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Steampunk goes to Hogwarts

Posted on by Felix

By Kitty

There are some things to be said for uniforms.  You never need to decide what to wear to school or work tomorrow, you only need two changes of clothing, and…er…uhm. 

Yes, back when dinosaurs wandered the Earth, Aunt Kitty was a schoolgirl in a convent school, complete with uniform, and she hasn’t quite gotten over it.  The nuns would whack people with a ruler for any dangerous sparks of individuality, such as pinning a button to your blouse or adding a bow to your pinafore.  Which is why the school robes at Hogwarts (though they are a vast improvement on pinafores) still make me cringe a tiny bit, and also why the following project came about.

Imagine a school for magic, but populated by people dressed in their steampunk-inspired best.  Maybe not for the kiddos, but surely even wizards need institutions for post-secondary education.  No one wants to see grad students in uniform robes, right?

Gryffindor was easy.  To begin with, we already had a burgundy-red fabric in the ol’ stash which just happened to have gold phoenixes on it!  So that became a corset, and the rest of the outfit was built around it.  I imagine Gryffindors would be edgy dressers, leaning a bit toward drama, who aren’t afraid of being noticed, hence the ruffled high-low hemline, the opera-length cloak, and artful pattern-mixing.  

I also did a men’s version, mainly because Felix is an unmitigated Gryffindor and he already owns everything in this colour, so I didn’t need to make much new stuff.

Ravenclaw is what Kitty always gets sorted into, like it or not.  We’re going to skirt the debate over the book-correct bronze/film-correct silver thing, and just go with elements of both.  I feel Ravenclaw fashion would be intricate, imaginative, and just a smidge impractical — more about vision than putting in a hard day’s mucking in.  I don’t even really like blue, but  (in spite of secretly feeling like a Slytherin and wishing to be a Hufflepuff) I quite like this combination.

Slytherin feels to me like it should be mysterious, opulent, a bit sensual but subtle.  The full-circle skirt, complete with eight more full circles in the flounces, has just the right sort of secret richness that only shows up in motion, when you twirl or walk.  You could hide anything under that, and a nice big hood can hide still more, if you’re so inclined.

Hufflepuff colours carry a certain amount of built-in drama (in nature, black and yellow does mean “PAY ATTENTION!”).  Here, we counterbalance this with designs which are highly practical, with actual useful features and sensible lines.   Hence the breathable cotton skirt with capacious pockets and real-life-appropriate blouse (which could easily go to work under a robe, blazer, or lab coat, then straight on to the ball once you whip on the brilliant yellow-gold corset).  I feel Hufflepuffs would appreciate this.  The world would be a better place if everyone were a Hufflepuff.

Next time: It’s really not a surgical mask.  Honest.

That Perfect Shirt

Posted on by Felix

(…for a given value of perfect)

This is the story of Kitty yanking out all her fur while trying to design the perfect shirt for as many women’s bodies as possible, preferably without having to personally fit them all one at a time. 

If you read my last blog on what makes a shirt fit properly, you already know how challenging it is just to get reasonably good fit.  But I wanted this new design to have all of the following assets too:

  1. A simple enough line so you could wear it often, but also stylish enough that it doesn’t look like you bought it at Fast-Fashions-‘R’-Us.  Basically, you should be able to wear it under a business blazer AND a Victorian corset equally appropriately.
  • Some adjustability.  Much as I would love to have a separate pattern for each common figure variation (bust size, hip size, waist length, sleeve girth, etc), we’re not a mega-corporation with a sweatshop.  One Kitty can only sew so many things in a day, and we don’t have room to carry (or store) thousands of shirts.  Which means that there would need to be built-in features made for flexing around your diverse shapes.
  • Affordability, within reason.  Everybody needs a shirt that fits.  On the other hand, a truly custom-fitted, hand-made blouse, constructed with decent materials with all the fine details I’d like it to have, tends to cost about as much as a small car.  So, compromise is going to be a thing.

