03. Common Dart Manipulations: Two-Dart Designs. Slash Method

Category: Patternmaking Series 10 February 21

After three previous theoretical posts, we are finally ready for practice. I hope you have already printed and prepared the 1:3 scale basic block, which I shared in the previous post. If you have just joined us or had no time to make it before, don’t worry; click the link and follow the directions at the bottom of the page.

In this post, we will need only the basic front bodice piece. Prepare your pencils, pens, rulers and paper—both usual and transparent—and we are ready to start.

Common Designs

Most of the time, dart manipulation is most apparent at the Front Bodice.

But wait, why relocate the darts at all?

• Well, first of all, for design purposes. Let’s say you like some options more than the other, or you find some designs more flattering for your figure. Or maybe you are curious about trying something new. Everyone has different tastes and reasons. Apart from relocating the dart, you can transform its excess into gathers, pleats, tucks, style lines or flare. This creative use of dart intake is called a dart equivalent.
• On the manufacturing scale, relocating the dart can reduce fabric consumption to produce more dresses and gain more profit.
• Then, you can relocate the dart to make it less noticeable. For example, the bust dart, which goes straight to the shoulder, could ruin pretty flowers or stripes' fabric print. In this case, side dart #1 could work well.

As I wrote before, the basic front bodice piece has two darts—the bust and the waist ones—I’ll call them basic darts. You can rotate these darts around the pivotal point as you like and still have a two-dart design that fits the same way but looks different.

Also, by relocating the darts, you can make a single-dart design, where those two darts are combined while the fit stays the same. Please note, this is not always recommended for bigger breasts since it will be hard to steam-press the dart point.

In this and the next post, we will look at the two-dart designs—there will be side, mid-armhole and mid-neckline darts. They will be created by relocating the bust dart—the waist one will stay so I could better explain the process.

Below you’ll see their instructions for pattern manipulation.

Dart Relocation

These designs are only the beginning, but they will form the foundation for the future, as every design follows the same rules:

You can rotate a dart to any location around the pattern outline without affecting the pattern’s fit or size, as long as a dart point directs to its pivotal point.

The dart or its equivalent will always direct itself to the pivotal point. To avoid puckering at the pivotal point or cone-shaped breasts, one should end the dart before reaching the pivotal point.

Try to keep this in mind while patternmaking.

To relocate the darts, we will use two patternmaking methods, which I described in the previous post:

Slash method: according to the name, the pattern is slashed and spread or overlapped for dart relocation, adding more fabric or creating a closer fit.

Pivotal method: in this method, a pattern is not slashed but rotated around the pivotal point for dart relocation. It is faster and more efficient, though the method is based on the knowledge gained from slashing the pattern.

Today, I’ll make dart adjustments with the slash method’s help, and in the following post, I’ll create the same designs in the pivotal one I do advise you to try both ways. The more practice you have, the easier the process goes.

If you enjoy it, at the end of the post, you can find a little homework.

Have fun.

Two-dart Designs: Slash Method

Prepare as many basic pattern copies as you need to complete the following designs. Since we are doing this for practice, you can print multiple copies with your printer—this will also work if you have your full-scale basic block in a digital format. In case if you are going to do everything manually, follow the guidelines below. This preparatory step works both for training with scaled patterns and real-size ones.

• Take a sheet of transparent paper and place the basic front bodice piece on top of it.
• Then trace outlines of the piece. You’ll do this to avoid re-drafting your basic pattern from the beginning again and again.
• After that, place the basic pattern under the transparent paper and match the outlines.
• Mark notches, dart and pivotal points, seam allowances and a grainline.

In the following pictures, every step has its brief description. If you’d like to read a more detailed guide, click on the text above the image. It is marked with a tiny pink arrow. I hid the text, so it won’t make the page look too long and over-filled.

Side dart

Mid-Armhole Dart

Mid-Neckline Dart

As you might have noticed, the process is pretty much the same every time:

Draw the future dart line - Cut - Close the former dart - Tape - Move the bust point away.

It is not that scary once you get used to it.

Homework

Here is the homework to help you get more practice. You can make one design using the slash method and then wait for an article about the pivotal one to complete the second design. Or you can draw both patterns with both methods to level up the skills.

Please, note I do emphasize the gap between dart points at the bust point. I do it, so no one forgets about moving dart points away from the pivotal point. In real life, the dart point stand away for only 1.5–2 cm.

A little hint: the waist dart is going to move too.

Share your results on Instagram with #dressedinadress and #patternmakingseries hashtags and tag me @_kaia_meier, so I could see how you are doing.

Also, if you are new here, it might be helpful to take a quick look at the previous articles: “The Introduction”, “01. The Block Patterns”, and “02. Pattern Shapes and Flat Patternmaking”.

#patternmaking #series #block #dart #dart manipulation #slash method #flat patternmaking

See you soon,

xoxo

Kaia