Tennant Coat - Cardiff photoshoots

You may well have seen the photos taken during my big Cardiff photoshoot. It was principally an Eleventh Doctor affair, but we had the chance to do some solo shots of the Tenth Doctor with Kevin Coppa wearing the Ultimate Tennant Suit.

Army Of Ghosts Playground

This is the playground at Canel Park that appears in Army Of Ghosts. It’s where The Doctor parks his TARDIS for the duration of the story.

I couldn’t see any ghosts around, but Kevin got quite animated at one point!

Torchwood Tower

Next we visited Roald  Dahl Plass in Cardiff city centre.

This is where the TARDIS landed in Boom Town, opening the rift towards the end of the episode.

The Doctor returned in Utopia.

This is also the site of Torchwood One’s secret underground base, The Hub.

Millennium Centre

Opposite the Torchwood tower is the Cardiff Millennium Centre, which has appeared a number of times in the new series.

The interior was seen in Boom Town, New Earth, Utopia, Last Of The Time Lords, and with some matt shot trickery in Vincent And The Doctor.

Ianto Memorial Wall

Down by the dock, obscuring the entrance to Torchwood One, is the Ianto Jones Memorial wall.

We took a moment to pay our respects to the loss of this cherished member of the Torchwood team.

Only a moment though.

Bonhams Auction - 3rd July 2012

It’s coming to that time of year again, and the summer Memorabilia Auction at Bonhams is due to be held on 3rd July.

There’s not much in the sale of Doctor Who interest – just four items: one 1960s Dalek poster and three costume from David Tennant’s era.

Here are the details.

Bonhams sale 19800 (3rd July 2012) Entertainment Memorabilia

As usual I have separated the items by Doctor era, and you can see the rest of the items here:

Lots 154
1st Doctor (1963-1966)

Here are just the lots relating to the Tenth Doctor era

Lot 159

Doctor Who - The Runaway Bride, December 2006

Two Roboform costumes, one believed to have been David Tennant's disguise costume worn during the episode, each outfit comprising: a black hooded cape of wool, with Velcro® fastening and split side seam, together with a black wool jacket/coat, the costume attributed to Tennant with a pair of black loafer shoes and a black leather effect belt with large buckle, the other with belt only (2 costumes)
Estimate: £400 - 500
Sold for £1,000
NB This costume was originally sold for £438 at the 15th December 2011 auction (lot 163). Its estimate was also £400 - £500.








Lot 160
Doctor Who - Tooth and Claw, 2006
A maid's costume, as worn by Queen Victoria's staff, comprising: a black cotton dress, with button front with lace effect collar and cuffs, together with a fine net and lace belted apron
Estimate: £100 - 150
Sold for £225
NB This costume was originally sold for £400 at the 15th December 2011 auction (lot 159). Its estimate was also £100 - £150.






Lot 161
Doctor Who - Smith and Jones, 2007: A Slab guard costume,
comprising: a two-piece black leather biker type outfit, the leather jacket with geometric detail to top of sleeves with a pair of trousers, both labelled 'Hein Gericke' the jacket with label inside inscribed 'Matt', together with a pair of leather gauntlet/ gloves and a black cotton T-shirt (5)
Footnotes
The Slab guards protect the Plasmavore, Florence Finnegan whilst she is on Earth.

Estimate: £300 - 400
Sold for £237
NB This costume was originally sold for £225 at the 15th December 2011 auction (lot 164). Its estimate was also £300 - £400.

Louise Page - my precious memento

You will hopefully have seen the interviews I have conducted with costume designer Louise Page about her time creating the look and clothes for the Tenth Doctor.
I have now met her half a dozen times and resisted the urge to be a fanboy and ask for her autograph.

She is a real icon for designing the coat and suit I love so much, so asking her to just sign some photograph or a page of a book would not seem fitting enough for the esteem I hold her in.

When we first met at a local Starbucks, she brought along a large swatch of the fabric from the Tennant Coat and kindly gave it to me to keep.

During a later visit we discussed the blue suit at length, and she pulled out an equally large swatch of the blue suit fabric. Again I was thrilled to be given the swatch to keep.

Well this last visit I finally found THE one thing I wanted her to sign for me.

To keep the swatches safe and in pride of place, I found the perfect frame with a double mount to display them.
I keep it on top of my bookcase of tailoring books, along with my Matt Smith autographed convention brochure.

This was the perfect thing to finally ask her to sign, so she kindly captioned the two swatches on the mount and signed her name along the side.

She very much liked how I had framed the swatches, and was very happy to autograph it for me.

I now have the most FANTASTIC memento of meeting her. Thank you Louise!!

