Capaldi coat - FINISHED!

With work on my tv commission occupying a lot of my time lately, I just haven’t had a chance to get any pictures posted of my finished crombie coat.

So for those who have been patiently waiting, here it is!

It’s a deceptively simple coat, with a few clever tricks up its sleeves (forgive the pun).


The notch on the lapels is surprisingly high, making for a very short collar.

Most of the outer seams are flat felted, which is easy to do though a little time consuming to execute.

I’m pretty please how the lining has come out. It’s been worth the effort in getting it woven.

I found the perfect genuine horn buttons to finish the coat off.



Let me know what you think.

I’m back - and it’s about time!

Sorry if the postings in my blog have been a bit erratic over the past few weeks, but I have been working flat out on a secret commission for a tv series to be shown later this year.

I’ve done a couple of small side jobs for tv late last year, but this has been the single largest job I have yet taken on.

It was intended to be just two to three weeks work on half a dozen costumes, but spiralled into over six weeks and nineteen garments - all with their own quirks and challenges.

Now it’s finally over I can get back to what I like doing most - making Doctor Who costumes and writing for my blogs!

Label Lab Misty Mountain - SOLD OUT!

It took less than a month, but all online stocks of the Misty Mountain t-shirt have already SOLD OUT!

In fact, the item has been totally removed from the House Of Fraser website, so aside from a few shirts hanging around in high street stores, it really is UNAVAILABLE!

If you missed out - or like to wear your Doctor Who costume subversively on a daily basis - there is an option left.

As well as putting the design on a lightweight t-shirt, House Of Fraser has a version on a sweatshirt with long sleeves and a thicker fabric.

For some reason its called Air Misty rather than Misty Mountain, but it is the same artwork.

House Of Fraser
Label Lab Air Misty crew neck sweatshirt

I know it’s not full-on “screen accurate” but I like that it’s a bit more wearable and it harks to the Capaldi costume.

Not being a big fan of short sleeve tops, I’m gonna grab one just for the fun of it.

Are you gonna do the same?

Stocks of this shirt are quite low across the board, so grab this while you can too!

The Capaldi look - dress down Time Lord

Filming continues apace this week on series nine, and the crew have been spotted on location.

The Daily Mail Online covered the days work by tying it in with the fact that it was Jenna Colman’s birthday (happy birthday Jenna!), but for the cosplay spotters it was a bit of an eye opener!

Daily Mail Online
Jenna Coleman celebrates birthday on Doctor Who set

Firstly - THOSE TROUSERS! Wow. That’s a fashion statement. I hope the Fashion Police don’t have their own TARDIS, or Peter’s in trouble.

It now looks like The Doctor’s costume has been given a bit of a shake up.
He’s still wearing the same boots, and his coat (aside from a minor tweak here and there) remains largely the same.

Under the coat he has the black hoodie, first glimpsed in Time Heist and again more extensively in Last Christmas.

But hiding under that is a large print t-shirt.

Looking at it closely it is NOT the same as he wore for the Rose tribute video last month - but it does lead us to some possible conclusions.

On the basis that the t-shirt he has worn before is by Label Lab from House Of Fraser, it only took a moment to find this new shirt on their website.

House Of Fraser
Label Lab Night Bloom Negative Flower

This positively identifies the t-shirt for the current filming as Label Lab Night Bloom Negative Flower, meaning it is “screen accurate”.

It then leads us to believe the Misty Mountain shirt that was worn for a previous episode is also “screen accurate”, giving us two new costume variants for series nine (on top of a couple of others that have been spotted already).

If I were you I’d grab one of these shirts (and one of the Misty Mountain while you’re about it) before they sell out.

Label Lab t-shirt - stocks running low!

It’s only been a few days since I put out there where The Doctor’s new t-shirt came from, and they are already almost entirely sold out (innocent face) - aside from less than a combined handful of Small and Extra Small.


As with a lot of these online retailers, House Of Fraser’s online presence is totally separate from their high street stores, in that they do not share the same stock supplies.
This means that although their online stocks are sold out, there ARE still shirts in their branches across the UK.

Unfortunately they cannot reserve stock via their website, and the stores cannot make sales over the phone.

Obviously if you are overseas you are badly out of luck but if you are UK based and are willing to make the effort, there is stock out there.

If you are seeking one of the t-shirts, I have collated a list of all the stores and the stock levels as of the beginning of this week.
Use this list as a way of quickly finding which branch has your size so you don’t make a wasted trip to the wrong store.

I hopes it can help unite fans with screen-accurate cosplay!

New t-shirt? - positive ID!

It’s only been a week or so since Peter Capaldi was seen in a tribute video wearing what could possibly be part of his new wardrobe, but I’ve noticed a buzz going around about THAT t-shirt!

There is no confirmed news that this IS a new costume, but I got a seriously sneaking suspicion it is, given the rest of the items he was wearing at the time.

Well, a good friend of mine - who I have to say is something of a web-ferret - has come up trumps and found the t-shrirt, even with the tiny amount of it on view!

From what you can see there are maybe some clouds at the top.

In the middle there maybe a headland, or craggy rocks.

At the bottom there seems to be some form of iron structure, possibly a bridge or similar.

Well, the mystery has been solved (for now).



The t-shirt design is called Misty Mountain by Label Lab and is available from House of Fraser.

House of Fraser
Label Lab Misty Mountain

Well, that maybe be mystery solved for mow - but it does leave another bigger mystery - is this t-shirt part of The Doctor’s new outfit, or just part of Peter Capaldi’s personal wardrobe.

Only wibbly wobbly, timey wimey will tell for sure!!!

