How to make a Dr. Horrible Costume
by manny
We’ve been blogging quite a bit about Dr. Horrible, the supervillain musical that’s taken the Internet by storm.
Today, we’ll take a closer look at making a Dr. Horrible costume.
Lab Coat
Dr. Horrible wears a white lab coat. You can find a basic lab coat at any costume shop, but if you want to be picky you’ll need a coat that buttons on the side, not down in front. Look for the “Howie” style coat.
Here are some places that sell this type of lab coat:
EDIT 9/28/09: Irongate Gallery is selling a custom lab coat that is perfect for around $100. Includes the caduceus sewn in. They also have gloves and silver goggles. CLICK HERE
Edit 11/05/08: Shadow Dale Creations now also offers an authentic Dr. Horrible lab coat for $200. Available in white or red. CLICK HERE
A couple other places to try:
http://www.dmdevice.com/A001.html
http://www.jamstore.co.uk
Logo on Pocket
The Dr. Horrible logo is a caduceus, which is a winged herald’s staff entwined by two serpents in the form of a double helix.
The serpents are green and the staff is red.
Goggles
UPDATE (10-21-09) – Be sure to check out our latest post that shows the goggles in high detail.
The evil doctor wears a pair of silver welding goggles. The best pair I’ve seen is available from Irongate Gallery.
Similar goggles may be available at the following stores, but you might want to paint them silver:
http://www.discountsafetygear.com
http://www.mortonsafety.com
http://www.toolking.com
White Gloves
Dr. Horrible wears a pair of white work gloves. Some people have found that fencing gloves work, too. You can try these stores:
http://store.weldersource.com
http://shop.fencing.net/
White Boots
Complete your outfit with a pair of white boots, and you’re all set. They can be found at the following stores:
http://www.mortonsafety.com
http://www.acehardwareoutlet.com
This recent Comic-Con attendee came pretty close:
I hope we see a bunch of Dr. Horrible costumes this Halloween. Be sure to practice your evil laugh!
If you haven’t seen Dr. Horrible yet, head on over to drhorrible.com or purchase the show directly from iTunes.
July 29th, 2008 at 10:12 am
Okay, I think I want one of these!
July 30th, 2008 at 8:44 am
But what are the tips for the good Doctor’s FINAL costume?
July 30th, 2008 at 8:54 am
Hi Moist. I was torn between mentioning it and giving away spoilers. What should I do?
July 30th, 2008 at 9:03 am
Last costume? Die your lab coat red, that what it looks like they did (look at the stitching and buttons they remained white).
Ok, so the lab coats suggested up there are close. Anyone have any ideas on what the flap of fabric under the top most front of the coat looks like? It clearly doesn’t come all the way down, but I can’t tell where it stops. Has anyone seen one of these open? Should be an easy make.
Also, any ideas on making the weapons? Death Ray, or forearm laser from the bank heist?
July 30th, 2008 at 9:31 am
Sorry, but those lab coats are nothing like Horrible’s, except in the vaguest possible way. The lab coat is more of a 40s style mad scientist coat. The worst thing you could do is get that one wrong. I think you’d have to stitch it together yourself in order to get it right.
July 30th, 2008 at 9:36 am
Hi Jack K. – from what I understand, the actual coat worn by Dr. Horrible was leftover from the Firefly episode “Ariel.” I’ve looked and looked for the exact coat, and I think you are right. To be perfect, you’ll have to sew it yourself.
July 30th, 2008 at 11:38 am
His gloves changed from off-white to black for the final scene too. And I doubt his boots stayed white, although we never see them. I’d suggest black boots to match the black gloves and non-khaki pants underneath the red coat. Maybe black. Again, we just don’t see enough of the “Evil League of Evil” costume to know for certain.
July 31st, 2008 at 7:15 am
[...] Horrible Tees via J!NX] You can also make a Dr. Horrible costume, explained in a few easy steps at MyDiguises. The result looks a lot like this costume, below, which we saw at Comic-Con. Amber’s Fashion Tips [...]
July 31st, 2008 at 1:31 pm
[...] out my friend Manny at My Disguises for tips on costume [...]
July 31st, 2008 at 1:57 pm
You should probably remove the Pentergast site from the list of places for goggles. Apparently they aren’t shipping things that look even close to what’s pictured and they’re being extremely rude about it.
http://community.livejournal.com/drhorribledress/16086.html
August 1st, 2008 at 6:22 am
Out of curiousity, have you ordered the goggles from discount safety.com? Are they actually the exact goggles, or are they the green version that everyone seems to be getting?
