What is Dart in Clothing?

Darts are a dressmaker’s punctuation marks. It is an essential part of garment

construction. Darts are folds and sewn into fabric to take in ease and provide
shape to a garment, especially for a woman’s bust. Darts help in shaping the
fabric to fit the body and thus provide comfort to the wearer. They provide
fullness to natural body curves. Darts are very rarely used for decorative
purposes like providing a design line. The fitting, marking, stitching and
pressing of darts should be done accurately. In this article I will discuss details
on dart manipulation techniques for flat patterns.

To create new designs for garments, it is specially used for ladies garments. It
save fabric wastage and also use to remove excess fabric. Darts are needed to
turn two-dimensional shapes into three-dimensional shapes and to fit clothes
closely to the body.

Fig:
Darts in flat patterns (Image courtesy: [Link])

Application of Dart Manipulation – Introduction to design

patterns
The technique is applied when the dart of working patterns (bodice, skirt,
sleeve, or any working pattern) are relocated in the process of creating design
patterns. To create a design pattern, the design is analyzed first to identify the
location of the dart or equivalent before manipulating the pattern.

The following design projects illustrate the beginning of pattern manipulation,

and each process should be completed in the order given because each will
help to prepare the pattern maker or designer for more advanced work. Both
artistic and technical skills are required to successfully create design patterns.

Different Darts Locations:

Darts can be located in a number of different places on a bodice to alter its
style.

Fig-2: Different
dart locations

Completing the Dart:

The dart can be finished one of two ways:

1. Trim dart excess to within 1/2 inch of the seam line before stitching the dart.
2. Fold the dart excess under and stitch on the seam line.

Dart Manipulation Techniques:

Dart manipulation is one of the most important techniques when it comes to
pattern drafting. Fashion designer must identify the location of the dart
before manipulating the pattern and how manipulate the dart. Dart
manipulation mainly starts with a basic sloper, which they then convert into
their stylish designs. Darts become princess seams, gathers, tucks or cowls.
New styles lines are added or moved, necklines are reshaped.

There are three dart manipulation techniques in flat patterns. These are
suitable for manipulate dart to any location. The slash and spread or pivot
method mostly use to transfer darts to the bust, neck, armhole or anywhere
you want!
 1. Pin and pivotal dart transfer technique.
2. Slash-spread transfer and overlap technique
3. Dart equivalent technique

1. Pin and Pivotal dart rotation technique:

Pattern designers use pivoting methods to make fashion changes. They move
darts or add fullness by anchoring the basic pattern with a pin and moving the
pattern in, out, and around. The pattern swings back and forth like the
pendulum on a grandfather clock. Use this pivoting motion to change the
pattern width.

Fig-3: Pin and pivotal dart

transfer technique

In this method does not require the working be slashed in order to change its
original shape into design pattern. It is a transfer method and with experience,
it is preferred.

2. Slash-spread dart rotation and overlap technique:

Pattern graders use the slide motion to change pattern sizes. They slide
patterns up, down, and to the side to gradually increase or decrease from one
size to the next. Use this sliding motion to add or subtract length.

Fig-4: Slash-spread transfer and overlap technique

Pivot and slide techniques combine these two motions to fit a pattern simply,
yet accurately. You make all of the changes on a worksheet (pattern paper or
tissue paper), keeping the original pattern intact—no more cutting and taping!
By changing the pattern equally on both sides of the grain, the seam and the
design lines are kept in proportion to the original pattern. Best of all, each
change is easy.

3. Dart equivalents technique:

Pleats or gathers in the fabric can be used as for the same purpose as a normal
stitched dart. These are called dart equivalents. Darts can also be worked into
style lines. The dart excess can be used to create a wide variety of other design
features such as, style lines, multiple, tucks, gathers, pleats, flare and even
cowls. Essentially, the dart or its equivalent is always present somewhere in
the pattern. The dart or its equivalent will always radiate from the pivot point.
Fig-5: Dart equivalents technique

Different Types of Darts:

The different types of darts are discussed below:

1. Straight dart
2. Curved outward dart
3. Curved inward dart
4. Neckline dart
5. Double pointed dart
6. Dart in interfacing

1. Straight dart:
It is a straight line of stitching from the point to the seam line (Fig-6). This can
be noticed in the underarm of the front bodice, back skirt, shoulder, elbow and
back neckline.
Fig-6: Straight dart

2. Curved outward dart:

The stitch line curves outward along the path from the point to the seam line
(Fig-7). This gives a snugger fit to the garment. This is sometimes used on a
bodice front to make a mid-body fit snug.

