Donna Noble – Doctor Who (Journey’s End)

Made for: Dragoncon 2011

Background: I love Donna and just had to do a Doctor Who costume.

Journal Entries: Read more at my Donna Noble tag

Related Costumes: Flapper Donna, Time Lord, Library Donna, Runaway Bride Donna

Patterns Used
None

Jacket:

I had really, really wanted to make the jacket. I had a pattern picked out and was really excited to tackle it, when I realised having to buy the leather necessary was going to push me way, WAAAY over my budget for this project.

So I started digging on ebay hoping to find a jacket I could scavenge material from… instead I found this vintage jacket that was fairly close, and decided to go with that since it would just need a few tweaks to look like the screen-used jacket. Much less work than making it myself (though less satisfying in the end.)

When it arrived, I took the belt loops off, and then took the collar off, opened it up and changed the shape of it, curving the edges. Before I reattached it, and changed the shape of the front edges, too, just to straighten it out and remove the “lapel” angle it had. Broke a few needles on this sucker, this leather is THICK!

I had a hard time finding buttons for it. In the end I found some large wooden buttons and painted them to match the jacket, and sewed them on. There are no matching button holes for them on the opposite side; look my machine has trouble doing button holes on 2 layers of cotton, I wasn’t even going to attempt it on this leather!!

Shirt:

The shirt I made without a pattern – it’s two different ribbed knits – the top is a wider rib, and I had to dye it so that it matched the tone of the other knit with the smaller rib pattern. I opted to leave it sleeveless, since this costume was for DragonCon in Atlanta in August and I was already going to be wearing a leather jacket on top of it. From the bust seam up the top is self-lined, and the bottom section is just one layer.

Belt:

The belt my husband helped me make – it’s not perfect but I’m pretty proud of it! I bought a piece of wide, tan elastic on etsy (only place I could find something like that), and cut the leather pieces out of leftover leather scraps and dyed it. The metal hardware/buckle I bought at tandy leather.

Accessories:

Jeans I bought locally, tanktop I bought online and dyed darker, and the boots I had. The earrings I bought on ebay, and the ring I bought from another costumer.

Wig:

Up until 2014 I used my own hair, but as my own hair grew longer and less and less “correct” (not that it terribly correct to start with), I broke down and bought a wig. I dyed it to be a tint more red than it was when it arrived, and my friend Frankie fixed the horrible hack job I originally did on the bangs. It’s nice to have the option to just throw a wig on now, because originally I was sleeping in curlers trying to achieve Catherine Tate’s volume which my hair just DOES NOT HAVE, LOL.

History:

This was so fun to wear, so comfortable and I had POCKETS! Pockets are such a rarity. I wore this at pretty much every con I went to from Dragoncon 2011 up to like 2014-2015? Because it was so comfy and I was still very much in my Doctor Who phase. I haven’t worn it as much since then, but I still bring it out occasionally.

What’s funny is that since getting on tiktok in 2019, I now hear nonstop comments about how I look like Donna Noble, and that I should do I Donna Noble costume. Sorry yall missed that boat, it’s been done and I’ve moved on LOL

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Please note that none of these costumes are for sale! This is my personal portfolio.