How to Sew Darts

Learning to sew darts is an advanced sewing technique. When you learn to use darts to gather material in a piece of clothing, you can customize regular patterns for yourself or others. You can also alter clothing you’ve already made to fit better.

Supplies You Will Need

To complete darts, you will need: patterns for clothing items, sewing machine, pins, thread, dressmakers’ carbon, and a felt tip pen. Note that you will need advanced sewing skills to complete this project.

Step 1 – Choose the Right Dart for the Pattern

The darts you need for your project will vary. There are many sizes, shapes, and numbers of ends. You will find darts on the actual pattern you’re using. To use them, you will take the carbon paper and transfer the dart lines from the pattern to the actual fabric. This will act as a guide when you begin to sew. Darts allow you to create different sizes of clothing, so you need to know the size the piece of clothing is meant to become.

Step 2 – Dart Placement on Fabrics

The pattern you purchase will give you a guide for the darts you can use. Take some time to look at the darts and their placement on the pattern since they will need to be transferred onto the fabric in the same location. Along the darts, you will take pins and gather up the fabric to create the shape you need. The more pins you can use the better along the dart. This will help to make sure the fabric stays in place as the sewing machine stitches the fabric. Use the dots on the dart pattern help you with pin placement if you’re unsure of where to put pins. Bu