Doctor Who - Eleventh Doctor costumes

For the past couple of years, I've been wearing a somewhat accurate Smith costume to cons, comprised of a pair of aged black jeans, a Spoonflower print shirt sewn up by Darth Mule, a close enough Donegal tweed jacket, a very close to accurate Topman bow tie I dyed blue, the believed-to-be-accurate Swagger and Swoon braces, and a pair of original All Saints layer boots (later replaced by a better fitting pair of cropped layer boots, which are more accurate in some regards to the repro shoes made for the show, less in others.)

Ren Fest in Colorado in my old costume.


Well, I've been planning to upgrade for the longest time, and I'm finally making it happen. I plan to finish in time for Gallifrey One in just over one month. I've decided to make two variants of the costume, though. Specifically the series 5 outfit as seen in Vincent and the Doctor (with mirror device if I can finish it in time), and the series 7 outfit as seen in A Town Called Mercy (with hat, Marshal badge and gun belt).

So first what's already been done. It's been in the works for ages. Way back when E-Wan first identified and located the fabrics, I bought 4 meters of the hand woven Donegal tweed used to make the series 5 jackets. It was a stupid financial decision at the time, but I'm glad I did it because it sold out days later and never came back in stock. Last month I picked up the reweave of the series 6 tweed, which has been used in series 7. Actually glad I waited on that one as it's slightly different and series 6 was a waste of air time for the most part.



I also purchased a pair of the G-Star jeans worn in series 6/7 a few months ago, and a pair of Stacy Adams Madison boots in black, which I think are generally considered the best close enough alternative to the very expensive originals. The most amazing find I had though was an original blue Paul Smith shirt on ebay. The guy was asking $70 and didn't know what he had, and I got it. It's an XL though and fits like a 2XL, so I have to cut it down to a medium. Currently it looks possible, but I might have to cheat it a little, particularly in the yoke and collar. The cuffs are also unfortunately misaligned and I haven't figured out exactly how to solve that problem. I'm very proud of my Spoonflower prints, but the saturation doesn't hold up when compared directly with the original, so replacing the original cuffs is out of the question.





A few months ago I did a run of series 6/7 blue bow ties, and I've got mine cut and ready to sew together.



Because I was an idiot and didn't buy the Topman jeans when they were new and cost $40, I have to make them myself. Thanks again to E-Wan and Manofsteel25, I was able to make a pretty decent pattern. I found a white and brown houndstooth cotton and spent a few months trying to get it the right color before giving up. I finally gave it to my girlfriend who dyes fabrics for her job and she handled it in a week. Those will be coming together in a week or so.

I'm buying the burgundy Swagger and Swoon braces in a couple days and I have 3 yards of my striped shirt Spoonflower print fabric on it's way to me to make the shirt.

Doctor Who Series 6 striped shirt fabric by risu for sale on Spoonflower - custom fabric, wallpaper and wall decals

I've also done some work on the hat. Couldn't find one the right color, but in bright sunlight this one looks close.



For the elbow patches I'll be transferring the dark brown deerskin ones on my current close enough over to the new S5 jacket, and I found this leather the other day for the S7.



Obviously, getting the jackets done in time is going to be a nightmare, but I have the base pattern I'll be modifying and I'm pretty confident in my abilities. I'll be posting in this thread pretty regularly for the next month. Hopefully I'll still be able to find time to keep it up to date when the con gets closer.

I went in to this Mercy variant plan intent to make the gun belt myself, but after a quick look on ebay I discovered that the actual belt they used can be bought there cheaper than the cost of the leather to make it. The leather is sure to be cheap, but I guess you can't go wrong with the original item. It looked cheap in the episode anyway. So for anybody interested, check on ebay, it's $75 shipped.

What is the link?

It's an active ebay auction, so I can't post it. Just do a search for western leather gun belt. A number of listings will show up with the belt in 4 different colors. The one used was black. You'll want to go with the .45 size, as the Marshal's gun was a Colt army/1870.