August 1st, 2008 at 7:51 am
Good point, Wulfae. I bet they are green like the others. I will clarify.
August 1st, 2008 at 8:17 am
But a can of silver spray paint and some masking tape fixes that easily. As long as you can find the right model of goggles, color shouldn’t be an issue. As for the lab coat, you may want to, if you’re not really a seamstress, get one of the coats that look some what like Dr. Horrible’s and have some one tweak it for you.
August 1st, 2008 at 9:01 am
[...] the release of Dr. Horrible on the Internet, fans immediately began looking for ways to make a Dr. Horrible Costume. A key ingredient? The Goggles. It turns out they are standard welding goggles available at many [...]
August 3rd, 2008 at 12:46 pm
yeh, the goggles are different. Its not surprising really, more than likley (like most of the costumes in film and TV) they have been adapted for the film. Those goggles just need a lick of pain and a replacement strap and they’d be fine.
Also, any idea where/how to get the little logo? Or is that a case of finding someone who can sew?
August 3rd, 2008 at 4:49 pm
Richard, this is pretty close, what do you think?
http://tinyurl.com/6my9yj
August 3rd, 2008 at 8:07 pm
Finally got everything ordered for mine. I’ll probably just end up making an iron-on transfer for the Caduceus. ☤
August 7th, 2008 at 7:36 am
[...] now I know what to be for [...]
August 7th, 2008 at 6:48 pm
Looking at the costume, it seems it’s slightly oversized – it looks like they might have taken a larger size than NPH and sized it down.
August 15th, 2008 at 11:01 am
[...] Horrible wears the classic mad scientist smock. Some call it a Dentist smock or a Howie coat. Also consider Chef’s coats as a possible match. The reason it is not a Dentist smock, but is [...]
August 17th, 2008 at 1:47 pm
I’m working on putting one together, thanks for the help!
September 4th, 2008 at 1:50 pm
Does anyone have a much clearer pic of the logo on lab coat pocket? I went to a embroidering booth and they said the picture would have to be much clearer for them to digitize it. I don’t have the photo software or knowledge to pull it myself. Any help would be appreciated, thanks!
September 5th, 2008 at 10:54 am
Rick, here’s a good link: http://www.cosplay.com/photo/1665420/
September 5th, 2008 at 2:31 pm
[...] Be the girl who wears both goggles and glasses? Become a mad scientist in my spare time? (Also: This blog has a ton of links to places to buy Dr. Horrible costume-making gear. [...]
September 9th, 2008 at 10:27 am
[...] posted previously about what’s needed in a Dr. Horrible costume, and there is plenty of fan discussion over at [...]
September 10th, 2008 at 8:30 am
Hey Guys,
Wanted to give a heads up that I have a lab coat you might be interested in at my store. I’ve been working with some designs for a while and I’m finally ready to put it up today.
http://www.theirongategallery.com/costumeitems-dr.horrible
PS – There are only a few pictures right now, I hope to add more soon.
September 10th, 2008 at 9:14 am
Thanks, Irongate. That looks awesome. I’m going to edit this article to include your lab coat.
September 10th, 2008 at 10:32 am
[...] seems everyone has been searching high and low for the perfect Dr. Horrible Costume. The hardest thing for people to find has been a replica of Dr. Horrible’s Lab Coat. There [...]
September 19th, 2008 at 8:05 am
The style of lab coat that docotor horrible wears is a Howie Lab Coat
September 29th, 2008 at 1:07 pm
The Fibre Metal VG800H5 goggles mentioned are NOT the ones shown, and they differ by more than just the color of the body. The ones pictured above seem to be an exact match, but the green ones everyone can buy are different. They have different ventilation holes on the sides, and the frames around the eyepieces aren’t knurled like Dr. Horrible’s.
October 4th, 2008 at 3:36 pm
i found the PERFECT goggles! they are EXACT in EVERY WAY but the type of vents (which are easily removed and swapped), and the blue-green color (which is easily painted to match metallic) they have ALL six vents – top, bottom, and side. and the frames around the eyepieces ARE knurled. also, the tabs for the lift-front are the correct shape (not triangular). in summary, after a couple of simple modifications, they are an EXACT MATCH. (believe me, i have been looking high and low for months to find the perfect pair… and this is it!)
i bought a few extra pairs to sell, and if you already got a pair of those fibre-metal goggles that aren’t exactly right, you can use the vents from those on these – easily removed and re-snapped into place. thought because of the six vents, you may need more than one pair of the other goggle.
October 4th, 2008 at 6:23 pm
I found great boots and acceptable gloves for cheap through Star Safety.
