The story of Tasteful Six

As you may have been reading, I recently took a very exciting trip to Chicago TARDIS.

On the Saturday Night I entered the costume masquerade, and won the prize for Best In Show: Workmanship (see right).

I cannot tell you how proud I was to have won it. I had never entered anything like it before, and wasn’t sure what to expect.

I know these events can either be frivolous or greatly competitive – and I was aiming for the upper end of that. There were over forty entries, so a wide range of costumes were on show. My dream was to get some recognition for my tailoring, so to get Workmanshipwas a great privilege.

I had considered entering one of my Matt Smith combinations, but I thought something from left-field would attract a bit more interest, so I wore what I described as a Tasteful Six!

This was made up of my Colin Baker Frock Coat, all made in a single colour melton with matching velvet lapels (see left).

Now, what I didn’t tell you was the FULL story behind the costume. I couldn’t say much at the time, but as you will read there was a reason – and why I can talk about it now . . .

Chicago TARDIS - award winning Six

I’ve just got back from an exciting weekend in America for Chicago TARDIS.

You can read my full report of my four days at
Chicago TARDIS below

Thursday evening

Friday

Saturday

Sunday

The headline guests were from the Peter Davison and New-Who eras, so I’m afraid there was little for the fans of Colin Baker.

Most of the weekend I wore various versions of Matt Smith’s costume, but for the Saturday evening I wore one very special outfit . . .

The time was right to premiere my Maroon Six outfit. It is another prototype test piece for my planned screen-accurate Colin Baker coat. To make it into a complete outfit I have borrowed back the trousers from the Purple Six costume I made earlier this year, plus some wedding wear I have.

Around this time I was toying with the idea of entering the Masquerade, a Saturday evening competition for the cosplayers. I’ve never done anything like that before, and I know it can be hotly contested. I then had the dilemma of which costume to wear, since I have so many with me.

Although my Matt Smith costumes are undoubtedly the best at the event (my trump cards of scene accurate fabrics and authentic items is hard to top) I am more proud of my Maroon Six outfit, as it has been highly tailored and finely made. So I decide this is what I want to enter.

Six Fock Coat – purple test:the whole ensemble!

After a bit of a hiccup with making the cuffs, I have now finished my fully worked test for the Six Frock Coat!

I had an ideal opportunity this weekend to get some good pictures taken, which came out pretty good.

Cos I could see how it was coming out, I just had to go the extra mile by making myself a pair of complimenting trousers to go with the coat. I only finished them with a day to spare, but I think it was worth the effort.

I really like the cut and fit of the Five Trousers I make, so used the same pattern, but with some purple-dyed pillow ticking instead.

Six Fock Coat – purple test:lapels and lining

Now that I have completed Phase One - assembling the body of the test coat - I can now embark on phase two, setting the collar and lapels and lining the coat.

Although I cut the pattern for the coat in one go, I left the collar and lining pattern until this point so that any problems could be resolved before proceeding.
As it happens all has gone well so far, but it was still as well to wait.

The collar and lapel draft are a little tricky, due to the unique roll line running right down to the hem.

I had provisionally included the lapel facing in my pattern block to make sure it would work – you can see part of the lapel shape on the right-hand side of the block (see left).

I will now redraw it in full to create my pattern.

The lining is going to have to be a little unusual, as I will need to pattern it in its entirety, not just for the pieces adapted from the body of the coat.
The skirt of the body is made from five panels each side, and this will be vastly simplified for my pattern, plus I need to plan in the internal pockets, which are surpassingly minimal and basic in design. More on that later.

I first take my block for the coat body, and retrace the common parts: the back, coat tails, side panel and area of the front.

The lining for the skirt needs to be split at the side seam. This is the back edge of the panel with the outer pocket. I cannot simply trace the existing lines, as I need to make sure my hem circumference matches the body, so there's a bit of jiggery-pokery to crib the combined curve from the skirt panels.

Giving you a sneaky preview of the finished coat, you can see the outer seams (above, left) highlighted in green, compared to the lining seams (above, right).
the two narrow triangles of the skirt have been combined into the wider panels adjacent to them.

Six Fock Coat – purple test: making the tasteless tasteful

Things may seem a little quiet on the Frock Coats front, but I have been working away very hard lately, sorting out the pattern so that once have sourced the fabrics I am good to go.

I’ve worked up a basic calico test (see left), essentially just to check the pattern works, but now I want to up my game prior to making it for real.
I’m itching to get started making up the coat, but I’ve been caught out by enthusiasm before, and know that racing into cutting final cloth can be fatal, so to work it out of my system I’m gonna do something a little radical!

Finding a superb supplier for my felt and woollen fabrics has been an absolute godsend, and their materials are of superb quality at competitive prices.

My favourite fabric out of the whole coat is the purple felt, Fabric (2) in my Fabric Breakdown (see right).

It has a wonderful a richness of colour and weight about it.
So, to properly test myself on construction techniques; to iron out any issues I might find with my pattern; and just for the hell of it make a version of the coat you CAN step out of the front door in, I am going to make one totally in this fabric, using a matching velvet to accent the design.