So this is the design so far:

We’re going with a standing collar because it gives a finished look without being generic.  I started with a front that closed all the way up the neck, but nixed that idea in favour of this neckline with a narrow V-shaped notch.  Seriously, no one can handle something buttoned under the chin unless you have a swan-like neck and chiselled jawline.  I actually really love the way this neckline turned out — oddly elegant and elongating.  Totally worth the dozens of attempts that it took.

The sleeves are three-quarter length, lightly gathered into a narrow cuff.  The cuff echoes the collar and pulls the look together, and the gathering adds a definite but not over-the-top softness.  Also, it accommodates more kinds of arms, softening the skinny and making room for the billowy.  I can’t be the only one with massive biceps compared to the rest of me, right?  And three-quarter is a universally flattering length, which also happens to look great even if your arms are an inch or three longer or shorter than average.

There is no way to adjust the bust fit on a fitted shirt that I know of.  I suppose I’ll just have to make these in multiple cup sizes.  Oh well.  But it’s worth it!  See how marvellous a shirt can look when it correctly cups your bosom and actually nips in at the waist?

The upper back actually has a built-in adjustment for a forward shoulder.  This is the one alteration you really need that you didn’t know you needed; almost EVERYONE needs it in this age of computers.  Your shoulders and neck curve forward more than they used to back when everyone was out chasing antelope or show-jumping on horseback.  This is why store-bought shirts sometimes fall back off the shoulder and, in extreme cases, crawl up and try to choke you (lots of people avoid high necklines just for this reason, and this is why you often have to pull your shirt down in the front).  See how the shoulder seam is shifted ever so slightly forward?

The blue ribbon in the previous photo is where a conventional shoulder seam sits.  It’s a very small change, but it ensures that the shirt will stay put on your shoulders.

There are adjustable lacings in the back.  Firstly, no one has the same waist length, and secondly, you may have no bum, an average bum, or a really fabulous bum with the full swayback deal.  A little manipulation of these lacings will help most of us skirt the issue, just enough to achieve decent fit.  I detest sewing loops, and I tried many ways to get around it, but I had to admit defeat — the lacing system really works well, and adds a nice detail besides.

It’s so much simpler to make the hem straight all the way around, but stark horizontal line right at the hip doesn’t do us any favours, especially in a crisp fitted item like this.  Ergo, we have a gently curved hem, which is a headache to sew correctly, but makes your legs look longer and enhances your curvature.  It’s subtle and you wouldn’t consciously notice it, but believe me, it makes a difference.

I’m satisfied (for now) that this us the best off-the-rack shirt I can make.  I realize that everything looks good on Amelia, my trusty and completely inhuman-looking dress form, but honestly, this looks halfway decent on me too (linebacker shoulders, Hanoverian bosom, no waist, hip-deficient, bum-less, truly epic biceps), which is rather a feat for any blouse.  There is a reason you’ve never, ever seen me in a button-down-style shirt before.

I may have ripped out all my hair while stitching the million or so sample shirts to get to this point, but hopefully it will be worth it in the end.  The plan is to debut these (yes, with different cup sizes) in April at Calgary, so come help me test out the prototypes. Then as usual, I’ll probably end up making a host of changes based on your suggestions.

Next up: Steampunk goes to Hogwarts.

Blouses for Bountiful Bosoms

Posted on by Felix

(…and other lost causes)

By Kitty

If you have a generous bosom, odds are your shirts don’t fit. 

I don’t mean spandex T-shirts that can stretch over the Taj Mahal.  I mean dress(ish) shirts with actual buttons and a collar that you could actually wear to a job interview, or Cousin Sally’s sixth wedding.  The bigger your bust, the harder it is to find a blouse that stays decently buttoned without pulling across your breasts – unless it’s a vast tent that drowns the rest of your torso in enough excess fabric to conceal an Alsatian. 

