Off Duty

This is my Col William Tavington costume from the Mel Gibson film 'The Patriot'.

I was due to take part in a history costume group at one of the Collectormaina events in 2005. I sadly fell ill and the costume got delayed. I got the chance to finish it and wear in at Starfury-Serenity 2 in 2005.

I chose the costume as the history group had only a couple male characters plus I am a fan of Jason Isaacs who plays the role in the film.

I completely made the costume from scratch. The breeches are authentic to the time period as is all the other parts. The only thing that wasn't was the boots as they were cheap rubber ones. The toughest part was the breeches and doing all the buttons on the jacket/waistcoat. I also built the sword, holster and belts. I ran out of time to do the helmet so that will be added at a later date.

The whole costume took about a month to make (over a longer period) and currently is my cheapest costume budget wise (I was lucky with the fabrics. They came to £35 in total).

This was a fun but challenging costume to make. I would love to chance to wear him again some day. Maybe on horseback.

Tavington and 'The Patriot' is owned by Columbia Pictures and Robert Rodat (who wrote the screenplay).