The Dressmaker's DIARY
Elisalex reveals how to move and manipulate darts to fit your shape
TIP
For a bodice like this, keep your lining as the original darted bodice. This will prevent the gathered neckline from being too bulky (which it would be if both the main bodice and lining had gathered necklines!), and will give you a defined neckline length as a guide when you are gathering the neckline of the new bodice
With Elisalex
For many of us, sewing our first darts symbolised the start of our journey into dressmaking. Darts represent Level 2 after having mastered (OK, more like gotten mostly comfortable with!) the straight seams of Level 1, practised on homemade tote bags and cushion covers. Carefully stitching those little triangles, tying off the thread tails, pressing and steaming them over a tailor’s ham and witnessing for the first time the miraculous transformation of a 2D piece of fabric into the beginnings of a garment that has shape and form and then we progress and move on to tackle harder and more exciting techniques (zippers, gathers, French seams) and we forget to consider the vast potential still to explore in those simple darts.