Dart Tip

Many sewing teachers make a big fat hairy deal out of sewing darts, but darts have honestly never been something that gave me trouble. And yes, I even backstitch at the end (feel free to gasp here.)

My best tip for sewing darts is this:

Before you even start sewing the dart, there should be a straight line from the needle, to the dart tip, to your nose.

In other words, though we tend to place the folded fabric under the needle with the folded edge on a straight guideline,that will result in having to maneuver the fabric into place during stitching, causing wobbling and probably a last moment scramble to make the needle meet the dart point on the edge of the.

So, when you start to stitch a dart, plan ahead. Place the fabric under the foot like this:
Note the pin placed perpendicularly to the dart point makes it very easy for me to see precisely where the dart should end.

The last few stitches of a dart should be right along the fold of the fabric.You can backstitch right from the tip in fabric with some umph. In more delicate fabrics, stop at the tip, raise the needle, move it back 1/8" to 1/4" and back stitch there.

Single Layer Easing, Crimping, and Crowding

Single-layer easing and crimping (otherwise known as crowding), are techniques I'd like to teach the whole world. With a little practice, they work magic for shaping garments to fit over our curved bodies. I use these techniques regularly to shape pocket openings, necklines, armholes, and sleeve caps.

If you have been sewing for any significant length of time you have noticed this fact:

When sewing through only one layer of fabric, the tension of the stitches often cause the fabric to pucker.

Usually this effect is undesirable as we want our seams to be flat and smooth. However, it works to our advantage when we want to build just enough fullness into a seam or edge to allow it to delicately curve over a convex area of the body. I'll call this technique single-layer easing.

How much fullness we get by sewing through one layer of fabric depends on several variables:

• Fabric content, weave, and weight. Obviously, lighter fabrics will draw up more easily and heavier fabrics, like denim, may not draw up at all. Synthetics tend to draw up readily (too much so.) Closely woven fabrics such as microfibers and gabardine also have a tendency to draw up in an undesirable way. The best candidates for controllable, attractive easing are light to mid-weight natural fibers (cotton, wool, and silk) in regular, plain weaves.
  
• Thread tension. Higher tension leads to more puckering.
• Thread content. Polyester and nylon threads are elastic and cause more puckering as stitches relax. Cotton thread causes the least.
• Presser foot opening. The larger the opening, the more movement the fabric under the needle is permitted and the more puckering will occur. (This is why we use a presser foot with a small hole when stitching on lightweight fabrics.)
  
• Needle plate opening. For the same reason as above, more puckering will occur with a larger needle plate opening.
  
• Stitch length. Longer stitch length causes more puckering. Think about it...there is more fabric b/w each stitch to draw up under the tension of the threads. There is also less thread, less give, in the seam, so it cannot relax as flat as a seam with a smaller stitch length and more thread can.

Even given all these variables, you will quickly come to understand your machine's particular tendencies and capabilities to ease fabric. My Pfaff, for example, has a large, 9mm needle plate opening. Most of my presser feet also have this large opening. This fact means that my machine has a tendency to draw fabric up very easily. I can usually ease fabric into shape by simply sewing through the single layer with a slightly increased stitch length.

For some of you though, you will have to use a technique called crimping or crowding to get your fabric to ease into shape.

Crowding is what it's usually called when we place the left index finger tightly behind the presser foot, impeding the fabric's progress under the foot, and causing it to crowd up under there, causing easing.

I believe I first saw this technique on a Nancy Zieman show many years (15?) ago on her PBS series Sewing with Nancy. You will find it in many sewing books. It is also the principle of some gathering presser feet, and differential feed on a serger. You impede the feeding of the fabric under the foot, causing it to buckle up underneath.

To crowd fabric, place your left index finger firmly behind the presser foot, really wedging it slightly under the back of the "heel." Keep the pressure there as you sew, and you will see the fabric bunching up behind and under the foot. Release the pressure and begin again at regular
intervals, allowing the fabric to move on through. Here, I've removed the ankle screw so you can more clearly see my finger wedged behind the foot.I also use my thumb to gently push the fabric towards the presser foot, increasing the crowding effect: This is a technique that takes a little practice. Tear some muslin into strips and go for it. Then, before you try it on your actual garment piece, do a test run on a scrap of that fabric as well.

Given your particular situation - type of machine, fabric, and amount of ease required - you may only need to stitch through a single layer of fabric, perhaps with increased stitch length or thread tension, or you may need to use your finger (crowd) in order to achieve the amount of shaping you need.

