Dart Alterations

This post is about raising bust and waist darts, and covers the same alterations that I used to fit my Dotted Wrap Dress.



The first step for doing any kind of dart alteration is marking the bust apex. If you happen to be raising or lowering the darts (as in this case), you'll need to make a new apex mark fitted to your own figure, rather than using the one that is already printed on the pattern tissue. You can see the new mark that I made in the photo above -- it's a single blue dot.

Altering the Bust Dart (the dart protruding from the side seam):
1.) Slash the pattern in the shape of a backward "L." You can get a straight line for the long side of the "L" by drawing the line paralell to the grainline marking (unless the garment is bias-cut) or the center front line of the garment (see the solid green line in the photo above).
2.) Take a tuck at the top of the dart, bringing the point of the dart in line with the apex mark.
3.) Tape or glue the tuck into place.
Note: The same principles would be used to lower a bust dart, except your slash would be in the form of an upside-down and backward "L," and you would take the tuck under the dart.

Altering the Waist Dart (the dart prodruding from the waistline seam):
1.) Trace the waist dart onto a separate sheet of paper.
2.) Lay the bodice pattern piece over the traced dart, aligning the center lines of the darts (see red dashed line). Your pattern may not show the center line of the dart, but it is quite simple to draw your own.
3.) Position the point of the of the traced dart 1 inch below the new apex marking, and, keeping the centers of the darts aligned, trace the new dart onto the bodice pattern tissue.
4.) Use a ruler to straighten and connect the new dart legs to the starting points of the old dart legs.

After repositioning the darts, trace a new copy of the altered pattern, and true the side seams with a ruler, remembering to add new notches if necessary. It is also wise to test the fit of the new darts before cutting into your fabric.

I originally learned to make these pattern changes through the illustrations in the "alterations" section of the New Complete Guide to Sewing. Hopefully all of this makes sense. If it doesn't, just let me know!

More Dots!

Wow! I can't believe how long it's been since I posted about my last project! Life has been keeping me busy lately, so I don't always have time to take pictures of my latest projects. I was, however, recently able photograph another dress that I made -- a dotted wrap dress!

For this garment, I used New Look 6674. I made view B, which is the red dress on the lower right corner.


Front:


Side/front:


Back:
There seems to be a little extra room in the back above the waist. Strangely enough, I did not realize this during the fitting process, perhaps due to the fact that I only made a muslin of the bodice.

On the outside, the wrap ties on the left.


On the inside, there is a button that holds the right side of the wrap in place.


I sewed two metal hooks to the inside of the bodice, which fasten to corresponding thread loops on the opposite side of the wrap (not shown) to help hold the neckline in place, and prevent gaping. The hooks, however, tend to slide out of the thread loops when I move, so I plan to replace both the hooks and the loops with small, black snaps.


Materials:
- 100% cotton, Black print with pink dots
- Black, all-purpose thread
- Light-weight interfacing
- One 1/2" button

Pattern Alterations:



The first pattern alteration I made for this dress was to add a little more coverage at the neckline. I simply draped the pattern tissue over my dress form (pinning the darts in place), and found a height for the neckline that I'd be comfortable with. I extended the center front line, and marked height for the new neckline. I laid the pattern flat on the table, and re-drew the neckline to be higher, making sure that it coincided with the mark for the new height. I started at the shoulder/neck seamline, and ended at the waist/skirt seamline. You can see these details by refering to the picture above.

When I tested the new neckline with a muslin of the bodice, I found that the bust and waist darts were to low for my bust. So I marked the the new location for the apex on the pattern, and raised both darts so that they would end 1 inch away front the point. After making this adjustment, I needed to redraw the seamline for the side seam (see the green dashed line in the photo above).

The only other alterations I needed to make were typical: adding room to the hip area of the dress and lengthening the skirt. I graded the side seams up to the next size in the hip area of the skirt pattern, and added about 4 1/2 inches to the hem.

Notes:
This pattern was fairly easy to construct, and the directions were clear. I like the fact that you can use woven fabric to make this wrap, because I have very little experience with knit material, and I don't have a serger. I'm not sure if I'll use this pattern again, due to my ever growing list of other wanna-be projects, but overall, I found that it was decently drafted and I enjoyed working with it.

As for other projects, I'm currently working on a striped shirtdress (almost done!), and I hope to do some vintage sewing this summer, if I can.