Here are the gloves, $2.06:
http://www.gssstore.com/product/COR7605/Grey_Welder_Work_Gloves_1_Pair.html
And the boots (scroll down–men and women’s sizes available!), $14.93+:
http://www.gssstore.com/category/5disposableclothing.boots.bata_ongard/
Spread the horribleness.
October 5th, 2008 at 11:19 am
Thanks so much for the tips! As for changing the color of things in existing costumes, there is an amazing spray paint called “florist’s Friend” that is designed to paint just about anything. I’ve used it on everything from fabric to metal and it looks great. I’m going to try to use it on black gloves and the goggles–I’ll let you know how it looks. Love the blog!
October 6th, 2008 at 5:25 pm
This is in regard to fellow US fans of Dr Horrible that might be looking for the costume…
The members of my rock band, The Shake Ups, are all dressing as Dr Horrible for our Halloween show. I had to do a LOT of research to obtain appropriate garb, so I thought I’d let you know what I found…
First of all, unless you’re in the UK or Ireland it’s going to be difficult to find the howie labcoat. I found one that was close at Jamstore.co.uk, however they do not ship international orders – and have yet to process my refund… So unless you’re in one of the aforementioned areas, don’t bother with them.
The closest coat I found was through Pastelli, an Italian company that does actually have a US branch. Look for model T001 Tecnus or A001 Los Angeles, which are the closest to the doctor’s design. It took a while for me to hear back from someone, but the direct e-mail for the person that handles the US & Canada is sltenter@hotmail.com, and the website to find the coats is http://www.sltenterprises.com.
The goggles are model VG800H5 and are discontinued, and therefore out of stock at many places. I was able to find them at Amazon for even less than I had originally ordered them for when the original order I placed was cancelled due to unavailability.
For boots, do a search for “boot shrimper white” at http://www.acehardwareoutlet.com, and then find your size.
Also, for anyone wanting to be Captain Hammer, you can get the perfect gloves (Darth Vader gloves!) at most party supply or Halloween stores. These are far closer than any other recommendations I’ve seen.
Hope this helps!
October 6th, 2008 at 6:42 pm
Thanks, PJ. Hey, can you send us pictures of your band all dressed as Dr. Horrible? That sounds AWESOME!
October 6th, 2008 at 7:32 pm
We’re hoping it’ll be awesome. We’re playing the costumed show on Oct. 25th, and planning to do
a couple of the songs too (”My Freeze Ray,” “My Eyes”). Once we have all of the costume stuff, I’ll send
some pics
If you want to check out the band or some of my tunes, go to:
http://myspace.com/theshakeups (the band that’ll be dressing as the good doctor)
or http://myspace.com/pjotaku (check out my song “Joss Whedon Is My Master Now”)
October 12th, 2008 at 12:39 am
Does anyone know how they faded the logo on the gloves? You can see in this [1] screenshot that the logo is still there, but greatly faded. I tried sandpaper, acetone, and isopropyl; the solvents didn’t do anything and the sandpaper only worked up to a point — I think I’d sand through the leather entirely if I kept trying that method.
[1] http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a28/whynotsaylove/dr%20horrible/horrible-tillmangloves.jpg
October 16th, 2008 at 10:15 am
[...] it. Of course, easier said than done – how do you make the thing? The first guide I found was this one, which provides a nice overview with different options for each aspect of the costume. And wow, a [...]
October 19th, 2008 at 9:54 pm
I went to a Menards and bought a small jar of paint called Glistening Gray by Pittsburgh Paints
October 20th, 2008 at 3:31 am
I just got my Howie coat from Uniforms By Ray Higgins out of Canada. It fits and is wonderful. They shipped in a little less than two weeks.
http://www.uniformsbyrayhiggins.com/Results.cfm?category=12
October 22nd, 2008 at 10:14 am
I have 2 pair of size 11 white boots, I have pics if anyone is interested. They were part of a set of 3 and I don’t need them. I’ll sell for a reasonable price and ship priority mail.
digitalsaint [at] gmail!
October 26th, 2008 at 2:40 pm
I became a huge Joss Whedon fan after my husband got me to watch his Firefly and Serenity DVD.s Since i already was making costumes it was just natural for my daughter and I to start making Firefly costumes, holsters and of coarse the famous leather Browncoats for ourselves and then for other fans. This took off and now we have a website browncoatfashions.com. where we will soon be offering the Dr. Horrible lab coats in white and red in the near future. If interested please check out our site
October 29th, 2008 at 11:41 pm
if you want a really good Dr. Horrible coat you are probably just going to have to make one. I just made one for my 9 year old and he is OMG cute. The fabric I used was wrongish though, so it drapes funny, but it was easy to draft the pattern – it si a very basic silhouette. I used snaps instead of buttons and ended up drawing the symbol because when I embroidered it the damn thing came out huge. Lol. I got the inexpensive green goggles and painted them, same with the boot, walmart “rain boots” painted white >.> that did not work particularly well /shrug.