As you already know, the fashion industry mostly consists of people who think all women are built like 10-year-old boys, maybe with plums in their breast pockets.  If you look at the average “women’s” shirt, you’ll find that its anatomy is basically the same as a man’s shirt: flat front and back.  You might get curved seams, usually only at the sides, if someone wants you to think it’s extra-feminine. 

Spoiler alert: your breasts don’t grow out of your sides, so curving the side seams do exactly nothing toward fitting them.  If there isn’t a seam or dart that actually touches the peak of your puppies, that shirt will NEVER fit you correctly.

Allow your Aunt Kitty to illustrate.  Meet Amelia, my unrealistic dress form.  She is shaped like no woman ever, but she’ll do to demonstrate how bust fit works.

Amelia has a fairly generous bust, disproportionately tiny waist, and moderate hips.  By measurements, she’s something like a DD cup.  But because of the huge bust-to-hip ratio, you will really be able to see how cup size in shirts work. 

For instance, here is a shirt mock-up made to her supposed size, but with no shaping other than at the side seams (I left the sleeves off, so you get an unobstructed view of the torso).  This is essentially an A-cup equivalent.

Does this look familiar? The shirt gapes open over the fullest part of the chest, and because she’s rigid, I can’t even pull it closed (if she was squishy, like human breasts, you’d be able to force the buttons closed, until they popped off and flew across the room).  The area below the bust is super-boxy, and completely hides the fact that she has a magnificent waist.

From the side, you can see pull lines pointing to where the bust is desperately trying to steal some fabric to cover itself, and the pulling actually causes even the back waist to ride up and get all weird and wrinkly over the butt.  If you’re a D cup or larger, you’ve been there.

Now, here’s a different shirt, but note that this one has actual seams running over the middle of both the front and back panels; it’s drafted to a B cup:  

I picked the pattern size according to Amelia’s BUST size, meaning it fits pretty well there.  But now it’s baggy and loose at the waist, hips, and back, though it’s a huge improvement over the no-shaping-at-all shirt.

Now, for illustration purposes, look at the exact same B-cup shirt pattern, but this time, I used the size intended for her WAIST measurement instead of the bust.  This one fits better over the waist and hips, but you can’t get it closed over the chest.

Finally, look at the same design, but with a DD cup size.  Ladies, this is how your shirts are supposed to fit.

Why don’t all the clothing manufacturers make clothes this way, with actual shaping seams that travel over the actual bits of you that stick out and need actual shaping?  Would it kill them to offer tops in different cup sizes?

In fact, it just might.  It took me three times as long to cut and sew together the pink shirts (with the extra seams that go over the bust and back shoulders) than the red one with only side seams.  Not only do clothes made with built-in shaping usually need more pattern pieces, the pieces themselves are more complex and the seams are more curved, making them much harder to stabilize and stitch accurately. 

As an indie designer who still does all my own sewing, I’m willing to take the extra time and care – but if I were a mass-manufacturing giant who makes millions of each piece, the cost would be drastically higher, especially if the target market just wanted low-priced fast fashion.  Maybe high enough to drive me out of the business altogether.

Even for me, making each size in multiple cup sizes means investing many times the amount of time and materials for any given design, and carrying around three or four times as much inventory when we go to events (and we only have so much storage space!).  I sort of understand why not many people offer this option. 

Still, as a woman who has NEVER (never, never, never, ever) found a shirt that fit until I started sewing for myself, I’m finally planning on giving it a go.  So, this is my design project for the upcoming season – fitted button-down shirts for every bosom!  I’ll try to document my progress in the next blog.

Obviously, real bodies have fit issues other than just bust-related.  We’ve got wide or narrow hips, flat or protruding bums, long and short waists, wide or skinny biceps, square or sloping shoulders, and a hundred more variations.  Any and all of those can look marvellous if you fit them right, and as Amelia proves, the most idealized figure can look dumpy if the fit is wrong. 

