D is for Darts

 While darts may not be as exciting as collars or accessories, they can totally change the fit of a garment and give it a more vintage look.  Each decade seems to have favoured different types of darts and dart combinations to achieve a unique overall silhouette.

 Picture Source: Gertie's New Book for Better Sewing

I'm super excited to have just gotten Gertie's New Book for Better Sewing in the post yesterday! It's jam-packed with vintage sewing tidbits (and yummy patterns).  I really love the illustration above on the different types of bodice darts.

Here are a few examples of bodice darts through the decades from vintage patterns:

1930s:

The 1930s and 1940s utilized a wide range of bodice shaping techniques.  The most common darts I see in my 30's patterns are side darts and waist darts usually partnered with some specific pattern design that gives unique shaping (gathering, princess seams, etc.).

1940s:

I love the 1940's silhouette and a lot of the shaping comes from waist darts.  Have you ever had a 40's blouse and found it hard to wear with non-40's trousers?  That's because the waist darts made it easy to tuck blouses into high-waisted trousers.  In my opinion, the 1940s (and late 1930s for that matter) is also the decade with the most variation in bodice shaping achieved through tucks, gathers, princess seams among other techniques.

Here's an example from a 1939 and 1940 pattern respectively (all of these patterns are from my ever increasing pattern stash):

1950s:

The 1950's silhouette combines a side dart and a waist dart to achieve, well, a more pointy look.  This often makes it difficult to wear with modern undergarments.

I also see a lot of slanted or 'French' darts from 1950s patterns, especially in blouses.  These are usually accompanied with waist tucks (such as in the Maudella pattern) or neckline shaping such as in the Simplicity pattern.  I really love this silhouette and find it very easy to wear!

1960s:

We see a lot of 1950s style darts in the 1960s, just longer!  I really love the Simplicit pattern above which has a dart shaping turn into a design feature (hidden pockets) and the Style pattern shows the long darts that give 60's shift dresses their shape.

 from Make Handmade blog

Have you seen this illustration?  It's absolutely mind-boggling to see all the different dart arrangements for various blouse shapes.

Resources
Here's some handy resources for working with darts:

• The Coletterie blog has a good tutorial on sewing darts.

• Gertie is the dart manipulation queen! Her blog is packed with great tutorials including how to sew darts, pivoting a dart, moving skirt dart to hemline flare, and dart alterations.

• The Make Handmade blog has great illustrations on how to manipulate and move darts.

• Miss P has a great tutorial on moving a dart from her Top Draftalong series.

Are there any types of darts you prefer over others?