How To Sew Darts
Extract from A Beginner's Guide to Making Skirts • By Wendy Ward • Published by CICO Books
About
A Beginner’s Guide to Making Skirts
Darts give three-dimensional shape to a flat piece of fabric. They are used to fit garments around curved parts of the body; in skirts, this is the waist and hips.
The point of a dart always aims toward the area of fullness on the body that it is shaping the fabric around—for example; a waist dart in a skirt points toward the hips.
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Key West Witch added How To Sew Darts to Sewing
20 Mar 21:41
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~*SuNsHiNe*~ added How To Sew Darts to clothing
22 Feb 03:32
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Ryland Peters & Small published his project How To Sew Darts
05 Apr 09:00
You Will Need
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Step 1Mark the point and the two wide ends of the dart on the wrong side of your fabric with tailor’s chalk or a marking pencil, then connect the marks to draw in the sides of the dart, using a ruler to get a straight line. Now you have a stitching line to follow.
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Step 2With right sides together, fold along the center of the dart to the point, so that the two stitching lines lie on top of each other. Pin and baste (tack) in place along the marked stitching line.
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Step 3
Start machining at the wide end of the dart, on the edge of the fabric. Do a reverse stitch to secure your stitching.
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Step 4At the point of the dart, gradually trail your stitching off the fabric so that the last stitch lands just off the edge of the fabric. Don’t reverse stitch at the point of your dart. Knot the threads securely and cut the ends to approx. 3/8 in. (1 cm) long.
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Step 5This will make the point of your dart nice and flat. If you reverse stitch or finish sewing too far from the fold of the fabric at the point of the dart, you will get a little pouch rather than a smooth point at the end.
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Step 6Press the dart toward the center front or center back of your garment over a tailor’s ham. Using a ham allows you to press the whole length of the dart and maintain the 3-D shape that it’s started to form rather than flattening it. If you don’t have a ham, use the end of your ironing board when pressing your dart to maintain its shape.
