Doctor Who - Tom Baker's S17 Frock Coat/Costume

I've posted some of this elsewhere in the last few days, and just now remembered I have a build thread for this costume.

I'm lucky to have a very good friend who hordes buttons, and it turns out she had this gem buried in her collection:
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I'll be molding it and experimenting with brown resin pigment over the next week to try to perfect that real aged leather look.

I've also found a better linen/cotton blend trouser fabric and finished my belt. The picture makes it look black, but it's dark brown. The fabric is also a little dark and it has pairs of orange stripes instead of individual ones, but I think it's a worthwhile compromise considering the stripes go both ways and read so much more clearly than those on the wool blend fabric. In order to match the original buckle on Tom's belt, I had to remove the prong, flatten the center bar, drill a hole, and mount a brass collar stud through it. The thin metal of the buckle is bound to give sometime, so I expect it to break while I wear it. I plan to make the pants fit without a belt so I can just buckle it loose so there isn't any strain on it.

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My plan is to finish the costume (well, the coat, and get the scarf from my coworker) in time for an event on November 8th. I have close enough shirt, pants, and waistcoat on hand, but will attempt to make the accurate ones in time, although I don't think the waistcoat will quite fit in that window, I hope to at least make the pants. I also haven't cut my hair in a couple months, and if I continue to let it grow for another it will achieve Baker status. I'm unsure if I'll go through with that plan though, as I hate having my hair this long.
 
Button progress. The mold is made and I'm testing pigment ratios to get the color right. The original button is on the bottom.

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What about painting the brown color into the mold and then casting in a lighter tanish color resin for a more aged and less uniform look without having to paint it after molding which could potentially rub off over time...
 
I'd love to do that and I was actually planning to ask how to do it next time I go into Reynolds for resin. Is it just the pigment liquid that you paint into the mold, or is there a power like aluminum powder that has to be used?
 
So this month is going to be absolutely insane. Apart from continuous production of River diaries and a couple of ongoing runs, I have a ton of work to do in time for Gallifrey One here in LA. In the next 40 days I have to make:

Tom Baker frock coat
Tom Baker waistcoat (using Manofsteel25's screen printed velvet)
Tom Baker shirt
Tom Baker pants
Matt Smith Donegal tweed jacket (S5)
Matt Smith Topman jeans (S5)
Cut an XL Paul Smith shirt (S5) down to my size
Matt Smith S6/7 striped shirt
Matt Smith blue bow tie (from my run)
Matt Smith Shetland tweed jacket (S6/7)
Oswin Oswald belt for my GF
Mirror device from the Van Gogh episode

I've decided to start this ridiculous challenge with Tom Baker's shirt. I picked up shirt interfacing and white weaver's cloth today, which I think is the fabric his shirt was made from. I'm currently cutting the pattern for the shirt, then I just have to make a couple of modifications and I can sew the shirt in a few hours. A couple more edits and I can finish the two Matt Smith shirts.

My coworker who is knitting the scarf for me has fallen way behind schedule (it was supposed to be done for Halloween). She's now about 65% done with the it, and assures me it will be done by the end of this month. I'll try to stay on top of posting pictures of my progress, and I'll be starting a thread for my Smith costumes as well.
 
Great build! You've only been sewing for how long? Holy cow, you make me look like a freaking noob, and I've been doing it for 20 years! Looks like you're achieving a pretty good fit there, btw, judging from your mock up.
 
Thank you!

In regards to the blue wool coat, I decided there were too many noob mistakes in my pattern and stitching and really hated the fabric (too thick, WAY too dark) so I decided to scrap the project and come back to it in the future after I get a fabric I like better. It was a great learning experience, though. I have plenty of other stuff to focus on for now.

Shirt pattern is almost finished, I just have to adjust the front piece to fit and then combine the collar and collar stand pattern pieces into one. Not sure how that will work out, but the two curves on this pattern match up pretty closely, so I don't foresee big problems.
 
That took longer than expected.

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Theoretically, this is the most perfectly fitting dress shirt I'll ever wear. All seam allowances reduced to 1/2", because 5/8" is ridiculous. I also had to tweak some oddities in the Burda shirt pattern, ranging from the cuff being one piece folded in half up to the pleats in the sleeve end being in the wrong place (at least according to every shirt in my closet). Combining the collar and collar stand was pretty easy, and I think I got the shape of the collar point spot on. Really looking forward to sewing this one up.
 