Is it a plain gun belt?

The Stetson Hutchins is still available in many places and for a hat, fairly cheap. I'd order that up to finish off the look!

The Hutchins is the wrong hat for the Mercy episode. No wire brim, you can't curl the sides up. I'm currently replacing the springy wire in the brim with a more pliable one.

And it's the carved tooled gun belt, not the plain one.

Not sure what yet, but I got a package in the mail today. I'll be able to pick it up tomorrow. It's either the red braces or the gun belt. I also got my spoonflower fabric for the striped shirt the other day and I'm happy to say the color turned out perfect. The purple looks bluer in sunlight and a little redder indoors, exactly the same as the original appears in various promo photos. I'll probably take some pictures tomorrow once I pick up the package. I'll be starting on the shirt once I get some better interfacing up in LA later this week and finish my Tom Baker shirt.

Any pics?

I think the package was the braces, but the post office lost them.

As for the shirting, here are pics.





I tweaked the fit of my shirt pattern the other night, it just needs changes to the button stand and back pleat and it'll be ready to go for the Smith shirt.

Man, i must get myself some of that Shetland at some time...

Also, i really love the idea of wearing a Doctor Who costume at a Rennaisance Fair. I must remember to do that the next time i'm going to one of them, although, being from Denmark, i doubt anybody would get the reference...

Also, if you ever do another run of bow-ties, please PM me. I love the one i got from the last run, and would love another one, in case the last one wears out (As i wear it about 4 times a week). Shame about the package...

backstagejack1 said:

The Stetson Hutchins is still available in many places and for a hat, fairly cheap. I'd order that up to finish off the look!

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A disturbingly comfortable hat to wear, too.

The braces arrived today, not sure what's going on with the possibly missing package. Fun stuff.

Oh and Guss, when I make my own bow tie I'm going to try out a different way of interfacing it. Should be a big improvement in the structure department. I only have enough fabric left for a couple more ties, so there won't be another run, but I might consider making another one or two.

Went up to LA yesterday and got some more stuff, including accurate clips for the Mercy braces. It kind of works out, because the clips on my navy S&S braces barely hold on any more, so I can put these on the red ones and the new S&S clips on the blue braces.



I also don't know how I missed this in the past, but I found the screen accurate Shetland buttons at B Black and Sons.



According to it's tracking number, the gun belt will be here on Monday. I'm also getting the hat band back from my girlfriend, who used her industrial machine to stitch the edges. I picked up the leather lace I need to finish it, and I've added a wire to the brim of the hat to curl it up properly. There should be lots of new pictures on Monday or Tuesday.

Risu said:

Went up to LA yesterday and got some more stuff, including accurate clips for the Mercy braces. It kind of works out, because the clips on my navy S&S braces barely hold on any more, so I can put these on the red ones and the new S&S clips on the blue braces.

I also don't know how I missed this in the past, but I found the screen accurate Shetland buttons at B Black and Sons.

According to it's tracking number, the gun belt will be here on Monday. I'm also getting the hat band back from my girlfriend, who used her industrial machine to stitch the edges. I picked up the leather lace I need to finish it, and I've added a wire to the brim of the hat to curl it up properly. There should be lots of new pictures on Monday or Tuesday.

Click to expand...

How did you get the screen accurate buttons for the shetland that was made in the UK in the US. I have the SA buttons on my jacket and they look almost identical but yours look lighter.

Also the distance between the out lip/edge of the button and the inner ringby the sewing hole is too narrow. Also the lip/edge of the button is too thick.

So almost accurate but not quite, however they are awesome looking buttons.

You don't know what the screen accurate buttons look like. There are blurry photos at best. And I was able to get them because B Black and Sons stock high end materials from all over the world.

My jacket was made by Steve who informed me he got the SA buttons the same time he got the shetland tweed. The buttons were from the store that the BBC uses for alot of their costumes.

So chances are they are probably the buttons used....

I sent you a PM.

Answered