How to manipulate darts to shape your garments
Darts can transform an otherwise flat pattern to a shape that fits the body well.
With PolyPattern, you can create and manipulate darts in a snap. In this example we do some dart manipulation with a basic skirt but the technique works for any garment!
Here’s how:
We start with a base pattern with a dart in the waist line.
Since we’re going to turn this into a non-symmetric design, we unfold the original symmetric pattern.
With the add point tool we add extra points to the pattern edges, these are the points to which we will shift the dart. Next we select the dart and with the shift dart command, specify that we want to shift 80% of the original dart, and then click on each point the dart shifts to.
Then we move the center of the bottom hem dart to line up with the waist line dart.
Last but not least, we make that dart shallower.
That’s it - PolyPattern makes sure that our darts are absolutely correct. The pattern’s sewn measurements remain the same, we’ve only changed where the volume is.
Let us know of any questions and stay tuned for our next episode!