The pieces of the shirt are cut out. I'll probably sew them together this weekend. Still trying to track down the right buttons.
 
This work is amazing ! the Tom coat button is absolutely spot on, Ive been producing resin ones for a tailor friend of mine, after searchind for days to find the accurate buttons, so that's a really lucky find. Good luck with the tailoring, your fabric choices look good to me.
 
The body of the shirt is put together, as are the two pieces of the collar. The cuff plackets were surprisingly easy. The first one took a little while to figure out, but the second one was done in 5 minutes.

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I spent about 20 minutes pinning the collar on, then realized I did it inside out. Had to call it for the night. Hoping to get everything but the cuffs done tomorrow. Might even finish it.
 
So because I still hate the pants fabric I found and ultimately regret buying it, I'm hunting for a better option. I literally spent 4 hours today searching the web for it, to no avail. I do have this swatch, though, and I remembered that I have an orange fabric pen. It comes out a little bold....

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Which is disappointing, because the actual Glen plaid pattern is actually really close, and the scale is only a little too small. Mainly it just sucks that this stuff is $18 per yard. My sister is stopping by Denver fabrics tomorrow and if she doesn't find anything better/cheaper, it's back to LA.
 
You've got to love the LA garment district, where even the shop owners can't remember their own prices. I got 2 yards of the pants fabric for $14 a yard. I've decided to just use the fabric as is; the fabric pen made the stripes way too bold, and they actually show up very nicely from a distance because the eye blends the thin orange stripe with the surrounding white and makes a much wider faint orange stripe. It's also 100% wool and the perfect weight. I'm working on the pants pattern now, which started out as the pants from the Burda 7194 pattern, which also contains the basis for what will become my S5 Smith tweed jacket pattern. They're described as slim pants, but that's a gross mislabeling. These things are tighter in the legs than any of the skinny jeans I own. With some creative slashing and spreading, I'm widening them out to a normal fit, then I just have to lengthen the legs to make room for the cuffed hem and I'll be ready to cut the fabric.

I've also got the collar and sleeves sewn into the shirt. Now I just have to hem the bottom, attach the cuffs, and add buttons and button holes. I'm really not liking the interfacing available from Jo-Ann's, so next week I'll be going up to LA and stopping into B Black and Sons again to get shirt interfacing. If anybody has the good stuff, it's them. I'm holding off on the cuffs until I can re-interface them with that.

Oh, and I have the wig, although it needs a trim. I'll post a picture of that as well when I get around to posting other pictures.
 
The pants pattern is taking more effort than I thought to get right. I've got it mostly figured out, now I'm just trying to get the circumference at the leg opening the right size. One final trace of the pattern should do the trick. While ironing the fabric though, I realized that there are some holes near the end, makes about 1/2 yard of it useless. I'll probably have to go get more when I'm up in LA again.
 
Waistcoat fabric arrived. Pretty dang happy with it. Just need to pick up a fabric for the front facings and make a couple small edits to the pattern and I can sew it up.

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Also, here's the test pair of pants I made.

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Since this photo I've dropped the crotch 1.5", extended the fly to match, and taken in the outseams 2". I cut the pocketing last night, but wasn't feeling up to the real thing just yet. That will happen later today. On Friday I'll be going up to LA to get more fabric and interfacing for the shirt.
 
Good thing I waited on the waistcoat pattern until I had the fabric in hand. The button placement matched up very well down the length of the front, but I did have to shorten the bottom by about half an inch, and the dart had to be moved in 1 cm and down 1 inch to match the plaid. Didn't end up having to add any material anywhere, so I don't even need to trace the pattern off, I just have to copy the changes over the the facing/liner.
 
Being a huge Tom baker fan I am really looking forward to seeing this build. I am thinking about doing a build myself but finding the material is killing me at the moment. I have the scarf but I will need to make the rest of the costume.

Maximums
 
Could be the pants or the coat fabric. I found the pants fabric in a tiny shop in LA, and I never actually found screen accurate coat fabric, just a good lookalike that's a great fabric in its own right.
 
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