Advanced Fitting Series – Sew Busty Community

Hi Ho my friends. Ann here from Designer Stitch and I am back with another fitting post in the Sew Busty fitting series – answering your questions about any fitting dilemmas or problems that you may encounter when sewing all of your fabulous me-made clothing.

And I bet you cannot even GUESS what I am going to talk about today?.

You guessed? – well YES – my favourite subject of all time. DARTS!!!

As you may know I have a huge love affair with darts. And all things DART related.

Darts are the ESSENTIAL fitting tools of a well made and well fitted garment.

So today I put on my My Teachers Hat 👩‍🎓 – this is what I call my how-to’s over in my Designer Stitch Pattern Support Group over on Facebook. Why not come over and say hello to us all. xx

What are Darts?

The above image – left – details the ABSOLUTE minimum of dart placement that you should have on a bodice. The minimum for fitting – and I say MINIMUM for a reason – are the side bust darts. They help contour the garment – alleviate drag – and also stop the centre front of a garment lifting.

The above image – right – are the minimum CONTOUR dart/wedgies that you would need to have if you were fitting a sleeveless garment with a lowered neck. These are called contour darts or wedgies – as they facilitate the contouring of the garment over and around your entire bust mound.

The darts added to the armhole stop your garment gaping around the side bust mound. The darts added to the neckline stop the garment gaping as the bodice comes off its contour of the bust mound into the flat surface of your upper chest area.

But Why Darts?

The image on the left shows a side view and a straight piece of cloth. A body is 3 dimensional yet the cloth is 2 dimensional.

When the cloth has to fold over the body it creates folds or wedgies on itself at its hinge points. So really the folds and wedgies it makes are just the DARTS that we need. The cloth tells us what it wants to do.

What Happens When There are No Darts in Play?

A garment that has no darts in play will never EVER fit your body properly. And the above images are perfect examples of this.

Over on the Sew Busty Facebook Group our Anouska W posted the above pics asking for fitting advice. The image on the left shows massive gaping in the side armhole. It is quite obvious.

The fullness in this area creates a type of “wing” that can be contoured back into the bust mound with shaping. And what shaping do we use – well, DARTS OF COURSE!!

The image on the right shows that the toile that Anouska made is actually telling us what it wants to do. The fullness and folds of the fabric are showing us that it wants to fold down on itself – hence creating that all important contour – in the form of a dart.

Two pattern pieces are shown side by side. A caption reads "The above are the pattern pieces used. While there is provision of a "full bust fit" the shape has been widened only. Not a single dart for shaping is to be seen anywhere on the patterns."

I asked Anouska to send me a pic of the pattern pieces that she used. As you can see above there are no darts to help contour the pattern piece around the body. There is a separate pattern piece provided for a “full bust” – but this has just been done by widening the pattern.

Not a single dart for shaping is to be seen anywhere on the pattern.

Adding Contour Darts to Your Pattern Piece

Two pattern pieces are shown with darts added at the armscye and side seams. A caption reads "The minimum required for this pattern is a side bust dart regardless of the standard fit or full bust fit. Each fit must have its own dart sitting in the side seam. Then to facilitate shaping a contour wedge/dart should be taken in the armhole for bust mound shaping."

The absolute minimum required for this pattern should have been in the form of side bust darts regardless of standard fit or full bust fit.

Each fit must have its own side bust dart. And the full bust fit would have a bigger side bust dart than the standard fit.

Then to facilitate the shaping around the side bust that Anouska’s toile is telling us it needs – a contour dart/wedgie – should be then taken for side armhole bust mound shaping.

And you may ask – How much should this be ? The toile will tell you.

Whatever you have pinned out to create your new contour dart is the full dart value amount.

Pinning out shape on your toile is the best way to ascertain how much shaping is needed in any part of the fitting garment.

An image of a pattern piece with side bust darts, diamond waist darts, and armscye darts is shown. A caption reads, "This is the front of my Raven cami. The armholes have already been controured as you can see from the angle of the side seam and the curve of the armhole. If any additional contouring is needed you draw your contour wedge in position that you pinned your toile out – draw it onto your pattern as if it was a new dart.

When adding your contour dart/wedgie to your pattern you must ensure that the dart is angled correctly – again your toile will tell you – and that it finishes its length at the bust apex point.

The above image is the front of my Raven Cami/Slip Dress pattern. I have already contoured my armholes with a fitting dart as you can see from the angle of the side seam and curve of the armhole.

If you need additional contouring you draw your contour dart/wedgie in position – as if it was a new dart – to the length to the apex.

An image of a camisole pattern with darts at the armscye, side seam, and diamond waist darts is shown. A caption reads: "The new contoured darts in the armhole can then be shortened back from the apex point – anywhere from 3 cms or more – or they can be pivoted back into the existing side bust dart. But a WARNING – do not pivot all of your contour darts into the side bust dart – making one big huge dart. If the dart is too big it will not sit correctly and you may end up with a massive pointed cone shape sitting off your side seams and your side bust mound. Bust darts DO NOT do all the work for fitting your body. Your body needs shaping over ALL of its contours.

For the final pattern you now have a few choices.

You can either leave your new armhole dart in place as it is – but if so you must shorten this new dart back away from the apex to avoid pointy “boobs.” They are usually shortened back a minimum of 3 cms (1 1/4″) but this will be dependent on how it sits on your body. It may need more length or even made shorter. See what the toile is doing and then make your final decision.