Fig-7: Curved outward dart

3. Curved inward dart:

The stitch line curves inward from the point to the seam line. This facilitates a
better fit along the body curve (Fig-8). It is frequently used in pant and skirt
fronts.
Fig-8: Curved inward dart

4. Neckline dart:
This is usually a solid line marking on the back neckline indicating a straight
dart of 1/8″ (Fig-9).

Fig-9: Neckline dart

5. Double pointed dart:

This dart is unique as it tapers in a straight line from the middle to both the
ends (Fig-10) and is clipped at the widest part. It is usually made from the
waistline (widest point). It finds application in princess and A-line dresses,
over blouses and jackets.
 Fig-10:
Double pointed dart

6. Dart in interfacing:
In this case, a slash is made on the fold line. Then the cut ends are lapped
along the line of stitching and zigzagged to keep in place (Fig-11).

Fig-11:
Dart in interfacing

Basic Dart Manipulation Process:

The diagram above shows different dart locations. You can practice these dart
manipulations as an exercise using either full size or half-scale blocks. By
moving these darts around the bust point, you will begin to understand the
method.
 Fig-
12: Women’s shirt with dart

Follow the step-by-step basic dart manipulation exercise below:

The basic bodice has two darts. Start by consolidating the two darts into one
side seam dart.

1. Trace off the front bodice; here the bodice block is made from card, making
tracing easier and more accurate.

Fig-13: Basic dart step-1

2. Cut up the front waist dart and the side seam dart.
 Fig-14: Basic dart step-2

3. Close the waist dart, and the side seam dart opens. (Remember not to cut
right through; keep a small amount of paper attached to act as a hinge.)

Fig-15: Basic dart step-3

To continue this exercise, trace off the front bodice block onto paper. Draw in
the lines to the bust point as shown on the diagram. To manipulate the darts,
simply slash to the apex each time and then close and open the darts in
different locations.

Asymmetric Darts Manipulation:

Asymmetric darts cross center front of the garment. Pattern shapes will
change radically from that of the working Pattern. Asymmetric darts require
special pattern handling and identification, as do all designs that differ from
side to side. Compare pattern shapes with each design. Cut basic back to
complete the design for test fit.
  A full front pattern is required.
 Right-side-up instructions are necessary.
 The existing dart of the working pattern may interfere with the placement
of a stylized dart. If so, the dart should be transferred temporarily to
another location (such as mid-armhole) before the pattern is plotted.

Seam allowance is illustrated for each pattern because of the dart’s unique
shape and location (1/4 inch at neck; 1/2 inch at shoulder, armhole, and waist;
and 1/2 to 3/4 inch at side seams).

Types of Asymmetric Darts:

Basic asymmetric darts are applied on design pattern. To get different style on
pattern, Asymmetric darts are changes in various ways. Mainly two types of
dart variations are common. These are in below

1. Asymmetric radiating darts

Fig-16: Asymmetric Radiating Darts

2. Asymmetric curved darts

 Fig-17: Asymmetric Curved Darts

The step-by-step basic Asymmetric dart manipulation exercise in

below:

Fig-18: Asymmetric darts

1. To create asymmetric darts, trace off the bodice block fronts, joining the
right and left sides at the CF(center front). The full bodice is traced off because
the right and left sides are to be different.
 Fig-19: Asymmetric darts step-1

2. Cut up both waist and side darts to the apexes. Close the bust dart until its
edges meet. The waist darts will open.

Fig-20: Asymmetric darts step-2

3. Draw in the new dart lines.

 Fig-21: Asymmetric darts step-3

4. First cut along the long line that passes from left to right.

Fig-22: Asymmetric darts step-4

5. Close the right-hand waist dart, and the long dart opens.
 Fig-23: Asymmetric darts step-5

6. Cut up the shorter dart and close the left-hand waist dart. The short dart
opens.

Fig-24: Asymmetric darts step-6

7. The pattern development is complete. Trace in new darts and back away
from the apex by 4cm (11⁄2in). This is now your pattern plan. Trace this off
onto a clean sheet of pattern tracing paper. Now you can add your seam
allowance, notches and grain lines.

Fig-25: Asymmetric darts step-7

Changing Darts into Gathers:

Fig-26: Changing Asymmetric dart into

Gather dart

Measure the right-hand dart from A to B. Including the dart, the measurement
will be longer from A to C; gather the excess fullness between the notches to
match the shorter side as shown.
 Fig-27: Gather dart

This style has gathering located under the bust instead of the dart. First,
repeat the first six steps from ‘Asymmetric darts’, above.

Intersecting Darts:
Intersecting darts resemble asymmetric darts and dart equivalents. The darts
cross center front and intersect with each other. To complete the design, use
basic back pattern.

Types of Intersecting Darts:

Two common intersecting dart designs are practice in dress pattern. But
variations are also available when the generated patterns are correct if they
result in exact representations of the designs.

1. Intersecting dart to waist

Fig-28: Intersecting Dart to Waist

2. Intersecting dart with gathers

Fig-29: Intersecting Dart with Gathers