My suggestion to you would be to gather some scraps of your garment fabric. Start with your machine at a slightly higher than normal stitch length and normal tension. Stitch through one layer of fabric. Evaluate how much easing, results. If it's not enough, start making some adjustments to machine settings. Try a longer stitch length. If that does not help, you might increase thread tension a notch or two. If you are still not achieving the desired amount of eased in fullness, try placing your finger behind the presser foot.

Here are some quick examples I stitched on my Kenmore, a.k.a, my "little blue machine", which has a needle plate opening of 7mm. I used relatively straight grained scraps of cheap muslin.

This shows a regular stitch length, regular tension:
It is relatively flat, as is the next sample, with an increased stitch length and still regular tension:
Here I've also increased the tension and I finally have some easing of the fabric. See the puckers beginning to form within the stitches?This is probably enough easing for most V-necklines, and I would stop here in those instances. But I might want more easing for a sleeve cap, or around the side bust part of an armscye. In those instances I would add some crowding to my stitching, and get a result with much more shaping, like this:Note how easily this curves around the ham here:
Once steam pressed, the easing will become completely inconspicuous outside the seamline, but the shape will remain.

If you do some crowding on your sample and find you are getting too much fullness, you can simply hold less pressure on your index finger or release the fabric from behind the foot more often.

I rarely use gathering threads to ease fabric anymore. Most of the time, single-layer easing or crowding will provide just the right amount of fullness for subtle, attractive shaping over the body's curves. It seems to provide a more evenly distributed easing than gathering threads. It works at edges such as necklines or pocket openings as well as for interior shaping points such as sleeve caps, elbow points, or back shoulders. It's easy to do, and fits easily into the construction process with little forethought or planning.

Raglan Sleeve

A raglan sleeve actually extends over the shoulder to the neckline. It is very flattering to those with well-defined, (but not too narrow, wide, sloping or erect) shoulders and those with feminine curves. The diagonal lines of raglan sleeves can be slimming. And it provides good freedom of motion and is very comfortable to wear.

As with set-in or dropped sleeves, the raglan usually has a distinct front and back in the "cap" area. In other words, they are most often asymmetrical and you must cut a right and a left.

However, in some cases, especially in casual knitwear or very loose peasant tops, the raglan sleeve may be symmetrical with left and right sleeves interchangeable.

As with other types of sleeves the raglan comes in many variations.

It may be cut all in one piece when meant for a knitted or stretchy fabric (stretch of the fabric allows for bend over the shoulder.)
It may have a dart at neckline for the shoulder shaping.










Or, it may be cut in two pieces, the seam providing the shaping over the shoulder (again, a seam can be a dart.)









A very wide raglan sleeve is often seen in a peasant blouse or dress, gathered at the neckline. There may be very little shaping in the arm/bodice seams in this case. They may even be straight lines. This raglan sleeve will be very wide and may be symmetrical.

Raglan sleeves are very easy to insert. The armhole/sleeve seams are relatively straight. And even if the raglan sleeve is inserted after the underarm and side seams are sewn up ("in the round"), since the armhole opening extends right into the neckline, the area of sleeve insertion is large and open and the sleeve is easy to manipulate.

OK, Have we had enough sleeves for awhile? Phew.

P.S. I ordered Drawing for Dummies. It can't hurt, right?

All About Darts

We'd all be clad in paper bag clothes were it not for darts.

Darts put 3-D shaping into otherwise flat fabric. They allow fullness over a curve, i.e. the bust, without creating too much fullness elsewhere, i.e. the armhole. The fuller the curve, the deeper the dart must be.

Sometimes darts are disguised in seams. A well known example is the princess seam (left). A princess seam is really just a series of darts. A bust dart at the shoulder, a bust dart at the waist, then a hip dart, all connected in one long sewing line (seam).

Lesser known - darting can be incorporated into yokes. The yoke on the back of a blouse or shirt, or the yoke on the back of your jeans. The seam between the yoke and the rest of the garment is really a dart.

There are all kinds of fancy "designer" darts. The elegant French dart (ooo-la-la) extends diagonally upwards towards the bust from the waist at side seam. Check out these "Art Darts" created by a PACC colleague of mine, Ruth Ciemnoczolowski (no one can pronounce it) and featured in Threads Magazine.

Small darts can also be disguised as ease (almost invisible gathering.) Sometimes you do not want a regular sewn dart b/c it will break up the pattern of some beautiful embroidery on the fabric or interrupt the smooth flow of draping silk. I have, in those cases, turned darts into gathers at the upper front side seams or lower front armholes .

I'm sure you have also seen gathers under the bust at an empire seam or midriff band. Those are darts too. Gathers between the bust or on the front shoulder serve the same purpose. It's all about darts.