What are darts and what do they do? Darts are folds and sewn into fabric to take in ease and provide shape to a garment, especially for a woman’s bust. They are used frequently in all sorts of clothing to tailor the garment to the wearer’s shape, or to make an innovative shape in the garment.
What type of dart was used used on your original bodice block you copied at college? The darts i used when copying off my bodice block were Bust darts and Plain darts.
There are lots of different types of darts, with many different purposes…
Plain Darts: Plain darts are usually the first type of darts that people learn to sew because they are the most common. Plain darts are used to make pleats and seams that are found in the bust and hip parts of clothing patterns.
Bust Darts: Bust darts are used to ensure that tops and bodice parts of clothing are fitted for a women’s figure.
French Darts: These darts are also used to ensure that tops are formfitting on women. They start at the bottom (waist) area of a top and travel upwards towards the bust area.
Waist Darts: Waist darts are simple darts that are found in ungathered skirts and trousers.
Elbow Darts: If fitted sleeves are needed in tailored jackets, then elbow darts are used.
Double pointed Darts: Two darts are joined together to give shape to the centre of a dress or jacket, for example.
Curved Darts: A dart is curved when it is stitched to be convex or concave (instead of straight) to give you the shape that you need.