Tennant Coat does the Squidbillies

Well, this is an odd one.

One of my clients was at DragonCon in 2010 and cosplayed his Tennant costume.

He attended a panel for the Squidbillies tv series and managed to get dragged onto the stage for some audience participation!

The panel has been included as an extra on the DVD release (volume 4), but you can see what happened in this YouTube video.

Louise Page and my Tennant Coat

As you will have seen, costume designer Louise Page recently visited me again this week so that we could do a proper on-camera interview for my blogs.

While she was with me she got the opportunity to see one of my latest Tennant Coats.

She was most impressed with my work and my attention to detail. The back of the coat, with its complex darts, box pleat and buttoned vent particularly caught her eye.

But she was most taken with the custom lining I had specially woven last year.



She explained how the original had come from the stock room of Angels, and there was only just enough for the prototype (which was displayed at Earl’s Court) and three screen-used coats (one of which is at Olympia, prior to its move to a permanent home in Cardiff Bay).

We had the chance to compare mine with her sample of the original and it was a pretty good match.

I hadn’t had the benefit of access to her swatch, so I did the best I could, which had proved to be very good all things considered.

Watch out very soon on the Tennant Suit Blog, as well as on here, for some choice sound bites from Louise as she talks exclusively about creating the iconic look for the Tenth Doctor, including a tie-by-tie back-story.

EXCLUSIVE COMPETITION: Ask Louise

Today I’m launching a very special competition.

Do you have a question about the costumes of the David Tennant era you’ve always wanted answered?
Well now’s your chance.

You may have read that just before Christmas I had the enormous privilege of meeting costume designer Louise Page.

We had two meetings and I had the chance to chat costumes with her for over five hours!

Earlier today she returned to do a formal interview, which I will be serialising over the coming weeks.

I had lots of questions, but it struck me that I’m sure there are other fans who have more interesting questions to ask.

So I put the idea to Louise, who has agreed to answer twenty questions submitted by my readers, to be put to her during a planned interview this summer.
This gives you plenty of time to think over what you want to ask and submit your question.

I will be shortlisting the best questions, and although can’t guarantee to use them all, I will do my best to put as many as possible.

I will be attending Gallifrey One later this month, as well as both days of the Official Convention in March, so as well as email me you can submit your question in person, if you can catch me!

To submit your question, please email me at tennantcoat@me.com

Please limit your questions to the David Tennant era; be as concise as you can; and above all try and think of something that’s never been asked before.

Making Mini 10th Doctor

Over the three or so years I have been writing my blogs and sharing my experiences making my costumes, I have from time to time received messages from readers who have been inspired to pick up a needle and thread and sew for themselves.
Some have followed the instructions I have written; others have simply been incentivised to start a pipe-dream project they had been putting off.

Well this week I had an email from a reader showing me their Matt Smith and David Tennant creations made for their 4 year old son, telling me it was all down to my blog!


I was amazed. These little costumes are very well observed, executed and fit real well (with a little growing room).


I had to find out more. After a couple of emails I now have the background story to the costumes, so for the first time I’m gonna hand over my blog to one of my reader to tell you more.

This was my first attempt at making clothing of any kind. For many years I had been making soft furnishings for my own home and various other crafty projects, but a small boy with a Doctor Who obsession dictated that I should give costume making a go.

Following my 11th Doctor jacket and a visit to The Doctor Who Experience and actually seeing the costumes in the flesh, I got rather obsessed with the idea of making a ‘Tennant coat’.

I had already gathered the suit, shirt and tie from browsing eBay and various charity shops for the closest tie I could to any of the many 10th Doctor ties (please see the amazing section on 10th Doctor ties!) and down-sizing it to fit a 3 year old.

Happy Christmas to all my readers!

Wow - another year has flown past - and what a year it’s been!

Photo by Scott Sebring

It started back in January with a once in a lifetime opportunity when I made the Ultimate Tennant Suit. To have the chance to put into practice the actual way the suit was made was an amazing experience. The timing was perfect, as I had a couple of months before started learning traditional hand-tailoring techniques, which I put to great use in making the suit.

Photo by Scott Sebring

I had to follow the suit, and with three days notice ended up going to Gallifrey One in LA!
There I met up with a number of my online friends and many of my readers who had no idea I was going. I also had the privilege of arranging a group photograph with four of my Tennant Coat clients, which was the highlight of the trip.

By the end of April news broke that THE Series Six Shetland Tweed fabric had been found, as well as the Series Five Donegal.

It was like the Tennant Suit all over again: making an iconic jacket in the exact fabric. I was lucky to find the correct buttons and elbow patches to finish it off.

