blogs to cover the costumes of each Doctor, so they are easier to find and digest.

So far I have added a special blog for the Fifth Doctor to cover the Five Trousers and Five Coat I have been working on.
I also added a blog for the Sixth Doctor, to pull out the information about making my Six Trousers.

This past week I have added the Seventh Doctor blog as I have been working on a replica of the Hanky that goes around his hat (see left).

Now I am adding the Third Doctor to the portfolio! This is because I am starting working on making the Inverness Cape he is often seen wearing.
I am doing it as part of the college course I am currently on.


So start checking out my other blogs as I slowly add to them.

Launching a new blog!

This week I am launching a new blog to run along side the Tennant Coat and Tennant Suit blogs.

As part of my research into making the Tennant Suit, I practiced making trousers before embarking on my Tennant Trousers by first doing a pair of Six Trousers, and then a pair of Five Trousers.

The Five Trousers (see left) were a real hit with readers, and before I had even finished the first pair I was taking enquires from people keen to commission me to do them a pair, which I have now done a few times and you can order there HERE.

I have subsequently expanded to include both designs of trousers worn by Peter Davision.

I then started making a Five Coat, which again I have had enquires for commissions - even without anyone (including me) seeing the finished result!

With all these Five costumes I have been doing, as well as some in the pipeline which I have yet to announce, I have decided it would be better to dedicate a blog to all this new costume work.

I have therefore created fifthdoctorcostume.blogspot.com

(see right).

On it you will already find pooled together all the Five Trouser and Five Coat entries to date, and in future this is where I will be posting.

When milestones are reached, I will cross-promote from this blog so you will know when it is worth taking a look!

You will also now find a permanent link to the new blog in the right-hand sidebar, along with any other new blogs I create for future work.

Please feel free to subscribe or join the new blog - it gives me some idea that at least it is being read and it is worth keeping up to date.

Suits you, Sir

Recently I have had a number of enquires about the trousers I have been making based on the classic series costumes. I have therefore decided to make them available for commission.

If you are interested, please get in touch by emailing me at tennantcoat@me.com.

Five Trousers - season 19 design

Screen accurate copy of trousers as worn by Peter Davison in his first two seasons.

Fabric is bespoke printed by Spoonflower and has been designed to accurately match genuine garment. Although never seen in full on screen, pattern has been based as closely as possible to the trousers as seen in Planet Of Fire.

Trousers have high V-split back; zip and hook & eye fastenings; two side pockets; buttons ready for braces (braces not supplied!); lined from waistband to pockets.

£200

Five Trousers - season 21 design

Made to a pattern to match the trousers seen in Planet of Fire, these trousers are made with a fabric design not previously made available. This design of trouser was also seen recently in Time Crash, where Peter Davison wore the pair that had been let out for Colin Baker during the regeneration scene in Caves Of Androzani.

Trousers have high V-split back; zip and hook & eye fastenings; two side pockets; buttons ready for braces (braces not supplied!); lined from waistband to pockets.

£200

Six Trousers - season 22 design

Made from authentic woven pillow ticking and dyed to just the right colour as described in Making Phoenix Fabric.

NB: trousers shown are made directly from the California Pants pattern and are not strictly screen accurate. Trousers made will be to a revised screen accurate pattern.

Trousers have zip and hook & eye fastening; two side and two back pockets; buttons ready for braces (braces not supplied!); lined from waistband to pockets.

£180

TERMS AND CONDITIONS: All trousers are made-to-measure to dimensions supplied by buyer. If mutually agreed, a calico test to check fit is available at £20. Payment of 50% deposit on commission, balance due within one week of completion of garment, and once cleared, items will be shipped. Payment by PayPal preferred, or if in UK, cheque is acceptable. Shipping within UK is free by recorded delivery, outside UK items will be sent FedEx, payable by buyer. No liability can be taken for incorrectly taken measurements supplied by buyer, but all efforts will be made to ensure your complete satisfaction with your order.

Ten Trousers part two - making the backs

Having successfully finished the fronts of the trousers, it’s time to turn attention to the backs.

Back fitting

First thing I need to do is put some reinforcing interface around the areas that will be sewn. These are around the back pockets and a small fitting dart that goes between the pockets and the waistband.

Looking closely at the GAP trousers I find they did this in one piece, so I copy the shape and cut my interface in a similar way (see right). Because the interface does not cover the entire area of the fabric I am stiffening, the edges are cut with pinking shears to avoid a line being visible from the right-side of the finished trousers.

I then iron the interfacing in place and sew the darts (see above left). I don’t bother to trim the seam allowance of the darts because they are so small and it may only weaken the trousers. I press the darts flat from the right-side (see above right).

Back Pockets

I am now ready to do the back welted pockets. Setting welted pockets like these has become a regular thing for me, but this time I need pay a little more attention to detail; the welts are a little finer; the pinstripes means cutting needs to be more precise; and because the trousers are not fully lined, the pocket bags will be exposed and will need to be much neater and have no exposed raw edges.

