darts in action
so anyone who sews has come across a dart at some stage but have you ever really noticed what they do? I’ve started work on drafting the pattern for my new dress and in doing so have been playing about with the darts.
My starting point was my dress block. Its essentially my bodice block joined onto my skirt one, but the dart on the skirt section gets moved over to line up with the the bottom of the dart in the bodice. (Eagle-eyes out there will see that I haven’t bothered to draw in a nice little curve from waist to hip)
front block
I don’t want to use this configuration of darts so I closed off the shoulder and waist darts and opened up the side chest along the line in the above photo to create a new one.
moving darts on front bodice
watch what happens if I now close the new dart – which what you’re going to do when you sew it (to clarify on perspective, camera is now sitting on the table top);
3D shape of closed darts
the paper takes on a 3D shape more like what it is going to fit around. To my nerdy little brain this is fun to see but I also think it helps with sewing in general if you can understand/see what your pattern is trying to do…
Hi Louise – you’re more than welcome to visit for the Sew-Irish gig this evening……. hope to see you there
It’s very cool to see when you are in control and know what you are doing! I need to be more aware of this as cause and effect, equal and opposite reaction kind of thing. It’s the same phenomenon that can irritate me though when I’m trying to fit patterns, trying to pinch out fullness somewhere, of course pattern becomes 3D bulging here or there in what feels like unexpected places- but of course should not be if I were only paying attention. Pinch out that same quarter inch from armsceye or neckline, watch center fold buckle, surprise surprise! Thanks for a well-timed illustration!
Pingback: Bodice Fitting « a view into my world