In August the culmination of many month work came to fruition when I took delivery of  my rewoven Tennant Coat lining. I had been searching for years to find a suitable alternative, but finally took the plunge and commissioned my own recreation of it.

The past few months of the year have been taken up with making a popular new garment in my repertoire - the Green Greatcoat.

I spent a while carefully researching the pattern, fabric and construction until I got it just right.

Then in late November I attended Chicago TARDIS, where I entered the masquerade competition wearing a test version of the Colin Baker Six Frock Coat. I won Best In Show: Workmanship for my tailoring – for which I am very proud.

This was one of three coats I had made, the other two were for the wedding of some close friends which is due to take place just before Christmas.

Looking back it has been an exciting year, with more projects than I could have thought to have taken on.

And as the year comes to a close, an even more exciting development is breaking.

More on that in the New Year, but trust me, it’s gonna be worth the wait . . .

The BIG Bang!

I got some sad news this week.

My friend in Canada – he of the Tennant Coat I made him; home-made TARDIS; and that photoshoot – told me his said TARDIS had fallen on hard times.

I mean, REAL hard times.

Shockingly bad hard times.

He had not been able to store it properly since moving house earlier this year, so it had to be stored flat-pack style in a pile outdoors at a friend’s house.

Over the months it got an infestation of bugs, which ate their way through the structure, from the inside!

Like the painting in The Pandorica Opens, his TARDIS has completely fallen apart.

Carry On Doctor!

Well, my coats are starting to get seen places!

My friend in Canada, Justin Monk, was recently approached to be part of an unusual photo-shoot for a new website. Called Nerd Girl Pinups, it certain does what it says on the tin!

To kick off there’s some nice shots of Justin in full Ten outfit, posing by his home-made TARDIS!

Some great coat action going on there!

Then up pops our Nerd Girl Pin up!
Or is it Rose ...?






And - well!

Things seem to start to get a little - how shall I say - steamy?

And I had Justin down as a happily married man!

Lining regeneration

Early last year I totally revamped the Tennant Coats I had been making by changing pretty much all of the materials I was using.

Originally I was using Malabar in walnut (see below, top left); a plain navy blue satin lining (see below, top right); a standard orange silk for the pocket welts (see below, bottom left); and a run of the mill one inch faux horn button (see below, bottom right).

The revisions I made were to improve the colour of Malabar I used to Teak, which is much more screen accurate (see below, top left); I sourced a self-striped navy lining (see below, top right);  found the exact orange silk that had been used for the real coats (see below, bottom left); and discovered a supplier for more accurate buttons in the right size and design (see below, bottom right).

But as ever I am always striving to get things better, and I recently had a bit of a unexpected push which has improved things even further.

Turning the collar

You may know that I have been attending College in Hemel over the past year or so, and have been learning many new skills and techniques.

This past term was devoted to hand tailoring used in jacket and coat construction – just the sort of thing I have been keen to expand my knowledge of.

I have been putting these skills into practice, and in the past couple of weeks I have applied this to a Tennant Coat I have been working on.

I have used a very stiff, coarse canvas specially designed to use under collars. I cut it on the bias so it stretches and shape of the collar I am making, and cut it to the net size, without seam allowance (see below, left).

This is pad-stitched to a piece of thick felt that will form the under collar (see below, right).

Notice how just sitting on my workbench, the collar already wants to keep its shape.
The way it is sewn makes the fold sharp and resistant to falling flat. No amount of fusible interfacing can create this effect so efficiently.

Once this is put in place in the coat, the upper collar drapes over this firm support and gives a much better finish and look.

London Film & Comic Convention 2011 - pre-event London tour

Today I’m going to the London Film and Comic Convention at Earl’s Court, and since I’m gonna be in London anyway I thought I’d go along to the BritTours Doctor Who tour.

We have to meet at Temple station on the Victoria Embankment, and the tour is by bus so we can take in so far flung locations.

First up is St Peter’s Steps, which lead up to St Paul’s Cathedral. This was seen in the cliffhanger to an episode of The Invasion, the 1968 Cyberman story with Patrick Troughton. I had been here a number of times before, and seen it prior to the remodelling that took place which saw the office block to the right change from glass to red brick; and the construction of the Millennium bridge, which spans the Thames to Tate Modern close to The Globe Theatre on the south bank.

What I hadn’t seen before was the manhole cover out of which the Cybermen are seen burt at the start of the sequence; and the pub further up the steps where they are seen walking past at the end of the scene. The street has the most amazing name - Knightrider Street, which substantially pre-dates the American 1980s tv show I’m sure you are thinking of right now!