Another TWO alternative ties on eBay

If you missed out on the recent eBay auctions of two St George ties, an Armani and a Thomas Nash – then it’s worth noting that keeping an eye on the new listings can turn up some pretty good near-best alternatives.

Personally I found a Paul Smith (see left) tie that was a dead ringer for Tie Eleven in my Tie Index (see right).

Well, one of my readers had some similar success with another from Ten’s wardrobe.
He spotted this tie on eBay.

Aquascutum

Thomas Nash tie -target acquired!

Confession time.

When I wrote about the latest couple of ties to appear on eBay, I knew who had bought one of them – me!

I decided that although the Thomas Nash tie,was only seen in one episode (The Idiot’s Lantern, see left), it is a distinctive design I wanted to add to my collection.

I only stumbled across the listing while looking around for other things, and how anyone else found it with the title dr who prop tie, I don’t know!
But find it they did and it had risen to over £200 not long after it started.

I held back, and didn’t bid until the dying seconds of the last minute of the auction, and put in a killer bid. Luckily for me it only pushed the price up £5 from where it was, and the tie was mine!

My PayPal account was notably lighter though!

Replica Daniel Hechter Tie -Magnoli Third Incarnation!

Last month saw the release by Magnoli Clothiers of a third, and much improved version of their Time Lord (now Hechter) Tie (see below).

Here is my review of it,
plus the previous incarnations leading up to it.

Since David Tennant took control of the TARDIS console back in late 2005, his fashion sense inspired a  generation of cosplay enthusiasts to dress like him.

In the early days there was the Honest Dragon Suit and Coat, which could be easily accessorised with a suitable pale blue shirt and the right coloured Converse All Stars.

The one slightly more elusive item was the correct tie.

One tie received a lot of exposure, having been worn in David Tennant’s first photocall in July 2005 (see right).
It was not worn in his debut story, but was seen in the Christmas Red Button story, Attack Of The Graske; before appearing in the Season Two opener, New Earth. It was subsequently worn twice more in Series Two.

We later found out was a Daniel Hechter tie (Tie Two in my Tie Index) but this was not known at the time.

Idiot's Lantern tie on eBay!

Only last week, a friend of mine secured a pair of GAP Trousers from the French version of eBay.

Prior to that we saw the sale of a Giorgio Armani and a St George by Duffer tie on eBay.
The Armani tie achieved US$144.50 and the St George GB£112.

St George by Duffer - Tie Ten in Tie Index

Well, if you missed that chance, maybe you were more lucky when another St George tie popped up last week.

From the same seller as before, it had a similar £3.50 opening price, but only scraped £92 when it closed on 21st April following a frantic three-day auction.

Most of the bidding was on the last day, when it saw the sale price nearly quadruple!

GAP trousers –see, it does still happen

The Ultimate Tennant Suit I made recently resulted in a fair bit of interest regarding the original GAP trousers.

I have had a number of emails from people who greatly appreciated knowing where the fabric was sourced from, stating that all they needed to do now was find the requisite number of pairs to make themselves a similar suit.
Annoyingly however, they were only a single-season garment from way back in 2005, so there is zero chance of walking into a branch now and finding a pair – even on their reduced to clear rail.

The only realistic option is eBay – which is how my client, Kevin Coppa, came by so many pairs himself. It was a lot of patience, and many hours trawling listing that eventually paid off.

And just to show it was NOT just a one-off, another client of mine, Jonathan Le Targat from Paris, has recently found another pair, this time on the French eBay site (see below).

Tie: Utopia!

Just to prove that it does happen, there has recently been a couple of ties on eBay which are identical to the ones worn by the Tenth Doctor!

Giorgio Armani - Tie Seven in Tie Index

Last month a Giorgio Armani Tie (Tie Seven, in my Tie Index) came up (see above). Based in San Francisco in the US, it had a $4.99 starting price, and ultimately sold for $144.50.

The description was as follows:

You are bidding on a beautiful Giorgio Armani (white label) necktie. Although pre-owned I am very confident in saying that it is in near mint condition without even the most minimal of fraying at the tips. It has been worn 2-3 times maximum and treated with the utmost care in a smoke-free home.

The base color is rich chocolate brown with blue undertones; pattern is brown circles with blue squares inside. 100% silk of course.

As I need to make room for new purchases, my wardrobe clearance is your chance to win this and other items at a fraction of their original cost. New Giorgio Armani ties now retail $145 on average, however I will start the bidding on this item at a low $4.99.

Ultimate Tennant Suit -ultimate photo-shoot!

My deadline for the Ultimate Tennant Suit was to make sure it was ready for Kevin Coppa to wear at this year’s Gallifrey Convention.
With just a few days to spare I got it done, and he was able to proudly show it off for all to see.