The next time you have a frustrating shopping experience, try and remember that it’s not your body that’s at fault, but an industry that prioritized cheap mass production and absurd standards over you, their customer.   And also that when we prove that we want diversely shaped, properly made clothing and are willing to pay what it’s worth, maybe (just maybe) the industry will decide it’s worth making.

Corset Sale 2019 – Update C

Posted on by Felix

UPDATE (January 2020): This post is obsolete as we’ve moved everything to do with sale corsets to corsets.felixandkitty.com.

We finally managed to sort and document the updated inventory of which sale corsets we have remaining. Thanks for your patience.

Note all the photos are upside down (i.e., the top of the corset is facing you) because it was the only way to get the tags in the pictures.

(*** inventory photos removed Jan 24, 2020 – see above ***)

As always, if you have any questions, please contact us.

The Pocket Problem

Posted on by Felix

Where Kitty tackles a long-standing fashion nuisance

Not enough women’s clothes have pockets. 

I used to have no idea why this was the case, and sometimes, I still don’t (what is the point of a fake pocket?  Also, why are women’s jeans pockets half the size of men’s?).  But now that I’m designing clothes, I sort of understand that you can’t just slap a pocket on everything and call it a day.

To make a long story short, pockets add bumps to the lines of a sleek fitted garment, and they spoil the drape of a soft, loose one.  When design lines permit, I sneak the odd pocket in there, hidden where they’re least likely to interfere with the serious business of looking fabulous.  But what I wanted next was a proper flowing skirt with proper deep pockets that could fit a proper busy woman’s basic kit (phone, wallet, keys, maybe a good-sized sandwich).

I’ve made one skirt with a hidden side seam pocket before.  The Maru Skirt does a decent job of holding a small purse’s worth of stuff in its pockets, mainly because it’s a genuine full circle.  The opulent swathes of fabric flares out and hide many sins. 

However, I’m more of a long skirt girl these days, what with the onset of winter and varicose veins and all.  And you really, really can’t stroll about my small town in a maxi-length full-circle skirt without looking like a lost Disney princess.  But a less extravagant amount of skirt inevitably means that pockets and their contents bump through, which is normally fine, but occasionally offends my designer sensibilities. 

Ergo, here’s a totally different approach.  Like marketing always says, if you can’t fix it, feature it.  After a few bashes, this is what I came up with:

Full View

The skirt is full enough to feel rich and not restrict even a wide walking pace, but restrained enough so I can go buy some milk without my horse and carriage.  The gathers are at just the right height to camouflage the contents of the (quite generously deep and wide) pockets and also, if you’re so inclined, any extra tummy or hip fluff.   But the pockets themselves are definitely the focal point.

Pocket Close-Up

The pocket opening is big enough for your hand to easily slip through (I’ve found this to be a problem in a lot of ready-to-wear clothes and commercial patterns.  Is this common, or do I just have giant gorilla paws?).  The pocket bag is deep enough securely to hold a water bottle or a smallish cat, if it’s not too wriggly. 

Non-Wriggly Cat in Pocket

Also, the pockets sit low enough so you don’t have to hike up your elbows to get your hands into them, and so they don’t fight with whatever you’re wearing on your upper body.  A lot of the many designs I studied for inspiration had the pockets situated too high on the hips, just where you DON’T want extra bulk.  And if you’re planning on wearing your corset with the skirt, you still want access to your pocket openings.  Imagine if these pockets were just an inch or two too high: 

Pockets Still Accessible

Finally, though I prefer the wide fabric selection of wovens (which are generally not stretchy), I still want the freedom to retain water and eat an entire turkey if I feel like it!  So there’s the waist yoke made from four-way stretch material, which makes for a smooth sleek fit around the waist but also loads of comfort.  It’s so comfy you could wear this to a ball in style, then come home and wear it as jammies. 

I love this skirt, and I’m actually planning on making one from polar fleece for the winter.  Now I just have to spend about sixty hours grading the pattern to all the sizes before making prototypes for people to test.  If anyone wonders what Kitties do during the long winter days, now you know….