In depth look at the construction of Adric's clothing.

I didn't use pattern for the jerkin and tunic. I was able to alter a jeans pattern for his pants, but what I had to do to get his tunic accurate was to base his clothing on dark ages garb (Saxon/Viking). This proved to be a rather roundabout way of doing it, because once I'd finished all of the differences between Adric's clothing and dark ages garb became apparent. I was going to put a cut here, but instead I think I'll just link to the page on my fashion blog, because that's where the photos are being hosted anyway.

 The shirt ties down the side on the front, then folds over and ties down the other side. The panel that went behind the other on Matthew Waterhouse's costume appears to only be half as wide in some shots (possibly a fabric conservation) but I made it reach over the front to make it more comfortable. Because of that, both panels are almost exactly the same side and shape, just sewn down the other side. However, the rust-coloured band doesn't appear on the lower fold and the front fold has the same taper towards the armpit that appears on the jerkin. I drafted this up in muslin, and then used the same pattern to make the tunic and the jerkin. The rust coloured band has slits up the side to allow easier access to the pockets. And by slits, I mean I hemmed the pieces instead of sewing them together.

 Just ignore the black sunhat that really looks like I accidentally switched to the paint brush tool while I was trying (and failing, sorry) to even out the strange lighting in my room.

The tunic ties on one shoulder and along the side, then the other panel folds over and does the exact same thing. There are a lot of ties. This cosplay is very comfortable but it takes a lot of time to take off and on. Also, sometimes I'm groggy at the morning in cons, so I accidentally tie the ties to the wrong place.

You will notice that much like Adric's actual tunic, this looks anywhere between putty and olive depending on the lighting. I would like to think that Adric really did have an olive outfit and a taupe outfit and he just wore the same tunic over it every day; but given the budget I am not sure if Matthew Waterhouse did. However, in Full Circle he cuts his knee and it gets a darker green patch which is never seen again, which I would like to think suggests at least two pairs of pants. I would also like to think that Romana helped him fix his trousers, because she was kind of being a mother hen in that serial, and come on. It's adorable. Either that or the Tardis laundry does very good repairs automatically. Tegan keeps throwing her running hose over the back of her chair when she changes into pajamas, but the next day, they're neatly folded, clean and fresh with no runs.

  The jerkin is shaped very much like the tunic, except for the sleeves and the lack of the rust-coloured band.

It ties the same way down the sides and across the chest. To the right, we see a picture of the front panel of the jerkin folded back to show that I put a full back panel on the jerkin front. That sentence doesn't make very much sense but I can't seem to improve it no matter how many times I write it. It's the same as the tunic, but in mustard yellow.

I love Adric, but my love for Adric is the only thing that could make me wear mustard-yellow with putty and rust. And sage boots. Really. What goes on on Alzarius?

The sleeves of the jerkin are quilted, which I did in a way very much like facing a collar. I basically cut a piece of linen and a piece of quilting batting (it was actually a scrap from a quilted skirt) the shape of the armhole and sewed it on with the seam on the outside, turned it inside out, and sewed it into place (sorry if you already knew how collars were faced) . Then, I quilted the three sections into place. Rather like Sailor Moon's sleeves, I think. And of course, a rust coloured patch pocket on the chest.

 

  The trousers were basically a jean pattern, but with the fly sewn up and a drawstring inserted. I always use parachute cord for drawstrings, which makes it the only inorganic part of the clothing. The tunic, jerkin, and trousers are all made of linen and sewn with cotton thread.  I'm not entirely sure why I took a picture of the pockets, the one unfinished seam in all of the outfit, to show off that I finished all my other seams. I should go back and finish that seam.

 The reason I used a jean pattern to make his trousers were because of the placement of the pockets. It is very important to have pockets in cosplay to carry your cell phone in case you get lost at a con. Also for Adric to stick a coin to flip in, or his hands in when he storms off for a sulk. This is also why the ruse coloured band has slits on the hips.
Varsh's belt would be been more accurately made out of knotted and braided twine, but I had a con to get to and a lot of linen scraps on hand, so folded out cords, sewed them up, used some of them for the ties on the tunic and braided the rest into a belt.

The badges were cut out of brass, and I soldered brass kilt pins to the back. I then masked the edges of the star with masking tape and enameled the front blue. I wouldn't have an Earthshock variant badge except I asked the handyman who happened to be installing cabinets that day if he could cut out the star I traced for me. This was a mistake. He very helpfully whipped out his metal snips and snipped out a very irregular star.

Later, I bought a pair of my own metal snips and carefully cut out a symmetrical star. I then cut off the smallest leg of the irregular star, which really helped it look more like it was a normal star once, and then copied what parts of the enamel had chipped off in the last shot of Earthshock.

 I really do need to alter these boots. I got them for ten dollars at Goodwill, and they're comfortable, but I need to move the buttons to the inside and paint the soles white. While Adric's boots were essentially boot covers over white tennis shoes, after making a cosplay that looks like SCA garb, I wanted to have shoes that didn't look like cosplay shoes. Which Adric's sort of do. You see my problem?

I feel I should also mention that while I made my cosplay out of linen as a choice to make it look less like a costume and more like reenacting garb, the actual costume looks like it was made out of a much thinner, smoother fabric, like flat cotton.