Drafting Rose Tyler and Gwen Cooper’s Jacket Patterns

Two weeks ago I was sick with the flu. While trying to think of something to get my mind off how yucky I felt, I decided it was about time I drafted some patterns for a few Rose Tyler and Gwen Cooper jackets I own. Although I adore the jackets Rose Tyler wears in Doctor Who and the jackets Gwen Cooper wears in Torchwood, finding them are very difficult and it’s even harder to find the jackets in my size. After a lot of thought, I decided that after this year’s Phoenix Comicon, I’ll use what money I had left over from the convention (If I had any money left over) and the money I’d use for going to other conventions and buy any screen accurate clothing I’ve been looking for for a while, buy them, and then make them in a larger size so they’ll fit me.

I’ve collected more screen accurate clothes from various characters from Doctor Who than I care to mention but I will talk about three jackets I’m currently drafting patterns for: Rose Tyler’s Idiot’s Lantern jacket, Rose Tyler’s School Reunion jacket, and one Diesel Gwen Cooper jacket. I’m not done drafting the patterns for the jackets, so I’m only going to talk about the jackets themselves.

Before I continue talking about the jackets, I’d like anyone who is looking for the jackets Rose Tyler wears turn to either Bad Wolf Closet on Tumblr or Rose Tyler Costuming and Collecting on Facebook. The person who runs both sites knows far more than I do about the fit, rarity, ect. of Rose Tyler’s clothes and I did turn to both sites very often while searching for information about the jackets I own.

The first jacket I plan on making is Rose Tyler’s Idiot’s Lantern jacket. I was fortunate to find one for sale and happily bought it. Of course, it doesn’t fit me. Based off personal experience, I usually have trouble with Topshop’s sizes before so I knew before I searched for a jacket for sale that there might be a chance the jacket will never fit me or have enough room for my bust. The only way of being 100% certain the jacket will fit me is by making one from scratch.

Here’s what the jacket looks like…

If you’ve seen the episode or looked for the jacket, you probably noticed the jacket is not the right color. I’ve tried to by a jacket in the right, blue/grey color before, but it was awfully expensive. As far as I know there are two other colors this jacket comes in: black and this scarlet red. This jacket is made out of cotton too so if I were to strip the color from it I could dye it the right blue/grey color. Although I can do this, I’m not going to change the color of the jacket. True, it’s an awfully bright red color and looking at it for too long hurts my eyes, but I’d rather leave it as-is. It was made red so why not keep it red? If I do end up selling it one day (and that will be a very sad day too) I’ll leave it to the new jacket owner to change the color.

The second jacket I’m drafting a pattern for is Rose Tyler’s jacket from School Reunion. I love the episode School Reunion for several reasons, but mostly because it was the first episode Sarah Jane Smith and K-9 returned to Doctor Who. Again, the jacket I own does not fit me so I need to make one that will fit me.

Here’s what my jacket looks like…

Again, not the right color. And again, I’m not going to do this jacket to change the color of the jacket partly because of the same reason as the Idiot’s Lantern jacket and partly because it cannot be dyed. It says this on the Rose Tyler costume websites I linked to above, but after getting my hands on the real jacket I agree. The fabric itself could be stripped and dyed (I think…), but since the jacket is reversible and jacket is two different colors the only way of dying both fabrics different colors is by taking the jacket completely apart, removing the color on all fabrics, dye each part separately, and then re-sew the whole entire jacket back together again. And then there’s the ribbed knit, which is dyed half one color and half the other. Ugh. Too much work to dye everything. It really would be easier to make it from scratch.

Anyway, while drafting a pattern for the jacket, I found the jacket had some funny, picky things that are odd, unique, and really doesn’t make sense sans it looks cool. There are buttons holes in the collar (There are no buttons on the jacket), zipper pockets on the reversed part of the jacket, embroidered patches on the front and back of the jacket, embroidery on the reversed part of the jacket, and that all I can remember! But there is one part of the jacket that impressed me. There are darts to help with the fit of the sleeves on the shoulder….

It was neat and I thought it was cleaver. The button holes in the collar without a button to go to? Not so much.

The last jacket I’m drafting a pattern for is one of Gwen Cooper’s jackets from Torchwood. I love Gwen’s jackets, but one stood out the most as one I’d like to own. It’s a Diesel jacket from their Rising Sun line and was used in four episodes of Torchwood. I did find one, bought it, and here’s what it looks like…

Much to my dismay, it’s too small for me. Should be the right size, but based off personal experience, jackets in the Rising Sun line run small. Although I’m sad I can’t wear it, I still adore it and want to make it over again. In fact, I adored this jacket so much that before I found one for sale, I already bought fabric, buttons, and everything I thought I might need to make this jacket so I could have my own. Now that I have my own jacket, I can use it for the patterns… which is good because this jacket is far more complex than I originally thought it would be. Of course I always thought this jacket would be complex, but like the School Reunion jacket, this jacket has little details that are weird and strange. In fact, there are so many details in this jacket that I couldn’t see in the reference photos I’ve found that I know I’ll need to take my time making this jacket. Fortunately, I think I might have everything I need to make my own. Or somewhat close to it.

That’s about everything! I am planning on making the Idiot’s Lantern jacket first because I already have all the fabric I need to make it. I just need the pattern and I can start cutting fabric. Probably the School Reunion jacket will be second and the Gwen Cooper jacket will be third. I’ll try to keep everyone updated with my progress, but after the flu I had two weeks ago my energy level has gone down more than I’d like to admit. It’s coming back, but it’s slow.