Climbing a mysterious mountain

Speculation has been mounting that a t-shirt worn by Peter Capaldi in a new online video could be part of his new look for series 9.

So much so the Doctor Who cosplay community seems to be in overdrive at the moment trying to identify it - even without knowing for sure it is part a screen-worn costume.

Still, better safe than sorry - we are always a season behind when these things are first seen, and by the time they reach the screen they are from over two seasons ago - only THEN do we realise we really wanted to find it!


Well, after a lot of web-hunting we could be close to an answer!

What do you think? is this a MATCH???!

All will be be revealed very soon...

A look back - and a look forward?

Today is a special day in New Series Doctor Who - it’s exactly ten years since The Doctor exploded back onto our screens following the wilderness years!

Since we had the official 50th Anniversary barely 18 months back, there is no big celebration like there was in November 2013.
Instead the BBC have marked it with a few low-key items.

One of these is a heartfelt tribute by the incumbent Doctor, Peter Capaldi himself.



Now, I was watching this video when something struck me.

So, he appears to be on-set filming series 9, and is wearing his now trademark coat with black hoodie underneath, but with a casual t-shirt below.

But what caught my eye is the fact that he is wearing the custom made ring which disguises his wedding ring as The Doctor’s ring.

Could he be caught between takes while filming? If so, is that t-shirt more than just ‘model’s own’? Is it part of the new look returning costume designer Ray Holman has created?

If it is, then NOW is thew time to trawl the collections of a few named high street retailers to see if it is available.

I’m seeing Paul Smith, All Saints, maybe even Debenhams could be possible targets! Ah - the game’s afoot!!!!

Gallifrey One 2015 - Thursday lobby con

Today’s my first day back in LA for 2015’s Gallifrey One convention.

Each year I’ve been going the convention seems to swell not only in the numbers attending (though that has now been capped) but in the length of the festivities.

Officially the convention runs Friday morning to Sunday late afternoon, but with increasing numbers of fans arriving on the Thursday afternoon, an impromptu mini convention runs where everyone catches up with friends and buddies.

Known as Lobby Con, it’s become an increasing popular steam running in parallel with the main programme.

The Thursday afternoon, running into the evening, is the first chance for cosplayers to get into costume and character ready for the main days.

Here is a little selection of photos I took.



Nice to see the Tenth Doctor’s first costume being kept alive!



These Ten cosplays always have the best fun!



I like the way people take the well established costumes, like the Fourth Doctor’s iconic scarf - and make it their own by selecting their own unique colour schemes.



But there is always space for some high end costumes alongside the innovative creations.



For example this eye-catching reworking of the Sixth Doctor coat using brown fabrics.



As you can see - I had some fun too!
I have some friends who made their own Cookie Monster, so I tactically wore my t-shirt on the off-chance of bumping into them. It worked!

You’ll also notice that today was the first chance for fans to trade ribbons - that curious convention pastime that has progressive grown year on year.

I have joined the craze, with a few of my own to trade, which amassed the long train of ribbons down the side of this posting.

If you’re at Gallifrey One right now - seek me out - I have ribbons to trade!

Including my Sixth Doctor special ribbon, complete with plastic watch chains!
No-one else has done anything like this, so grab them from me while I have them!

Danny Pink goes Barking!

In a pseudo warm-up to next weekend’s big Gallifrey One convention, today I trekked out to Barking for Tenth Planet Event’s first signing session of 2015.

Barking Signing - 7th February 2015

To be honest the guest list was a little light on interest, with Jasmine Breaks, the little girl in Remembrance Of The Daleks; Clem So, the go-to Chinese actor seen in Pond Life, The Angels Take Manhatten, The Day Of The Doctor and notably as a clockwork droid in Deep Breath; and Gregory De Polnay, D84 in The Robots Of Death.


There were also a couple of non-Who also-ran guests who appeared in the likes of Grange Hill and Z Cars, but for me the main draw was Brian Miller, Barney the tramp in Deep Breath and husband to the late, great Elizabeth Sladen.


However, with less than a week to go, the organisers added a surprise guest, Samuel Anderson - Danny Pink himself!

It was a cold morning, and I got there in good time to get the signatures in my book I was after, though sadly Gregory De Polnay was a no-show due to ill health. Hopefully he'll come on a future session.

Samuel came across very well and was interacting with the fans without any reservations, engaging with one and all.

He was happy to sign anything put in front of him including a wonderful portrait done by a fan, who gave him a copy to keep - which Samuel asked him to sign!

A change of wardrobe?

There’s a bit of very interesting Doctor Who costume news that I’ve known about for a little while, but have kept under wraps.

However, since it is now for all to see on his website, I think I can happily reveal that Howard Burgan, who has been costume designer since The Snowmen in 2012 has now handed over the reins - to none other than Ray Holman!

Ray was instrumental in creation of the first look for the Eleventh Doctor back in 2010, having designed for series five.

Prior to that he had designed for Doctor Who in Tenth Doctor era when the double-banking of episodes meant Louise Page needed a second pair of hands to cover the Doctor-lite episodes Blink and Turn Left - all this while designing for Torchwood series one to three.

Since leaving Doctor Who, he worked again with Russell T Davies for Wizards vs Aliens, and with David Tennant for both series of Broadchurch.

Time will tell if Ray will imprint his own look on The Doctor’s costume for series nine. I kinda hope he does - I’m a bit uninspired by the sombre look of the Twelfth Doctor right now.

Capaldi coat - sneaky preview

Been working on this for a while now, so just a cheeky preview today.

Mission accomplished!