Finished Frock Coat

Making up the Frock Coat for Ian was realtively easy, but I did decide to make a little more challenging for myself by radically changing some of my techniques.

When I made the Five Coat I used a variety of fusible interfacings to get the right stiffness and drape in certain points of the coat.

This is all very well, but it can dramatically change the texture of the fabric and sometimes the fusible becomes detached while you are pressing the garment while making it. Also, if the fusible is not firmly and evenly pressed throughout, it can become detached during wear.

I had heard of using calico as a non-fusible interfacing, and I had always wondered how this would work.

Well, I got the chance to see first-hand not so long back. my friends who own a lot of the screen-used Colin Baker costume also own the original Pink Frock Coat worn by Romana in Destiny Of The Daleks, and they brought it along so I could see it, as well as get a full pattern trace from it.

A lot of the coat was not as I expected at all.

The waistband pockets are just flaps, with no pockets under them; the fabric it is made from is quite a coarsely woven wool, and not at all in keeping with Romana’s delicate character.

The hem was a surprise as well, in that it was left open with the lining not attached to the body of the coat. This allows for looking inside the coat and some of its internal structure – bonus time for me!

Inside I could see the skirt of the coat was faced with calico, sewn in at the vertical seams. It was not bonded to the coat in any other way, but just gave the skirt the support it needed without adversely effecting the fabric itself (ie. fused to it).

This got me thinking about how I do my work in future, and Ian’s Frock Coat in particular.

So this time round I have been vary sparing one where and how I use fusible interfacing. The only areas I have used it on are the lapels, collar, body fronts, and pocket flaps, which for the moment I am not confident to abandon at this stage.

I therefore calico faced the skirt, cuffs and part of the back. All this proved to be a lot easier and surprisingly less time consuming than I thought, and it wasn’t long before the coat was taking shape.

The lining was the part I was having the fun with. My brief to make .... something bright, vibrant, even a little clashing, something you would not expect to see inside a brown coat.... was very much on my mind and I wanted to step up to the mark on it.

I quite liked the way the green lining works with the brow wool, so I have put this under the pocket flaps and inside the sleeves – basically anywhere you can see lining from the outside when the coat is closed.

The inside, however, is something quite different. I loved the silver self-woven paisley I found, but was mindful that it was quite a grey colour and thus a bit too sober for what Ian had in mind.
He had mentioned a mustard colour on one of his previous frock coats, and on a visit to Textile King I found a nice gold satin which I knew he would like. But it was how to use the both inside the coat.

My eureka moment came when I was cutting the lining and it suddenly dawned on me I could do a form of checkerboard arrangement across the back, with some of the panels in silver, including the panels where the pockets will be set.
I have kept it mirrored rather than completely alternate, otherwise it will look too patchwork (see below).

I decide to accent the welts for the inside pockets with the gold (see below).

Everything went well with assembling the coat, and as it came together I felt I was making something I could be very proud of.

Here are some pictures of the finished coat, just prior to it being shipped.

Let me know what you think of my latest work. It’s not everyday I get such a free hand on creating a coat to an open brief.

By the way, for the eagle-eyed out there, does anyone know the significance of the blue thing attached to my fence? I virtual reality nod of achievement awaits if you know what it is, where it comes from and what other classic genre tv show it appeared in.

Email me at tennantcoat@me.com

Five Coat - Hemming

Now I have lined the body of the coat and the sleeves, I can move onto the skirt part and finally finish it.

I have created a pattern for a narrow vertical strip to run the height of the skirt at the front. This, looking at publicity photographs, needs to be narrower than the lapel panel above it (see right).

This is cut and interfaced with the same fusible canvas as the lapels for structural stiffness. By interfacing this lining panel rather than the outer skirt, I will get the stability I need on the leading edge of the coat, but still retain the fluidity of the skirt on the outside of it.

I can then cut the lining panel for the skirt, less the width of the facing I have just cut. These are then sewn togther.

I trim the lower edge of the body lining so it is level, and then attach the skirt lining to it. I need to be very careful to alighen the horizontal waistline seams at the front edge of the coat.
Some adjustment was needed to make sure the facing panel hung vertically, as initially this pulled on the skirt causing unsightly folds down the front.

The back edge of the skirt lining is blended into the back of the coat as the outer skirt had been before.

The skirt is then ready to be hemmed, once a satisfactory length had been decided. Looking at the calico test I felt in hindsight that it was a tad short (see left), so I’ve learnt from that at added enough to make a better length.

Firstly I pin the length I want with the coat on my tailors dummy, folding the excess up and pinning it up in place. After checking it for fit I then firmly press the folded edge to define the hemline. Then using the seam guide I got for Christmas I can trim an even two inches all round.

I now lay the coat tails flat as possible on the floor, drawing the coat upwards to drag the lining as flat as I can. The lining it then trimmed to match the skirt.