The convention has several trails you can follow, depending on your personal interests. As part of the cosplay events over the weekend, Scott Sebring brings his professional camera equipment along and offers a free portrait service for anyone in costume!

Kevin had his chance to get get some great pictures of him wearing his Tennant Suit, as well as a Tennant Coat I had made him.

First they did some portrait shots of just the suit (see below).

All photos by Scott Sebring

Ultimate Tennant Suit -trajectory: Gallifrey 2011

Time for a little confession.

The Ultimate Tennant Suit I have made over the past couple of months wasn’t actually for me – it was a commission from a US-based client, Kevin Coppa.

Ultimate Tennant Suit goes global

The photos of the finished Tenannt Suit have caused a bit of a buzz.

To bring the pictures to a wider audience, I posted them on a couple of forums, one of which within a couple of hours had received over 20 responses!

This also drove a fair bit of traffic back to my blog, which was hoped, but unexpected.

I was able to look at the internet traffic to my blog and was astonished by the spike of hits I was getting.

Below you can see the traffic for the week, ending with the increased level only hours after I posted the pictures.

Ultimate Tennant Suit - FINISHED!

Yippeeeee!!

After several weeks sewing – a year gathering trousers – a couple of years knowing the fabric originated from GAP – the day has finally dawned when The Ultimate Tennant Suit is FINISHED!!!!

I can’t hide that I am pretty cuffed about how well it has come out. I have spent a lot of time researching and studying the suit, as well as testing how to make it, all of which appears to have paid off.

Here are some detail pictures of the completed jacket.

Ultimate Tennant Suit - setting sleeves, lapels and collar

The jacket of The Ultimate Tennant Suit is coming together well, and next I need to set the sleeves.

Assembling the sleeve is pretty straight forward - just stitch up the two seams! It’s what you do with it next that makes or breaks how well a sleeve looks on.

Once the sleeve is assembled, I stitch two parallel lines around the sleeve-head. I use a very strong thread, with my machine set to a very slack tension. This allows me to pull the threads through to gather the head of the sleeve and shape it, creating a roll to it. Great care has to be taken to not gather too much and make puckers; or to not do it enough and nothing happen.

Next I fix the gathering and stabilise the sleeve opening by stitching a line of pre-shrunk cotton tape (see above). This sets the gathering so it can’t slip before sewing; and stops the underarm area sagging through repeated wear.

Next I need to turn attention to the lapels and the inside pockets.

I have patterned a special panel for the lapel facing and the lining, which when joined together equal the shape of the fronts (see above).
Into this I set the necessary welted pockets.

I am doing three in total: one narrow one very high up to take a sonic; below this a wider standard pocket; and on the other side ranged in the middle a further wide standard pocket.

I need to set the sonic pocket very high as it needs to be accessed without undoing the top button (see left). A point easily overlooked.

Ultimate Tennant Suit - cutting phase two

The Phase One of the cutting gave me the fabric to circumvent the body of the jacket, as well as all I needed for the external pockets (see right).

Everything went well, so it’s time to return to the cutting bench and prepare some more pieces for assembly.

Pair 2 -
Size 34 x 34

I am cutting the sleeves for the suit now, and its a pretty forgone conclusion that the lower sleeves will be cut from the fronts of the trousers due to their width at the shoulder (see left, top); and the upper sleeves are cut from the backs (see left, below).

I need to angle the sleeves such that the top parts are on grain, and the forearms are a little bit across the grain. when I get to the assembly of the sleeves I’ll show why I have done this.

I have positioned the upper sleeves as low as possible, leaving me a decent piece of off-cut.

When I first cut fabric from the GAP trousers, I had quickly realised that I would not get fabric wide enough to cut the collar in a single piece. I concluded that the screen used suit must have a join at the back of the neck, so I will use this piece of left over to cut my collar.
I cut this just before I needed to set it, to make sure I cut it to fit correctly.

Pair 1 -
Size 34 x 30

I’ve returned to the pair that gave me the back of the jacket to cut the lapel facings.



While I’m on the cutting bench and have the pattern pieces to hand, I also cut what I need for the lining.

Most a straight repeats of the body of the jacket, but with a little adjustment to allow for movement and capacity inside the jacket.

The backs are cut with the vent allowance (see above); and a special panel is shaped and cut to cover the front panel, minus the lapel facing.

This is pretty much everything I need now to complete the Ultimate Tennant Suit!

Ultimate Tennant Suit - making body

Now I have cut the first panels of the jacket I can get onto some real exciting stuff – making it up into the Ultimate Tennant Suit!

