Dart

We are not referring to pointy objects thrown at a dartboard.  This type of dart is regarding the sewing of fabrics to make clothing.  Darts are often used on blouses (commonly for a woman's bust).

Darts are folds (tucks coming to a point) and sewn into fabric to take in ease and provide shape to a garment. 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. Fabric may be thought of as flat, and a dart has the effect of removing a wedge shaped piece and pulling the edges of that wedge together to create a shallow cone. This effect can be seen quite easily with a paper pattern by pulling together the edges of a dart intake as it would be sewn. Since fabric is generally more flexible than paper the fabric will shift around the apex of the cone and form a softer, but still curved, shape. In a garment a dart ends in a point at a full area of the body.

Pleats or gathers in the fabric can be used as for the same purpose as a normal stitched dart. These are called dart equivalents.

A dart in a flat pattern has two important properties: its point, the point in the pattern at which the dart aims or converges, and the intake, or the amount of fabric taken in or removed. Since the dart can extend toward any edge of the pattern without affecting fit, the length of the dart intake at the edge of the fabric is not a good measure of dart intake. Rather, the angle subtracted from the pattern by the dart is what determines the dart's intake.

A Fold That Turns Flat Fabric Into Shape

Every garment begins as flat fabric, and every body is curved. The dart is the simplest device for reconciling the two. Darts are folds, tucks coming to a point, and sewn into fabric to take in ease and provide shape to a garment. Where a dart is stitched, the excess width of the flat cloth is folded away along a tapering line, so the fabric is narrower at the dart's wide end and untouched at its point. Placed at the waist of a blouse or skirt, darts remove the spare cloth that would otherwise hang loose between the fuller bust and hip and the narrower waist between them. Placed at the bust, they are what allows a flat front panel to project and curve. Darts are often used on blouses, commonly for a woman's bust, but they are used frequently in all sorts of clothing, in skirts, trousers, jackets and dresses, wherever a garment must be tailored to the wearer's shape or made into an innovative shape of the designer's choosing.

The geometry is easy to demonstrate and worth understanding exactly. Fabric may be thought of as flat, and a dart has the effect of removing a wedge-shaped piece and pulling the edges of that wedge together to create a shallow cone. This effect can be seen quite easily with a paper pattern by pulling together the edges of a dart intake as it would be sewn: the flat sheet lifts into a cone without any stretching or cutting. Since fabric is generally more flexible than paper, the fabric will shift around the apex of the cone and form a softer, but still curved, shape, which is why a sewn dart gives a garment a rounded fit over the body rather than a sharp paper point. In a garment a dart ends in a point at a full area of the body, so the shaping is delivered exactly where the body projects and fades out where it should not press or crease.

Point, Intake and Dart Equivalents

A dart in a flat pattern has two important properties: its point, the point in the pattern at which the dart aims or converges, and the intake, or the amount of fabric taken in or removed. The point is about direction and destination: a bust dart aims at the bust point whether it starts from the waist, the side seam, the armhole or the shoulder, and rotating a pattern can move the dart's starting edge while keeping its point and shaping effect, which is the basis of much pattern design. The intake is about quantity, and it is measured in a way that surprises beginners. Since the dart can extend toward any edge of the pattern without affecting fit, the length of the dart intake at the edge of the fabric is not a good measure of dart intake; rather, the angle subtracted from the pattern by the dart is what determines the dart's intake. A wide angle means a strongly shaped garment; a narrow angle means gentle shaping.

Not all shaping needs a stitched fold. Pleats or gathers in the fabric can be used for the same purpose as a normal stitched dart, and these are called dart equivalents. A gathered waist releases the dart's intake as soft fullness instead of a sewn fold, and a pleat folds it away with a sharper, more decorative line, but in pattern terms both are doing the dart's job of disposing of the difference between a full area and a narrow one. Choosing between a dart and an equivalent is a design decision: darts give smooth, close, tailored shaping suited to fitted garments, while gathers and pleats keep visible fullness and movement. Either way, the underlying problem is the same one the dart solves, taking flat fabric and persuading it, by wedge, fold or gathering, to follow the curves of a body.