This is #5 in a series of blog posts on bodice fitting. You can read this post in French on the Deer&Doe blog here. For all posts in the series click here.
Learning how to sew a dart is one of the most important skills you'll need to know in your sewing practice, so in this helpful tutorial, we'll give you all of our best tips and tricks to sew darts perfectly, every time. Sewing a dart badly is, unfortunately, very easy to spot since it will ripple and pucker in the most obvious spots (we don't really want to be drawing that much attention to the nipple, do we?) While it may feel intuitive to sew, how often have we slaved away on a gorgeous top or dress only to find we have weird pointy darts in the worst possible places? To save you from this sewing drama, we've thumbed the pages of our extensive library of sewing manuals and rounded up everything you need to know, already know, or may be surprised to know about sewing darts!
Table of contents
Dart Tips with Judith
More of a video learner? Check out this video starring our amazing sample maker Judith - she shares some of her favourite tips for marking, sewing, and pressing darts.
How To Mark Darts
The first step to ensuring you'll have two matching and perfectly shaped darts is properly marking them while cutting out your pattern pieces so everything is ready when you start sewing. It's crucial to mark the darts as soon as you've cut out the fabric to prevent any shifting. We'll show you a few ways to do it.
Marking A Dart With Pins + Snips
On the simplest, most time-efficient end, we have the pin method, try this when you feel eager to sew and finish cutting and marking. Snip a notch into the fabric at the end of each dart leg. Prick a pin through the point of the dart and carefully pull the pattern piece up to reveal the fabric underneath. Mark the point of the dart with your marking tool on the wrong side of the upper and lower layers of fabric.
Marking a Dart With Tailor’s Tacks
If you are working with a delicate fabric or you feel a little fancier, you can also sew a tailor’s tack at the point of the dart so it is easier to see and you avoid making unwanted coloured marks on your fabric.
If you'd like to try your hand at a tailor's tack, thread a long needle with contrasting thread and knot both ends so you sew with a double strand. Insert the needle through one end of the marking point through the tissue/paper pattern and both thicknesses of fabric, taking a small stitch and bringing the needle out through to the opposite side. Leave a sizeable thread tail of approximately 1” to 1 ½” at the knotted end.
Next, without cutting the thread insert the needle 90 degrees from the original orientation, still on the same dot. You essentially want to create what is an X stitch. As before, bring the needle out through to the opposite end of the marking point. A loop will form and once again, make your loop long, and leave a long thread tail (1” to 1 ½”) before you cut your thread.
Cut through the loop. This will allow the tissue pattern to easily slip off the fabric. Remove the pattern piece.
Carefully separate the fabric layers, cutting the loops to leave thread tails on both sides for easy reference.
Marking Darts With Tracing Paper
Next at bat is the dressmaker's tracing paper and tracing wheel method. We have the legs of the dart we are going to mark traced in red, and have drawn in the center foldline of the dark with a dotted line for visibility.
Dressmaker's tracing paper comes in a variety of colours, so you'll want to test a scrap piece of fabric to see which colour shows up the best. It's important to note that sometimes the markings do not always wash out depending on the fabric and the tracing paper, so you will want to mark the wrong side of your fabric in case this happens. We prefer using a tracing wheel with a rounded edge (like the bamboo-handled one pictured below) instead of a sharp pointed edge. It will avoid destroying your paper pattern pieces so they can be used again, and will also prevent damage to your fabric.
After cutting the perimeter of the pattern piece, it's time to mark! To mark both right and left back darts at the same time, we have sandwiched the folded piece of fabric between two pieces of tracing paper, and have carefully positioned our pattern on top, weighted down to avoid shifting.
Using the tracing wheel, draw along each leg of the dart. You can use a ruler to help make sure you are drawing a straight line, or you can freehand. If you don't have a tracing wheel, a dull pointed object (like a knitting needle) can also work.
Once you've finished tracing the dart, you can carefully remove the pattern and check to see if the lines are visible.
Et voila, a precisely marked pair of darts in seconds! We traced in the center of the dart so we have a guideline to follow when we go to fold and pin the dart together.
Marking a Dart With a Removable Marking Tool
You can also trace your darts with a removable marking tool and a ruler. Friendly reminder: not all marking tools are created equally! We have learned the hard way that our favourite Chaco pens do not always wash out of our samples, so a subtle colour on the wrong side of the fabric is usually the best choice. You also want to make sure your markings will last until you are ready to sew the dart. The fading washout pens often fade too quickly, so you may be scrambling to find your pattern piece to mark the darts a second time if this happens!
Marking Darts With Thread
If you love hand-sewing, you may prefer trying your hand at tailor's tacks and trace basting. Thread a needle with a thread colour that contrasts with your fabric. Pin your pattern to your fabric or use pattern weights to avoid shifting. Hand-sew a wide basting stitch along each leg of the dart, ensuring a long loop of thread is left after each stitch on both the front and back of your work. To mark the apex of the dart, sew a tailor tack by repeating the same stitch in the same position, leaving a loop of thread after each stitch.
This is what the back of your work should look like after completing your thread basting, before removing and unfolding your pattern piece.
From the front of your work, carefully snip each loop of thread.
