Fabric Friday - Scaley waistcoat

Without doubt one of the nicest, and enigmatic waistcoats Matt wore first appeared on screen in The Rings Of Akaban, though it debuted in the dedicated publicity photos for the previous episode The Bells Of St John, despite it not appearing in that adventure.
I know - confusing!

It has a wonderfully textured cloth in a fish-scale pattern; is in a colour that compliments the frock coat so elegantly; has cut a that is simple and stylish; and has more variants than you might think.

But its the cloth I’m focusing on today.

The fabric has evaded efforts to track it down since its first appearance in the Hide publicity photos that heralded the start of filming on series 7b.

However, through a chance conversation with fans at this year’s Gallifrey One convention, costume design Howard Bergen finally let slip where he got it from.

The fabric is silk and wool mix, and is a grey/mauve colour.

These images are directly scanned from the screen-accurate fabric.
I’ve colour-matched them to the material as best as possible, erring on the side of a bit brighter to show detail.

Here’s the fabric in close detail, showing up the scale pattern, and it’s slightly erratic weave.

The material itself was sourced from Hopkins Fabrics, a rather exclusive fabric merchants, who as a rule only sell direct to trade.

Called (appropriately) Scaley, it comes on a range of 13 colours - but its the Grey/Mauve that was used on Matt’s costume.

Hopkins Fabrics

Fabric Friday - Paul Smith series six shirt

Last week on Fabric Friday I showed you the series 7b shirt from Hide.

This week I’m going a little further back to series 6 for the Paul Smith shirt first used in The Impossible Astronaut.

There was much debate as to what the true colour of the shirt was, with some seeing it as purple/violet; others seeing it as blue; some thought it was a grey colour.

Ironically in a way all of these are almost correct, as the shirt by Paul Smith was available in a number of colourways, including a grey and blueish purple colour.

It’s very difficult to scan and keep the true colour, so I have had to colour correct theres images, which I’ve done to the best I can.

It’s quite a subtle cloth. If you look real closely you can see there are woven diamond shapes in the tie spaces between the stripes, something that rarely shows up on screen.

Fabric Friday - Hide shirt

It’s Friday - so I’m back with another round of Fabric Friday.

I had forgotten I had this fabric when I was doing the original run of Fabric Fridays, so it got overlooked.

It’s about time I put things right and added to the collection.

Series 7b saw Matt Smith ’s wardrobe flourish from the relatively restrictive roster of a couple of tweed jackets, shirts and bow ties as worn at his series five debut to a plethora of shirts, bow ties and waistcoats.

Now he seemed to be wearing a new bow tie or shirt for every adventure, rarely wearing the same garment more than once.

One of the shirts that made a solo appearance was for the episode Hide.


This was the first adventure to be filmed that had Clara as the Doctor’s companion, and was the first time he wore his brand new cashmere frock coat.

The first shirt worn with it was hand-made using cloth sourced from a well known London fabric store.

The cut of the shirt was very similar to the series six shirts, with a tabbed collar.

The fabric came from McCulloch & Wallis in Dearing Street, which runs south off Oxford Street near the John Lewis department store.

Earlier this year they relocated to Poland Street on the north side of Soho, much closer to all the other fabric stores from where a lot of the cloth for Doctor Who is sourced.

It is a lightweight and very soft cotton fabric, with the design woven as opposed to printed.

Fabric Friday - Donegal tweed: REWEAVE!

This week I’m bringing back Fabric Friday!

First up is the reweaving of an old favourite.

Matt Smith’s main tweed jacket for his first season was made from a hand-woven Donegal fabric sourced at W Bills.

At the time there were two bolts of the cloth available, and both of these were used to make a number of jackets for use throughout series five.

The tweed had been woven sometime in 2007, so by the time it was used it was already a few years old.

Only 36 inches wide, the fabric quickly sold out once its notoriety as being a Doctor Who cloth became known, alongside the Shetland tweed which was used for A Christmas Carol onwards.

Unlike the Shetland tweed, which has since been rewoven no less than three times, the Donegal proved to be more troublesome.

Woven from only two colours of yarn (unlike the six used on the Shetland) finding a match for both was not as easy as it sounds. If one yarn is off, then half the design isn’t right.

When I returned to W Bills to discuss the restocking of the Donegal, I was shown some samples the weavers had produced using the available yarns. None were remotely acceptable, either being too light or too dark or simply combining to produce the wrong colour.

