Lessons

Lesson Info

Working with Darts

I wanted to talk a little bit about how to pin the dark that has been altered on the horizontal dart you pin on the original leg and sets the one that we marked with our red markers so we can easily see where the original leg is and then you wanna kind of curve the dart a bit I know it seems like the dart is marked as two straight lines but most people are more rounded here and so if we do a curve dark it gives more length right over the round is part of the bus does that make sense and the curve dart allows the point to be skinny at the end so you don't get little teepees you get a smooth start so the dark does not have to be two straight lines dart that comes from the waistline is where we've added all that extra tissue and so we want to we don't want to make that dart as deep as it was originally because that would be harder to do unless you're like really small waisted and busty so I fold it on the original center line which is marked line one and I pin using the information that I...

see so this is my new dart leg so this start is the same depth it was originally it may need to be shorter or longer it depends and so you make that decision when you fit it so you would then pin this to the back put it on and decided to start the right height is this start the right position so it's okay to move the dart it's just a guide how how do you know what are the guidelines for someone who is trying to do this themselves I mean how do you you look at it and how do you know? Is it right or not look um personal preference is part of it the shape of the bus is another part of it back in the old days when bras were more pointed the dark points came together more today with the darts the bust is more rounded the dark point may be further apart a smaller busted person might have a point coming together closer of fuller busted person not so much so and then it depends on the fabric I can mark a dart in a tissue put it on in tissue and it's fine and then make it in a silky or ray on and the darts going to drop in and we'll have to move the dark so I never so it as it is marked by pin fit make sure it's good then I saw it put it on again and make sure I like it before I finished the side seam I put it on and off a lot so next we need to talk about cutting fabric and what we're using for the dress is a a fairly heavy ponte a net but it's very stretchy and this it's behave differently than woman's so they also fit differently than woman's it depends on how much stretch there is to the net this isthe stretchy but this is stretchy so different nets stretch according to their makeup and the fabric content sometimes one continents don't stretch as much as ray on nets so that makes a difference when you do your cutting you cut it out according to the pattern yes and then you need to do some marking so I usually mark that nachos at the under arm on the back I rarely mark the notches on the front but I want to make sure I get the left sleeve in the left arm hole so I always marked the back notches the pattern industry is totally consistent double notches are always the back on the sleeve and it's really nice that there's some consistency it's not always one hundred percent of the time but it is pretty good now I'm gonna mark the dart and I would mark all the darts the same way I just do a little clip at the waist and I put a pin at the top and remember when this bodice was on we decided that maybe the dart would need to be lengthened up so that's something we're going to look at in fabric so then I just pull the fabric off the dark so my pan is here and this marks the top of the dart that's the left back marta I think she just left back. You need to have the ok go the other way I have dyslexia. I always get it backwards and it's not unusual for me in my little clips together down here. It's not unusual for me to sew to left darts especially the fabric doesn't have any right or wrong you know the more mistakes you make better so where you get some mistakes you don't want to make twice like cutting off the top of the zipper before you put the way span on and unzipping the pants up I only did that once in my entire life. Okay remember one ways pin the side same we want to leave the dark pre now remember this has one inch seam allowances on one of my favorite little tricks for pinning one inch because my eye isn't trained for one and I could do five days pretty good just off the rack but one inch not so much so if I put my one inch ruler down and this put pins along the ruler oh that's going to go in the next edition of fit for real people like that when I have my one inch it's not easy way of five eights at the neck smart is sort of our rnd department and we work really well together because when she comes up with something new, I can use you, sketch it, write about it. But she is really the research and development for palmer pledge she's just always trying something new and making it easier. But you do it because you're sewing or teaching or whatever. And you just fine things that work better. And if they really work better than try mountain if they truth now, we have both the left and the right to put on a pin that just do it. Okay, that color is so nice on you. So, let's, look at that back first it's like we did before another can here. Looks pretty good through here. Looks good here. Yeah, I think I'd like to come up another inch on the back dark. Don't you think you need more pins? Are you okay? Just one more thing will come in on the sides seem a little bit, but let's, look at the front first think this star could be a little deeper if I was all by myself at home, I would you just take in the record of an entry, I would them mark it with a pin, take it off repentance, put it back on again, looks good. And nets lately, I've done a lot more machine basting when I get him to the inside machine based the dart and tried on again because I don't like to rip nits I always cut holes and then when I do and I didn't usually machine based in the past, but, um, good, I'm moving the shoulder a little forward the shoulder seams should be in the middle of the arm and that's the middle of the arm remember, the seam is here so the seam of the cottage does hangover that will be taken up by this seam allowance when you set the sleeve in. So then it will like