Remove the pattern piece to reveal the fabric.
If your pattern piece was cut on the fold, gently unfold the fabric and snip the threads so both top and bottom darts are outlined with thread.
It takes a little more time and patience to mark darts with hand-stitched tailor's tacks, but it is satisfying! This is great because it doesn't matter if you mark right or wrong side of your fabric with this method, it is all the same!
As with all things sewing, you can pick and choose any or a combination of these techniques to create your own.
Preparing to Sew Darts
To prepare the dart for sewing, fold the dart along its center so the legs are aligned. You can pin or handbaste the dart in place. Basting your darts will have a big impact if you are having issues with the fabric shifting, you can always remove the basting stitches after you sew your darts.
Sewing Darts
Backstitching and Knotting
Generally, you will start sewing a dart from the widest part of the dart to the endpoint. You may backstitch at the beginning of the stitch line to secure, but it is not advised to backstitch at the apex or end of the dart. There are a couple of reasons for this- it can be difficult to backstitch precisely over the same stitch line, depending on your machine. More importantly, you want to avoid adding any bulk at this point. When you press the dart, the finished result should appear almost seamless.
As you approach the end, gradually sew off the fabric in a clean, smooth line. As an alternative, when you approach the dart apex you can shorten the stitch length to make the stitching secure. Before snipping your threads, leave a long thread tail.
Tie a double knot with the thread tails to secure the end of the dart. Do not pull the knot too tightly or the fabric may pucker. If you tie the knot around the end of a pin, it will ensure the knot is close enough to the dart apex without being too tight. Trim the thread ends.
Continuous Thread Dart
If you prefer to avoid tying off the dart threads, we are excited to show you the continuous thread method! This method avoids any thread tails at the beginning of a stitch line, so you will actually sew the dart backwards, starting from the apex. It is an excellent option for thin sheer fabrics or when the dart fold is in the outside of the garment. You will need to re-thread your machine, so pay close attention and do a few tests before doing it in your final fabric!
To begin, thread your sewing machine normally, but do not thread the needle with the upper thread. Pull the bobbin thread up and through the back of the needle eye to the front, so the needle is threaded "backwards" with the bobbin thread.
Tie the bobbin thread to the upper needle thread with a tight, small knot. Pull on the bobbin thread so a long length of thread is unwound from the bobbin. The length of thread needs to be long enough to sew the length of the dart, so don't be afraid to pull out a little extra. Rewind the upper spool of thread so the needle thread is rewound and the bobbin thread is threaded through the thread guides.
Starting from the apex of the dart, begin stitching without backstitching. The beginning of the stitch line will be secure because both the top and bottom threads are one, and not separate (yes, it is magical!) Go slowly, as you don't want the knot you made to attach the bobbin and needle threads to come apart. When you reach the wide part of the dart, backstitch to secure.
Remember to re-thread your machine normally if you are continuing your project. If you need to sew a second continuous thread dart, you will also need to re-thread the machine using the same steps outlined above.
Tacking the Threads In the Dart
Another alternative to tying off dart threads is to machine-tack the threads behind the tip of the dart. When you are sewing the dart from base to tip, shorten the stitch length as you approach the tip of the dart. When you reach the end, lift your needle and presser foot and pull your work towards you so you have 0.5"-1" of extra thread. Do not cut the thread tail.
Reposition your dart underneath the presser foot and drop your needle inside the stitch line on the folded dart. Drop your needle and sew a stitch or two back and forth to secure before removing your work and trimming your threads.
A machine-tacked dart avoids any knots. The tacked stitches will not be visible from the outside of the garment and will be almost invisible when the dart is pressed to one side.
Pressing Darts
As a rule of thumb, press vertical darts towards either the center front or center back and press horizontal darts (such as bust darts) downwards.
Balancing Darts
To reduce bulk, consider balancing the dart if you are using a thick fabric if the base of the dart is wide, or if you have convex or concave darts. Here are our favourite ways to balance darts.
Cut the Dart Open
Cut open or trim the dart at the centre line, stopping about 1” from the point. If the dart is narrow, simply cutting down the center is sufficient, but if it's a particularly wide dart you can trim each side to 1/2" (13 mm). Carefully press the dart open, and spread the section close to the tip with either a dull knitting needle or an awl. If the fabric frays, use your pinking shears.
Fold the Dart
If bulk is not an issue, fold the dart open without trimming it, like a box pleat over the stitch line, and press it flat. A narrow, dull knitting needle inserted into the dart will help shape the point of the dart when pressing it open.
Contoured Darts
A contoured dart is almost like a double dart - it lies in the middle of your pattern piece and begins and ends at a point. In this case, we recommend sewing it in two separate steps, beginning each time at the widest point and stitching toward each point. Because this dart pulls the fabric into a concave curve towards the body, after sewing, either cut the dart open like we recommended above in our balancing darts section, or clip the dart at the widest point to 1/4" from your dart stitch line. Both options will relieve the strain to help the dart lay smooth.
So hopefully now you have every tool in your arsenal to tackle every kind of dart. From marking, sewing and pressing darts you should be able to create a professional-looking garment that fits your unique curves perfectly! Happy Sewing!
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