Ultimately W Bills gave up the quest to restock, so it fell by the wayside and has remained unavailable since.

However, once Harrisons took over W Bills, they were much more proactive at maintaining stocks of popular fabrics, and took on board the interest in the Shetland tweed, which has since been rewoven. This comes under the WEAVE 3 that I covered on a previous Fabric Friday.

I took the opportunity to talk to them about the Cashmere for Matt’s frock coat, which they researched but were unable to come up with a satisfactory result.

I also gave them a swatch of the original Donegal, and using that they have now produced a rewoven fabric, abet a close but not perfect match.

These images are directly scanned from fabric. They have then been colour-matched back to the material to give the best visual representation of the fabric.

First impressions is that the fabric is the best I have seen to date - and it is first impressions that count.

I have seen others which are close, but either use yarns that are far too thin or too thick or have an excessive number of nepps (the lumps on the yarn that give it character) in contrasting colours such as red, blue or green.

That said, this new cloth does have a few coloured nepps, but nowhere near as many as I have seen on alternative cloths.

The two yarns used are a very good match to the light coffee and dark chocolate colours in the original, though they are a little on the thick side.

I think the cloth passes the test for its overall appearance and feel, though at extreme close-up it maybe falls down a bit.

All this taken into account, I have investing in a length to see how it turns out as a jacket.

It’s nice to have the fabric available again after so many years of being out of stock.

Fabric Friday - Shetland tweed: reweaves

A few weeks again on Fabric Friday I showed you Matt Smith’s screen-worn Shetland tweed.

It’s a very popular fabric supplied by W Bills, and the one and only sixty metre bolt soon sold out.

So it wasn’t long before it was being rewoven to keep up with demand.

However, being a number of years since it was original made, matching the yarns wasn’t as easy as it sounds second time around.

WEAVE 2

This was the first time the tweed was rewoven.

The design is created from six different colours of yarn, and the weave was identical to the original, although one of the colours was not the best match.

There is a sparsely used shade of green yarn woven into the brown background. The original thread was not available, so a slightly darker version had to be substituted.

The original version of the Shetland Tweed is shown either on the left or top in each of these photos, to give a side-by-side comparison.

This give the fabric an overall darker and more green shade. You can particularly see the green yarn in the extreme close-up below.

One bolt of sixty metres was woven of the Shetland Tweed in this form.

The finish of the fabric was very cut compared to the original, which had a softer and slightly fluffier surface.

WEAVE 3

Despite giving feedback about the colour, the same six yarns were used for the next weaving, giving the fabric the same greenish blush.

Again the finish is a lot more cut than the screen-worn.

But the thing that is most annoying is the mismatch of spacing on the horizontal orange stripes.

As you can see, if they are aligned at the top, within five repeats its already a good half-inch out.

Two bolts of sixty metres each was woven of the Shetland Tweed in this form.

These reweaves shows that even if the SAME waver, using the SAME looms can’t always precisely match their original work.
That said, there is no other option to get this exclusive designs, so it is what it is.

Fabric Friday - The Day Of The Doctor waistcoat

This week on Fabric Friday I can bring you and EXCLUSIVE new find from the wardrobe of the Eleventh Doctor!

This is the fabric used to make The Doctor’s waistcoat as seen in The Day Of The Doctor.

The fabric is a pure wool suiting quality fabric in a very dark midnight blue and deep purple mix of colours.

These images are directly scanned from fabric that was part of the bolt that was cut to make Matt’s screen-worn waistcoat. I’ve colour-matched them to the material, erring on the side of a bit brighter to show detail.

The fabric is woven in a twill, creating a fine Prince Of Wales style check.

Here’s the fabric in close detail.

I had a look in my favourite vintage tailoring book about fabrics.

The book classes the pattern as a Glenurquhart check.

It describes it as a twill weave in dark and light coloured warp and weft, creating the check effect.

Fabric Friday - Cashmere tweed

This week on Fabric Friday I come to one of the most misunderstood tweeds to grace The Doctor’s back - the purple Cashmere.

This is really the one fabric that inspired my weekly sharing of Doctor Who materials, since it is the one I am asked about most often by readers.

Many come to me with alternatives or even thinking they have found the real thing at another outlet, but none have its distinctive weave, which unless you see it close-up you won’t appreciate.

