Fabric Friday Gally special - Joel & Son shirt fabric

The week for a special Gallifrey One Fabric Friday I’m bringing you one of the more obscure fabrics used during series eight.

Bookending Kill The Moon, Peter Capaldi wore a striking polka dot black and white shirt.

At the the time it caught every by surprise as it never appeared in any of the publicity stills in the run up to broadcast, and it evaded detection during the location filming.

Due to its fleeting use, it was assumed that the shirt was another off the peg item, possibly from Paul Smith, who did have a similar but not identical shirt around that time.
In fact it was quite on-trend during 2014 with a number of high street retailers stocking bold polka-dot shirts, but none quite matching this one.

What later emerged, via some detective work by Doctor Who cosplay forum members, was that it was actually custom made shirt by Budd Shirtmakers, using some bespoke cloth sourced at Joel & Sons, a fabric merchant with a royal warrant.

Tracking down some of the cloth, it emerges that it is not actual black - that is just how it appears on screen - but is a deep navy blue.

The cloth is a pure silk, very sheer, and has a pronounced twill across it.

It also has a coarse, random grid like pattern superimposed over the polka dots, which is barely perceptible on screen. You can just see it in this screen cap.

Fabric Friday - Crombie coat lining

Last week on Fabric Friday I showed you THE midnight blue wool fabric used to make Peter Capaldi’s Crombie-style coat.

Well this week I bring you the rest of the coat!

And if last week I shook things up a little - this week I’m gonna rock it!

This is the lining to the coat.

No - really - this IS the lining. Instead of being a plain red silk as it might appear, it actually has a subtly woven pattern in red and NAVY BLUE.

If you look VERY closely on the official publicity still of the costume you can just see that there is a grid pattern in the fabric.

From what I have established, the lining is pure silk, woven in Italy and is long discontinued. The bolt of fabric bought by the BBC was the last available from the supplier used. It may still be in stock at other suppliers, but as yet I haven’t found anywhere that carries it.

My friend James would SO love to get his hands on this!

Fabric Friday - the Crombie coat

The past few weeks over on my Eleventh Doctor Blog, I have been running a series called Fabric Friday where I showcase the screen-worn materials used to make Matt Smith’s costumes.

This week my attentions turn for the first time to the Twelfth Doctor’s costume - and this posting will shake things up a bit!

As well as showing you a fabric, I first have a little tale of serendipity to share with you. It’s worth hearing, so stick with me.

When news came out that W Bills, the supplier of the Matt Smith tweeds was closing, I went in and panic-bought the last of their stock of Shetland tweed!

A week or so later, with only a day left, I dropped by again to say goodbye to Ray Hammett, who I had been dealing with for a number of years.
While I was there someone else was panic-buying the last of W Bill stock - this time it was none other than Howard Burden THE Doctor Who costume designer!

He was there to do a deal and buy the last of a dark navy blue wool coating fabric. Yes, this is the fabric for Peter Capaldi’s Crombie-style coat.

Talking to him about it, he revealed that Crombie (the company) did NOT make the screen-worn coats - they were actually made by a bespoke tailor, and this was the stuff used.

So not only can I definitively say the coat is not a off the peg, or even bespoke made Crombie, the fabric used, yet again, came from W Bill.

Since the take over of W Bill by Harrisons, I have now found out a bit more about this particular cloth.

Unlike the preceding Doctor Who tweeds, this fabric was not a W Bill exclusive.

The mill weaves it as part of a basic range of cloth for coat making, and provide it to a number fabric merchants, such as W Bill. Each have their corporate name woven into the selvage.

Harrisons also stocked the very same cloth, with their own branding in the selvage.
This means that although the W Bill stock was bought out by Howard, the fabric is still easily available through Harrisons.