THE Q & A SERIES

How to reduce the size of a dart

Hi Emily,

Not a question, but a Thank You!

Sunday's tutorial on removing a bust dart from a pattern is exactly what I have needed without realising it.

As an A-bust person, even B-cup patterns with darts are too big for me. Now that I know how to eliminate darts, I can get to work adjusting some patterns I've been admiring. Thank you!

And thank you also for how much care you put into your instructions. You are one of the most dependable instructors/pattern makers around.

Fiona
- Brunswick, Australia

Hi Fiona,

Thank you for the lovely email. I am so happy to hear you are enjoying our patterns and the information we share!

I know your comment wasn't a question, but it did make me think about a follow-up to my post on how to remove a bust dart.

WHAT ARE DARTS FOR?

Darts are used to create curves over parts of the body that require more shaping.

In the case of a bust dart on a small bust, you may require (or want) some shaping, but not the full amount of shaping that a pattern has that's drafted for a B cup.

HOW TO REDUCE THE SIZE OF A BUST DART

For those of us with a small bust (I am part of this club!), rather than remove the dart altogether, you may just want to reduce the size of the dart.

In today's post I thought I'd show you how you can keep the dart, but reduce the size of it.

PREPARE YOUR PATTERN

Step 1
Draw a line through the dart to the bust apex point (normally 2.5cm / 1inch from the tip of the dart). Check that this corresponds to your actual bust apex point and move if necessary.

Draw a line from the bust apex point to the hemline - parallel to the centre front.

Step 2
Draw in new dart arms - from the notches on the side seam to the bust apex point.

Step 3
Cut up from the hemline along your vertical line. Stop 1-2mm from the bust apex point.

Cut along the top dart arm towards the bust apex point. Stop 1-2mm from the bust apex point to create a hinge.

Step 4
Carefully rotate the cut dart arm so it meets the centre line of the dart. Through this process you are relocating some of the dart fullness to the hem (this is called the 'slash and spread' technique and you can learn more about it here). Tape dart closed.

Step 5
Fill the gap with some paper and tape in place. Draw in your new dart, using the centre dart line and the lower dart arm. Draw your lines all the way to the bust apex point.

Measure the opening in the hem - measuring on the stitch line on each side of the opening (this is the grey line on In the Folds patterns). Take note of the measurement.

Step 6

We are now going to remove this excess from the side seam. Mark the amount recorded in the previous step on the hem line - measuring from the side seam (on the stitch line). If you want to keep some of the fullness you can, just mark a smaller amount from the side seam.

Before we can go ahead and join this point to the armhole and create a new side seam, we first need to think about dart shaping.

What is dart shaping?

Dart shaping is the way the end of a dart is shaped so it sits nicely when the seam is sewn. By adding dart shaping, the edge of the dart will sit flush with the seam it is a part of.

You may have put a dart in a garment before and noticed that the dart has changed the shape of the seam that it lies on and is no longer the smooth line it once was. To prevent this from happening, we need to add dart shaping. This will ensure that once your dart is sewn, the seam it's on will remain a nice smooth line.

How to create dart shaping

You will need to fold the dart, so you can predict what will happen to the shape of the seam when you sew the dart from fabric. Think about which direction the fullness of your dart will be pressed once it is sewn. This will decide which dart arm you need to fold.

Generally vertical darts are pressed towards the centre front (in the case of front darts) and the centre back (in the case of back darts). For horizontal darts (like the one pictured), the bulk of the dart is pressed down.

If you'd find it easier to follow a video about adding dart shaping, you can see the process here.

Step 7
Take your pattern and fold the lower dart arm.

Step 8
Folding a dart on a flat surface is not possible, as we are making the two dimensional pattern three dimensional. Place the tip of the dart on the corner of a table (or a large books also works) and fold the lower dart arm so that it meets the upper dart arm. This allows for the dart to wrap around the corner, rather than on the table top where it is forced to remain flat.

Hold folded dart in place with a pin or pattern weight.

Step 9
Create a new side seam, taking a ruler and drawing a straight line from the point marked on the hemline up to the top of the side seam (this line needs to meet the top of the side seam on the stitch line).

Step 10
Use a tracing wheel to transfer the new side seam line onto the folded section of the dart. This will give you the shaping you need for the dart. If you don't have a tracing wheel you can use a pin to make a few holes along the line.

Step 11
Remove pattern weight / pin and trace the markings made by the tracing wheel. Add seam allowance to the new side seam line.

Smooth out the hem line. Due to having less width for the bust, we can also have a little less length - as you can see I have raised the centre front hem slightly.

Step 12
Mark new notches at the dart arms. You can also move the side seam dart over so that it is in line with the angle of the new side seam. For more information on notching patterns, you can see this post.

Happy sewing,

Emily