Alternatively the armhole dart can be pivoted back into the existing side bust dart. But a HUGE WARNING!!! DO NOT – and I repeat DO NOT pivot all of your fitting darts into your side bust dart. I see countless blogs and YouTube instructional videos advising this – and it is so so wrong.

Pivoting all darts into a side bust dart not only results in one massive DART – but you will have a dart that doesn’t sit correctly and may end up with a HUGE pointed cone shape sitting off your side seams.

And one thing I HATE that makes my eyes scared – it is pointy BOOBS.

Side bust darts should not – and DO NOT – do all the work for fitting your body.

Your body needs shaping over all of its contours.

Hence why darts are needed in key fitting areas.

I hope that you have learnt something by reading my story and please shout out if you have any thoughts to share.

The good thing about sewing and fitting our bodies – we always learn NEW THINGS.

Love to you all and please stay safe and well everyone xx

Cheerio my lovelies
Ann at Designer Stitch xx

The Advanced Fitting Series aims to answer all your intermediate-to-advanced fit questions. It is a collaboration between Sew Busty and pattern designer Ann Grose of Designer Stitch. Have a question about fit? Email it to fitquestions@sewbusty.com and you might see it featured!

Greetings my lovelies – Ann here from Designer Stitch. And welcome to my first blog post as part of the Sew Busty Advanced Fitting Series – answering your questions about any fitting dilemmas or problems that you may encounter when sewing all of your fabulous me-made clothing.

Over in my Facebook group I call this – My Teachers Hat 👩‍🎓 – so welcome everyone.

As this is my first post about fitting I am going to talk to you about my FAVOURITE subject – DARTS!!
You may have seen a few previous posts over on my blog discussing darts so you will know that I truly adore them.

Darts are an essential fitting tool that is needed in a sewing pattern. They are key in getting the correct fit of your sewing pattern as they enable the fabric to shape and sculpt itself around your body.

Darts give a fabulous silhouette to the garment to enable you to get the best fit possible.

What do darts do?

Darts are a contouring tool – where a flat length of fabric is shaped to contour around your body.

Darts are essentially a wedge of fabric – shaped liked an extended triangle – that is stitched in your fabric to convert that length of fabric – a 2D shape into a 3D shape.

Where are darts found?

Dart areas can be found throughout the body. Bust darts, waist darts, back shoulder darts, front neckline darts.

Even the shaped side seams of a pattern are essentially darts – except they are split apart to create individual front and back side seams.

Darts don’t always have to remain as darts. Darts can be converted in flare, gather, pleats and tucks.

What happens when there are no darts in play?

The above images are my render of two photographs that were submitted to Sew Busty where the submitter was asking about choosing the appropriate size of the pattern.

Her measures were High Bust = 36″, Full Bust = 38″. And she stated the pattern was drafted for a C Cup. (The body measures as detailed warrant a B Cup). She wondered if she needed a full bust adjustment, due to the wrinkling under the bust.

Regardless of this sizing – if you are trying to drape a flat 2D length of fabric over the body you need some type of contouring device – hence DARTS!!

And you may be saying – Why Darts? The images above indicate that the center front (CF) is lifting and there are drape lines radiating from the side seams to the bust point.

What is happening is that the bust is projecting – dragging the fabric – and then lifting the front hem line to accommodate the projection of the bust mound. (Note: the garment fitted the wearer except the drape lines were very visible. They were drape lines – not drag lines which indicate a garment that is too small).

To offset the front hemline lifting – and the drape lines radiating to the bust point – the length of the front pattern piece needs to be increased.

The above image indicates two lengths of measure – one from shoulder – over bust point – down to hem. The second – from shoulder but straight down without going over bust point.

You can see how much longer the length is that is going over the bust point – than the straight vertical measure.

The above image shows the more the bust projects – the need for a greater length of front pattern piece.

Adding extra vertical length to the front pattern will then allow the sewn piece to contour nicely over the body – but to do this we have to add shaping to that pattern piece to offset the extra length.

And that will be remedied by our friends – DARTS!

OUR FRIENDS – DARTS.

To add extra length to a pattern piece – to facilitate contour – the entire front needs to be lengthened – but as the center front (CF) of the pattern has to be cut on the fold the entire front piece needs to be split and extra length added in.

And so our lovely dart friends come into play xx.

The extra length added to the vertical front of the pattern is taken up with a side bust dart.

The side bust dart is placed at an angle – generally 8-9cms (3 – 3 3/8″) down from your original armhole/scye line – angled to the junction of your front bust depth/bust point separation known as the bust apex (bust point).

Then this dart is usually shortened back around 3 to 3.5cms (1 1/4″ to 1 1/2″) from your bust apex/bust point (but this can be variable)

Adding bust darts to a pattern piece is relatively easy – if you have your correct measures – and of course know how much is needed.

From the original photo that I drew the above images from I calculated that the OP need to split and add approx 2.5cms (1″) to her front length.

I hope that you have learnt something by reading my story and please shout out by commenting below if you have any thoughts to share. And don’t forget to submit your fit questions to fitquestions@sewbusty.com!

The good thing about sewing and fitting our bodies – we always learn NEW THINGS.

Love to you all and please stay safe and well everyone xx

Cheerio my lovelies
Ann xx

Category: Advanced Fitting Series

Advanced Fitting Series with Designer Stitch | Contouring Gaping Armholes with Darts