it's not really smooth right here right now, but the sleeve will anchor it and take it in. We're talking about doing the machine based. What exactly is that? For people who are now it's using a longer stitch like a five to six millimeter that you could pull out easily by pulling on the base? The bobbin thread I discovered my machine has national machine basting stitch, and it automatically goes to six and the tension is looser and my machines only twenty five years old, I stick to the basics usually so I try everything I should just take the machine used teach classes I learned how to use all the stitches work so we pick the three quarter inch length on a sleeve because it is very flattering and this looks good plenty of room in the skirt so she had to step into it hang on to my shoulders if you want I'll do it for you even though you're a ballerina or whatever dancer you are you want the last acreage pin it'd an inch you snipped from the skirt for mine that your senator friend here has lost a pin here I think you're gonna like this dress with a belt on it whatever house chunky jewelry yeah, well, I'm about it three quarters my eyeballing even tells me that you know, in our workshops we really emphasize accuracy because a lot of what goes wrong it's just because we're sloppy now I have to admit that sometimes at home I'm a little more sloppy than where they tell people to be. But we've had a lot of experience too but it is really good just to follow the rules and be as accurate as you can in the end it pays off every time we skip a step usually ends up taking you longer I'm going to take the skirt in typically when I do a skirt I just go ahead and put the zipper in the centre back then it's easy to get on and off but because the zipper has to go through the whole waistline theme then we can't put the super in yet do it around and show the centre back yes so what we've said in the guide sheet is so the darts and so about four inches on each side to the bodice and then stop and I'm pindar the side seams so you could put the different flat and we've heavy put invisible zipper in and that goes right through this seems you need to trim the seam and press it one direction are open and then you visit invisible depose you finished the bottom this whole him after you put the zipper in so that has to be unstitched if you're using that kind of zipper but the invisible slippers really nice and in it very soft and very easy to sew these days and on invisible to print a net you want to make sure you stabilize the scene before you put a zipper in so the zipper doesn't go perfect few shear is perfect cut a lengthwise and strip which is stable three quarters of an inch wide and just fuse it with the fabric flat on the surface to the wrong side next to the edge and then the zipper will not stretch at all or it will not stretch it all when you put the zipper in we'll take the skirt in about three eighths of an inch just up at the top in the fullest part of the hip yeah from there on down do you know that if you do pegged the skirt a little bit of the bottom? Our theory is that if you have the hips and you peg the skirt a straight screwed in and you were cardigan jacket over the outfit what people see is that your hips are a cz white is the bottom of the skirt so it's a nice optical illusion doesn't matter on you you'll take the starts in yes she's going to need to probably curve the front darts in a little bit at the top because it's going to pucker up because that real careful right there actually that's why basting or what? Higher no thes starts need to move over half of an inch. Okay, is that what it is? Because her bust is here apex is here and the start is pointing to here and I was looking at it thinking why is it happening so much here? And I couldn't figure it out it's one of the most important things to understand about sewing is that it's okay to make changes to the pattern? When I learned sewing in home economics I wasn't allowed to make changes to the pattern and then you know what a couple of my home back teachers came and took a class from me one of them had given me a c and I thought what? Although it made you changed history well it was good to you. Yeah, you might need to fiddle with this just like I do it. I would do it at home just thinking move it. I moved it a little far but you can this is again what you see is what you get let your eyes be trusted and just do this if it's and you can take it off and say I'm gonna move it I want an end should a pin where I want the dark to go and then take it off and repentance but that already is much better than it was over off to the side but since you're going to sew the dress up yeah, I think this needs to come over a little bit further. Ducky nancy, you teach it so you stand in the mirror at home and you make them both equal distance from the center front and try monitor you like them, then go to the wrong side and takes a hard chalk and mark on top of the area where your pins are before you and pin them on the outside. Then you'll know where to so and then you could machine based still just to make sure like the darts are really important and you want to press them carefully over ham, let them steam them and let them cool do not move it until it's dry for the most packer free dart. And if it is puckering, just make the last few stitches right on the very edge of the fabric like just catching a fibre of the fabric and you'll get a better point. Okay, what do you guys think? I think you're gonna enjoy the dress. So take that off of you for the next person. Well, thank you so neatly. And that was all with canada. Okay, you can go. Have you put your robe back on and so on? Jeanette, I just wanted to add, ok, we can have I deliberately. So these darts with the contrast so that we could see how the darks, um and can you see that it comes it's, not a straight line. If I put a ruler here, this is actually curving up a little bit right here and the point of the dark at the very end for the last four. Thirty three eighths of an inch it's just at the edge of the fabric. And that way, when the dart is on it's smoother and we like to press our darts up rather than down. We considered to be uplifting, but part of the reason is when you have it on and the darts pressed up, you don't see that ridge line of the dark so it looks better.