I have extensively covered welted pockets before when I was making my Calico Tennant Coat, the Alcantara Tennant Coat and Six Trousers, so I will skim over a few things and try to focus on only the unique aspects of these pockets in this entry.

The pieces I prepare are two interfaced welts, folded and pressed in half; one interfaced pocket facing; and a button loop made from pinstripe fabric (see left). I have carefully cut and pressed these so pinstripes will be visible on each.

I then mark the position of the pocket (see below left) and sew the welts on the right-side, flipped upside-down (see below right).

I then cut between the two welts (see above left) and snip to the ends of the stitching in a Y shape at each end (see above right).

Ten trousers part one - cutting and fronts

At last, the day is here when I start cutting the JoAnn fabric (see right) and begin making my suit!

I got the fabric from the US through the kind help of Bob Mitsch, who managed to track down the last few remnants of the fabric on behalf of a number of cosplayers. Thanks Bob!

Looking back a few months I would have been terrified to start cutting the trousers, but now I feel I have gained enough experience and knowledge to do them with confidence.

I will break the entries for the trousers into three parts:

Part 1 - cutting and making the fronts

Part 2 - making the backs

Part 3 - sewing the legs and waistband

So,

Part 1 - cutting and making the fronts

I am doing the trousers based on the lifted pattern from the GAP trousers, and plan to follow this as close as possible.

I bought a pair which were the same cut as the screen used trousers and are a perfect fit for me (see right). This means I don’t need to adapt or change the pattern, aside from a couple of real minor tweaks.

I carefully took the trousers apart, making a few notes as I went.

I only took apart the unique pieces, such as the fly; one front pocket; one front and back and the waistband. I kept one front pocket and one back pocket fully intact as reference.

I then made a paper pattern from the fabric pieces (see left).

Making My Five Trousers

Now I have got my Five Trouser pattern sorted out, with its high conjoined waistband, I can set about making the real thing.

I ordered two yards of the Spoonflower printed fabric, and I quickly discovered that it was only just enough to make the trousers.

Cutting

I want to get the fall of the stripes just right, so I found some decent reference pictures and had them on hand while I was cutting the cloth (see below).

This particular picture (see left) was helpful in working out the scale, as I could count the stripes between pocket edges and work it so they would fit to the width of the trousers I was planning to make.

For the fronts I noticed how the wider stripe cluster runs up the front fly, so I position the pattern so it falls in the appropriate place.

Once I have cut one side from the pattern, I then turn the cut piece over and line it up to the stripes below.

I can then cut a perfect mirror copy to make sure the trousers are symmetrical (see below).

The only downside of ensuring the stripes fall correctly is that you cannot cut the pieces as economically as you would like, and even the excessive areas of selvage are not as usable as I would like because again the smaller pieces still need to fall correctly on the stripes.

As a result I found I needed every inch of the two yards I had ordered – it cannot be done in one yard!

The Return Of Steampunk

Over on my Tennant Coat Blog I showed off the 1903 Singer 27K sewing machine I use for all my work.

Though it was not this actual machine, it was a hand-crank Singer 27K that I first learnt how to sew when I was around ten years old.

I was always interested how something that could essential only stitch in a straight line could produce such wonderful three-dimensional and tactile objects, such as the rag dolls my Mother would make for me and other family members in the late 60s and early 70s. I still have a clown made for me as a Christmas present when I was about five years old in 1971, and a girl in petticoats my Mother made for herself (see right).

If you want to read more about the Singer 27K that I use,
you can download a PDF of the original manual HERE.

For years I was resigned to the fact that a straight line it did, and a straight line it would always do.

Six plus Ten equals Five

I am slowly working towards making my trousers for my suit, and gaining experience at each stage.

I have come up with a game plan to get me to the Tennant Trousers I need to make:

STAGE ONE - done

The Six Trousers were an exercise in following a commercial pattern and so I learnt the basic techniques, having never made any before. The cut was very loose, so quite forgiving if I got it a little wrong. I did a button fly, as I am a dab-hand at buttonholes and didn’t want to get distracted at this stage with learning how to set a zip.

STAGE TWO - done

The GAP Trousers I bought and have deconstructed have given me the definitive pattern I need to work to. I have copied the pattern and studied how they go together, thought I need practice setting a zip fly.

STAGE THREE - current project

The Five Trousers need to follow the same pattern as the Six Trousers, although the legs need to be more tailored, like the GAP straight-cut. I will therefore use the top part of the Six trousers, and blend them into the legs of the GAP pattern.

STAGE FOUR - the final goal

Tennant Trousers. Once I have completed all the above I will be skilled and ready to make the real deal, working to the pattern of the GAP straight-cut trousers I bought, using the Jo-Ann fabric.

Mind the GAP

I have now formed a game plan for getting my Tennant Suit trousers made!

I have already learnt the basics for making trousers by making a pair of Six Trousers (see left), which was certainly a worthwhile exercise. They were made to a Laughing Moon Mercantile pattern and the cut was quite loose, so very forgiving if I was a bit out with the fit.