All in all he looks adorable (kinda like a young Dougie Howser come think of it). He knows the songs and it make my mama’s heart go pitter pat in a big way. Daddy will be Capt. Hammer and I get to be a groupie. older brother refused the Hammer role so he is a spartan, can’t win them all…
December 1st, 2008 at 11:35 am
[...] news, Dr. Horrible fans! The superhero musical that took the Internet by storm last summer is now on available on [...]
April 2nd, 2009 at 10:18 am
[...] hope they get the costumes right, and someone at the school reads our post about How to Make a Dr. Horrible Costume. That should get them pointed in the right [...]
May 23rd, 2009 at 9:30 am
Found this post detailing how to sew your own Dr. Horrible lab coat…Looks like they did a good job
http://community.livejournal.com/drhorribledress/25908.html
June 20th, 2009 at 10:55 am
Hey Guys,
Just wanted to say that I’ve added some new photos to our site as we’ve refined the design since we started way back when. I’ve updated some of the pattern based on the actual lab coat that an amazing fan was able to provide shots of.
The new pictures are up on the website. http://www.theirongategallery.com/product.asp?itemid=1
August 10th, 2009 at 11:39 am
Found a great site to purchase goggles, lab coat, boots and gloves ….. See http://www.allsafetysupplies.com/Dr_Horrible.html
August 27th, 2009 at 3:43 pm
Hey everyone,
I noticed that the link to tcafencing.com doesn’t work; I don’t think that site exists anymore. Also, I personally am not a fan of those blusih ones at the other linked site (I don’t know if it’s just the picture that’s making them look blue or not…). I did, however, find two pairs that I like very much, and I thought I’d share them with you guys
The first pair is similar to the bluish pair up top, but they’re all white except for the cuff. The only problem in my opinion with these are the natural cuffs and the cuffs seeming a little short, but both problems are easily remedied with a bit of skill and patience. http://www.gloves-online.com/proddetail.php?prod=WK-W-0119 The second pair I found by taking the advice above about fencing gloves. This was by far the best pair I found, and they are the closest match I’ve been able to find to Dr. Horrible’s gloves (besides of course making them oneself), but the mitt itself is off. http://shop.fencing.net/product_p/afg-31003.htm Ha, if anything, a combination of the mitt on the work gloves and the cuff on the fencing gloves would be almost perfect.
September 3rd, 2009 at 5:53 am
The gloves can also be found here at amazon: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B000GAT7WQ/ref=pd_luc_mri?%5Fencoding=UTF8&m=A1QTD1JR6DNCXK&v=glance
once you add that to your cart amazon recommends just about everything else you’ll need
October 14th, 2009 at 6:45 pm
Finally found the closest thing without spending $150 at Irongate.
http://www.shop.grahamegardner.co.uk/osb/itemdetails.cfm/ID/69
They were very nice and accepted my order from the US. Should have it shortly. Unfortunately it is discontinued and the only sizes they have left are 1 each of medium and XL, but around 30 XSMALL, SMALL, and XXL. Hopefully this will help somebody out.
E-mail samX@grahamegardner.Xco.uk (remove X’s) and she will help you out. As long as the order is in by the 23rd she can have it there by Halloween.
October 14th, 2009 at 7:51 pm
Wow, Casey, that’s a great find!
October 15th, 2009 at 7:48 pm
Made my son his costume… I made the smock from scratch using a commercial pattern that I altered as needed- used shell buttons. My husband painted the welding goggles and belt sanded the Tillman logo off the gloves. We bought used Hunter rainboots off eBay and painted them white.
http://twitpic.com/locrq
http://twitpic.com/locty
We’re going to a showing of DHSAB at the Egyptian tomorrow night.
(Son is 8 years old and the biggest Dr. Horrible fan.)
October 15th, 2009 at 9:27 pm
Casey – GAH. That’s too bad, that is by far the best find for the $$ and the style! I’m going to attempt ordering from the site anyway… it’s not blocking my attempt to try to get an L. (Not that that means anything from a small company, but why the heck not). Thanks for the post!
January 11th, 2010 at 1:45 pm
Ok, I am putting together a Dr. Horrible costume for San Diego Comic Con, and I am almost all set, but I was wondering if anyone had any idea where I can get something close to the freeze ray gun?
Thanks