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Couture tips for darts
Alison Smith MBE explores how to use darts to give your garment a couture finish
The M7968 fitted dress is a great example of how to place darts
Note
All the stitched samples have been done in calico to clearly show the stitching
Darts are used on garments to give shape and fullness at a given point. This could be the bust, hip, shoulder or waist.
Darts are either a single point – they resemble a triangle – or they are double pointed (they look like an elongated diamond). On all darts the important end is the point! Therefore, they need marking accurately, as well as stitching and pressing accurately.
Marking the darts
Mark the point and the dart legs with tailor’s tacks. Pins are not an accurate way to mark the dart. To make a tailor’s tack, thread your needle with a double thread, stitch through the dot on the pattern from right to left, leave a tail of thread and then from top to bottom to make a loop, cut off leaving a tail of thread. Cut through the loop. Repeat the process on the other dots. (See Pic A.) The centre of the dot is between the four threads. The pattern will now lift off. Carefully separate the two layers of fabric, snipping through the threads as you do so. (See Pic B.)