Chapter 4 Darts

Darts can be functional or decorative.

A dart is an amount of fabric taken from the flat garment to create shape.

Darts are either straight or tapered.

In production, an awl is used to mark darts.

Always press the stitching line in the direction in which it was sewn, this is called melding the stitches.

Darts can be converted into dart tucks, gathers or cowls.

Dart tucks are darts that are not stitched to a point, they are shorter than normal and left to open into fullness.

Dart tucks can be used when a softly shaped line is desired.

Gathering the dart intake to create fullness in place of a dart can be done on tops, skirts, and dresses. Gathers are best stitched on softer, lightweight fabrics.

A cowl neckline features draped fabric around the collarbone.

The lower the depth of the cowl, the greater amount of fabric needed to produce the cowl.

Stitching darts in tricky fabrics

Match plaids at the crosswise bars along center front and center back seams. Side seams will only match from the dart down.

Hand baste or pin the darts to match stripes.

Place waist darts parallel to the fabric grain on plaids.

Don’t try to overfit sheer fabrics with too many darts.

Don’t stitch a traditional dart in lace.

Use a thread tracing to mark the dart legs and dart point placement in lace, because notches and chalk markings will be too hard to see in lace.

Remove beads from the dart intake area on beaded fabrics before stitching.

Catch stitch the dart edges to the garment on faux furs.

Cut away the hairs of the fur on dart intake section to reduce bulk when using faux fur fabric.

Use style lines in place of darts when using faux fur fabrics.