For such a difficult fabric to match you’ll be surprised to find it is made from only two yarns: one is a deep purple colour, giving it the base hue; the other is an almost burgundy brownish colour, which criss-crosses in a grid.

It is the brown yarn only that is highlighted with sky blue flecks.

The fabric came in a full width 54 inches wide.

These images are directly scanned from fabric that was part of the bolt that was cut to make Matt’s screen-worn frock coats. They have then been colour-matched back to the material to give the best visual representation of the fabric.

Being a true 100% cashmere it is the softest fabric you’ll ever have the pleasure of touching and brings a smile of envy to anyone who gets to stroke it!

This fabric was an absolute exclusive to W Bills and is not available anywhere else. Only one bolt was woven in this colourway, and it sat on their storeroom shelf for a few years before it came to the attention of the BBC.

The scarify of the yarn - especially the brown with the sky blue flecks - has meant that weaving a perfect match is simply not possible, though W Bills did look into it knowing it would eventually sell out.

Fabric Friday - Shetland tweed

This week on Fabric Friday, I turn my attentions to the Shetland tweed used to make the jacket first seen in A Christmas Carol.

The jacket was a smarter, more tailored cut compared to the Harris tweed and Donegal versions seen in series five.

The elbow patches were dropped - though this seems to have been an oversight since they reappear in the very next episode.

The tweed used came from W Bills and has been likened to a plaid, though it is not truly defined as such.

The fabric has a distinct orientation, with bold vertical stripes of darker brown mixed with a lighter beige colour.

These images are directly scanned from fabric that was part of the bolt that was cut to make Matt’s screen-worn jackets. They have then been colour-matched back to the material to give the best visual representation of the fabric.

The only discernible pattern repeat horizontally are some narrow orange stripes, which are at irregular spacings, alternating between 35mm and 45mm.

This can make the fabric a bit awkward to use when pattern matching, as the true pattern repeat is effectively 75mm.

Woven in 100% pure Scottish wool to a full width of 54 inches wide, it comes from the island of Shetland off the coats of Scotland.

Fabric Friday - Donegal tweed

This week on Fabric Friday I’m bringing you the second of the jacket fabrics from Matt Smith’s wardrobe.

After shooting a handful of episodes with a single vintage Harris tweed, the costume department produced a number of jackets for Matt to wear, all made from Donegal tweed sourced from W Bills in London.

The hand-woven fabric was made on foot operated looms, and so was only a half-width 36 inches wide.

The weave is very simple: a light coffee colour in one direction in a plain or hopscotch weave with a dark chocolate colour in the other direction.
The lighter of the two colours has a flecking in the same shade, which gives the fabric the slightly corse appearance.

I have seen a number of very similar Donegal style fabrics, but their flecking has been in other colours such as red or green. These can ruin the appearance of the fabric.

With the very nature of the weave the fabric is reversible and looks the same from both sides, though it does need to be orientated consistently.

These images are directly scanned from fabric that was part of the bolt that was cut to make Matt’s screen-worn jackets. They have then been colour-matched back to the material to give the best visual representation of the fabric.

Fabric Friday - Harris tweed

Each week I get a number of emails from readers asking for help with patterns or fabrics.

Aside from suggesting a few sources I can’t really help much with patterns.

My assistance with fabrics also has to be a bit limited as I’m getting mine from the original suppliers, which don’t come cheap; or using my own weavers to recreate discontinued lines which takes a lot of investment and time.

So I thought I’d create Fabric Friday, and each week bring you a bit of detail on the materials used to create the Eleventh Doctor’s wardrobe.

Many readers are on budgets, so screen accurate materials can be prohibitive. Their only chance is to find something similar or evocative that can do the job - so long as you don’t look too closely.

The most requested at the moment is the Cashmere used to make Matt’s frock coat.
I’m asked what is it like - or is this or that fabric close enough to use.

Only once you see the fabric in-hand can you realise how unique it is.

So what I’d thought I’d do is share some detailed scans of the fabrics used for Matt’s wardrobe to once and for all give the definitive reference guide, going through from series five to seven.

Worn for the first episodes shot was a vintage Harris tweed jacket.

The jacket dated from around the 1970s and was made from a Mackenzie two-by-two dogtooth fabric.

As you can see, it’s woven from a beige, brown russet and green thread.