The result was not a perfect screen-accurate garment (the real thing should have a plain waist band, not a V-split; there shouldn’t be the back brace; the real thing does not have back pockets), but the exercise was in following a pattern designed by someone else, and learning the skills and principles of how trousers are formed.

In the meantime I have positively identified the originating trousers for the Tennant Suit as coming from GAP (see right). Full details can be found in Revelation of the Trousers.

Finding these opens a wealth of possibilities, not to say a few dilemmas.

I could track down a pair in my size, meaning I wouldn’t need to make my own - but then I wouldn’t have a matching jacket. The only way round that would be to find more pairs of the trousers and deconstruct them to make the jacket, in the same way Louise Page’s costume department had to do for the original suit.

That could take a long time and I would need to find the largest sizes possible to give me as much width of fabric to make the jacket.

On the other hand, I now know the fashion house (so to speak!) that made the trousers, and since it is a major high street retailer it would seem probable that they still use the same basic pattern for the trousers, though using different fabrics.

According to the label, the Tennant Trousers are a “Straight Cut” a (see left).

With that in mind I went to Oxford Street and the GAP store there to take a look.

Spoonflower

Spoonflower.com is a great little website!

In a nutshell it gives you the ability to have printed bespoke fabric to your own design, and then order as little of as much as you need.

Whereas most fabric manufactures require exorbitant set-up fees and minimum runs enough to cloth an army, Spoonflower has none of this (assuming you can design and create your own patterns), and the cost of fabric really isn’t that much, considering.

Spoonflower are based in a former sock mill in downtown Mebane, North Carolina USA and were formed in early 2008 by Stephen & Kim Fraser, who spotted a gap in the market for bespoke fabric printing.

Luckily Stephen (a self-confessed internet geek) used to be the marketing guy for another North Carolina company called lulu.com, who were doing print-on-demand book publishing. It wasn’t a massive leap to move to print-on-demand fabrics, and before long they were up and running.

Spoonflower, in case you wondered, is an endangered plant native to North Carolina that grows around the edges of bogs.

Blue Suit - exhibition reference pictures

One of my readers was recently at one of the regional Doctor Who exhibitions where one of the Tenth Doctor’s blue suits is currently on display.

It was an ideal opportunity to take a closer look at the various pockets on the suit, so with a certain amount of cheek, asked if it was okay to get some close-up shots.

Amazingly they said it was okay, so here are some great reference shots showing a few things you don’t get to see, even if you’re inches from the suit.

A few of the pictures are a bit out of focus, but this was due to the haste in getting them before the exhibition staff changed their minds!

Either way they give some interesting insights into the making of the costume.

The Outer Pockets

The Breast Pocket

The Inside Pockets

Notice how the inside pocket has only one welt, and breaks into the lapel facing.

The Trousers Pockets

The Cuff Buttons

Notice there is a button missing, probably lost during the rough and tumble of filming.

Me And My Tennant Suit - Lisa

Our latest Tennant Suit owner is probably the most unconventional to date. Lisa has been finding her’s on a budget - and managed to pick up some prestigious admirers along the way that I think we’d all be jealous of!

PROFILE

Name: Lisa

Age: 26, Eight days older than Matt Smith

Location: Dudley, West Midlands, England

Favorite Doctor: Ten, David Tennant. Though in fairness I’ve only seen One, Eight, Nine and Ten so far.

Maker of my suit: Honestdragonchina on ebay, and various purchases from charity shops

Colour of suit: Brown with cream pinstripe, brown with blue pinstripe, blue with shadow stripe, and navy with red pinstripe

Lisa got her first Tennant suit in August 2007 following a trip to see David Tennant switch on the Blackpool Illuminations. “The Doctor Who museum on the Promenade had hired people that dress up as the various Doctors to walk around the museum, the queues and the switch on arena before and during the event.” she told me, “One of those people was dressed like the Tenth Doctor, and I thought it was the coolest thing I’d ever seen! I was rendered speechless with excitement, and he’d walked past me several times before I found my voice to ask for a photograph.”

“I’d brought my coat a month or so prior from honestdragonchina. I’ve always had a thing for long coats, be it the X-Files or The Matrix, etc. But it was definitely meeting the paid cosplayer in Blackpool that made me want to dress up like a TV character.”

But her first point of call was not the internet: it was to the high street and local charity shops. “The first suit I compiled from various charity shops was on a self imposed deadline, and an illness-imposed budget. I’m unemployed because of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. Three weeks after Blackpool, I was going to Cardiff with someone I’d just met at the Switch On. The brown trousers with blue pinstripe were the first find, then the unofficial converse in low red and high black, then the brown tie with blue and shadow hollow squares on it. I found a shirt that fit and the elusive brown pinstripe jacket the day before my holiday! It cost £15 for the whole outfit, but it was money well spent, as during my Cardiff holiday David Tennant came out of indoor filming specifically to see it.”