hey’all! i figured out what my new batch of technique-a-week’s will be: darts! i missed last week, so i’m hoping to make up for it this week with two posts. i’m not sure how strict i’m planning to be with myself on this every week tip, but when i think of all the awesome stuff i could learn, i want to keep moving!
i considered jumping right into some challenging darts, but then i thought i’d start with a whole bunch of simple ones first. this is part of that “taking time and investigating each process” thing.
darts are just super amazing! they’re one of the most important tools used to take fabric from a two-dimensional flat and floppy thing to a three-dimensional shape. abby from while she naps describes it really well here, and she encourages you to mess about with them in a really freeform way.
so i started with a straight, convex, and concave dart, just to see the difference. i used a 6″ square as my starting point, just like with the seams, and at the narrowest point i reduced the width to 4.5″ via the dart. there was no rhyme or reason, and the result was a super exaggerated dart, which helps show what’s happening.
straight, convex and concave
straight, which, you know, just looks like a regular old dart.
convex, which looks kind of crazy. i’m not sure when it would be appropriate to use this shaping!
concave, which looks the most boob-like by far. i will forevermore use concave darts for my bodices!
here are some really awesome dart things i found:
- a list of the 8 most important darts from craftsy. i’ll be trying out a few of these in the coming weeks. (side note: it’s interesting to think about and sew darts that do not relate to an intended body size or measurements. they’re just theoretical darts i guess.)
- how to sew darts on the coletterie
- pattern making fundamentals: understanding darts and moving darts by cut and spread on the cutting class. have you seen the cutting class already? i am absolutely in love with it!
hamster and the bee 