Darts are magical. They make a flat piece of fabric take shape. They can blend in to the garment or stand out as a design feature. I admire a well placed dart. I do not like a pointy dart, or one with a pucker and those boo – boos can easily happen to your darts if you haphazardly sew them up. Here’s the trick to avoiding puckers and points and it doesn’t take any longer to sew a beautiful dart as it does to sew a sloppy dart.
Place garment piece flat, wrong side of fabric facing you, and locate the dart point (green and white thread marks in the photo above) and dart leg notches.Bring the two dart leg notches together (right sides of fabric facing) and pinch/fold fabric so that the dart point mark is on the fold line. Pin in place.With a straight edge and preferred marking tool (I use a mechanical pencil) draw a line from dart leg notch to the dart point mark.Sewing line is now clearly visible. While you can sew darts with out marking a guide line it is advisable especially if the dart is prominent in the garment. With a guide you will have better accuracy.Sew darts from the wide end to the point.The last two to three stitches should only be catching a couple threads. Do not sew off the edge. That will result in a point. Also do not back stitch at the point. That can result in puckers.Do not back stitch at the dart point. Instead knot the thread tails.Use a straight pin to help guide your knot as you tighten it so it is laying just beyond the point.The knot has a little distance from the last stitch.Press all your stitching before opening the seam allowances or pressing darts to the side and the first press is always in the opposite direction from how you stitched. In a dart this means I press from the point toward the wider end of the dart. Try not to press beyond the dart point.Now lay the dart on a curved surface like a tailor ham, sleeve roll or a rolled up towel. Pressing on a curved surface will give shape to the piece you are working on. Darts are designed to help the fabric go smoothly over a curve (bust, hips, elbows) so pressing on a curved surface helps get the shape into the garment piece. Press the dart, the pinched out fabric, toward the center of the garment (vertical darts) unless directions tell you otherwise.Front bodice with four darts. After pressing you can already see the shape.
Darts are easy but they do need a little attention when you sew them. Give them a little respect and they will flatter your figure like no elastic can.
Please let me know if you have any questions on darts. Thanks for reading.