First I had to correct a minor problem with the back of the suit, which involved re-cutting a new panel for the area above the belt. I was trying to get round it, but had to bite the bullet.
Here is where I cut it from:

Pair 3 -
36 x 34

I used the fronts from the pair that had provided the front panels of the suit.
The reason I recut was to correct the grain direction of the fabric, which should run slightly diagonally from the waist to the shoulder, not the centre back.
You live and learn.

Anyway, that out of the way I can at last start sewing some real GAP fabric!
I start with the front panels, and stitch the chest darts, which run vertically from the upper chest down to just above the pockets (see right - the first line of stitching!).

Once this is pressed out, and the fronts are interfaced as per the Hand Tailoring I outlined recently, I can think about making and setting the breast pocket.

It is sewn on the surface of the jacket with a separate flap above. The pocket has a box pleat on the front.
This has to be constructed very carefully, as it must span precisely three pinstripes.
The trick is to stitch up the centre behind the pleat at just the right place so a pinstripe lines both front edges of the folds (see left, top).

I then press the edges under, again lining along the pinstripes, with a one inch roll-fold at the top.
This is then pinned in place, aligning it with the pinstripes on the body of the jacket (see left, middle).
There is a level of compromise here as the chest dart expires under the pocket. This means it is possible to square the pocket to the pinstripes on one side only (take a sneak at the finished pocket and look at the right-hand edge to see what I mean).

Finally the pocket is top-stitched in place, with a sort of stretched triangle of strengthening at the top corners (see left, bottom).

I then need to do the breast pocket flap. This is quite simple really.

First I sew the flap together from two pieces of fabric, leaving it open at the top (see right, top).
This is then clipped at the corner points and the seams graded before turning and pressing it flat.

To stop the attaching edge bulking, I overlock the open end (rather than double-fold it) and then stitch it in place above the pocket (see right, bottom).

Once flapped into position I then firmly press the edge and it happily sits in the right place.

Here is the finished, pressed and crisp result (see left).

The white stitching around the pocket is tack stitches I have put to keep the body of the jacket and the horsehair interfacing together while I work – these will obviously be removed before I finish!

The negative Doctor

For those that don’t know, the Radio Times holds an annual party at rthe beginning of the year to celebrate those celebrities who have adorned their covers the previous year.

There is a certain cache for appearing on the cover, and as a prize each subject receives a presentation famed print of “their” cover to treasure!

This years event was hosted by ex-Doctor David Tennant and he had the pleasure of presenting the covers to Karen Gillan (see above), as well as a whole host of other notables including Aiden Grimshaw, Keeley Hawes and the Downton Abbey cast.

The evening is rounded off with a party – not quite in the league of the Vanity Fair Oscars bash – but we like to think it’s up there with the best of the rest!

David was, as ever, impeccably dressed in a curiously reminiscent two-piece suit looking not dissimilar to his classic brown or blue pinstripe he wore as The Doctor! (see right).

He was like a negative Doctor!

A number of pictures from the event appear on the Radio Times Website, as well as in the current week’s (29 jan - 4 Feb) issue.

Ultimate Tennant Suit - cutting phase one

This past weekend marked the start of cutting the GAP fabric for the Ultimate Tenannt Suit I am making.

I have been planning this for a while, and at long last the day has finally come   :)

So far I have harvested fabric from three of the pairs trousers:
Pair 1 (Size 34 x 30);
Pair 3 (Size 36 x 34); and
Pair 6 (Size 33 x 32).

This will be enough to get the body of the jacket made, including all the pieces for the pockets and more than enough to get me started.

It’s gonna be funny looking at the finished jacket and know that that was a back of a leg and that was a front!

I think it will change my view-point on the suit next time I see an episode – which will be interesting!

It’s fascinating to see the reality of how they are cut, so here is a breakdown of how the pairs were dissected and what parts of the jacket they each provided. 

Pair 1 -
Size 34 x 30

I choose the waist 34s pair to cut the back panels as they just fit, leaving minimal waste.
What is left over still doesn’t entirely go to waste, as I then used it to cut the breast pocket flap and the back strap.

Pair 3 -
Size 36 x 34

The front panels of these trousers are the widest pieces of fabric I have, which is just as well since they need to cover from the lapel edge to the apex of the shoulder.

The small area of waste at the top gives me enough to make the facings of the outer pockets (the piece you see at the back of the pocket when you look inside it).

Pair 6 -
Size 33 x 32

finally I need to cut the side panels, so to preserve as much of the fabric as possible, I have dropped to the narrowest waist I have.

From these I have used the fronts of the trousers are the narrower of the harvested panels available.
I can still happily get the panel I want out of here, leaving a decent chunk of waste from where I cut the breast pocket and most of the pieces I need for the outer pocket flaps.

This completes the cutting I need for the body of the jacket, meaning work can start in earnest . . .