The lining is then pinned to the skirt, inside out and through the open seam I have left. The edge lining is pulled around half an inch lower than the skirt so that when finished it hangs higher than the skirt, and thus out of sight.

I can then sew the hem together, starting at the hem length at the ends, but for the duration of the lining fabric, switching tracks to the edge of the two-inch seam allowance I have left. This defines the length at the corners, but leaves capacity for the rest.

I just then need to secure the hem’s seam allowance up so it does not gape. These days I would hand stitch this which is a more discreet way to secure it, but I have been finding the gaberdine to show these stitches through. Also I want the skirt to be a little stiffer around the hem, so I use a tailors cheat of WondaWeb instead! This is a strip of fusible glue which is pressed and steamed in place.

All I need to do now to complete the coat is sew the three vertical lines of piping on the fronts and back split. This conveniently seals up the open seam I left for access to the hem (see left).

Finally I’ll add the buttons and buttonholes and I should be done.

Check back REAL soon to see the results of my labours!

Five Coat - lining and inside pockets

Now that I’ve completed work on the outside body of the coat, I can now turn my attentions to the inside and the lining.

For the bulk of things this is a fairly straight forward affair, with many of the pattern pieces from the outside doubling up for the lining too (see left). The back panels and under arm area is soon together, leaving me to make and sort out the inside front panels.

The inside front and lapel are the only significant difference from the outside. I traced the front panel incorporating a style line for the lapels and produced the two halves with their overlapping seam allowances.

The lapel is cut from the beige gaberdine and is interfaced with a fusible canvas for stiffness (see right). The rest of the inside fronts are made from lining and include the pockets.
Although I cut the lapels now, they do not get joined at this stage.

Setting these pockets is more like the pockets I am used to doing, being a simple welted design, though on this occasion almost entirely made from lining fabric. As I explained in The Time Lord’s Pockets, working in lining can be daunting as it is a very slippery fabric to use, and I want to keep the pockets clean and soft and where possible free from fusible interface stiffening. I also want to make the welts as narrow and delicate as possible, in keeping with their surroundings. The research I did my deconstructing a Marks & Spencer jacket revealed a very easy way to do the pocket, and I am using this technique again here.

First I mark a tailor’s chalk line on the top-side of the lining piece (see below, left). Then I set about making the welts I am going to set. This method uses a single piece of fabric for both welts. I need to press two exactly parallel lines along the welts, so to get it as accurate as possible I use a steel ruler as a stencil and fold the fabric around it (see below, centre & right).

I am using a piece of calico left over from the test version of the coat as a stiffener for the welt, rather than using an iron-on interface. I have found this give a much better result as it does not stress the lining fabric.

Next I pin the welt over the chalk line, and catch another piece of calico underneath the lining panel at the same time. This will give support around the pocket and help prevent distortion as well as stress at the corners (see below, left).

I can then sew the welts in place, stitching through all these layers at once. The spacing is critical at this point: I need to sew the welts precisely one quarter the side of the parallel fold, otherwise the welts will not meet if I sew then to narrow; or crash into and overlap each other is I sew them too broad (see below, centre).

Just to show things don’t always go to plan, it took me a couple of attempts to get this balance right, but I got there in the end (see above, right).

To put and set the lining, I start by assembling the back; made up of the back panels and the side panels. The first thing to do is unite it at the top of the back vent.
Extra fabric is included in the pattern for the overlap of the vent, and these are clipped at the top so they can cross in front of each other to create the distinctive dog-leg top the the split.

The vertical edges of the lining are sewn to corrosponding edges of the coat tails (see left).

The right-hand side, which laps under the left, first needs to be sewn into the lining at its top.
It can all get very awkward and confusing at this point, as working space is limited, plus I need to work reasonably quickly and carefully so as not to stress the fabric where it has been clipped.

I then pipe the top half of the left-hand side, leaving the uppermost inch loose.
The overlap needs to be pinned very carefully into position. Angled too high and the split overlaps too much; too low and it will gape open. This is best done on my tailor’s dummy so I can see exactly how it will hang and adjust accordingly (see right).
I can then sew the top of the vent through all layers, except the top-most layer of piping.

It’s then a simple (I wish) process of maneuvering the loose end of the piping to form the dog-leg shape at the top. This is then hand-sewn all round into place (see left).

Now that the split is sorted, I can sew the inside fronts, with their welted pockets, to the backs, forming the armhole.

The neckline is then sewn and some secret internal stitching to keep the lapels in check and folding at just the right point.

The last piece of upper body lining is for the sleeves. While researching the coat, I noticed in Castrovalva, when The Doctor puts the cost on for the very first time, it is possible to see the sleeve linings (see right - click to enlarge) which are white. It is quite a common thing in suit tailoring to make the sleeve linings a different colour, and white is a preferred choice.

I sourced some suitable fabric, and repeated my sleeve pattern for the lining and set them accordingly (see left).

That’s a good point to take a little break before tackling the collar and the lapel notch, which can be a little tricky.

Check back soon to see how I get on.