Sewing the Farrow 14-30 Darts

Today we'll be discussing how to sew the Farrow 14-30 darts. If you own a copy of the original Farrow in sizes 0-18 you’ll know that version does not include darts. When drafting the 14-30 off of our custom block we made the decision to add darts to the pattern. The darts allow room for the dress to fit properly across the bust while maintaining the original A-line shape of the Farrow. Without including them we would have had to increase the volume of the dress and it wouldn’t resemble the original shape we love as closely as we, and you, would have wanted.

Now about the darts in the Farrow and the rest of our 14-30 patterns. If you’ve looked at them, you’ll notice that there’s a chunk missing from the center of the dart. This missing piece is called the dart takeup. As the name implies, the dart takeup is the amount of fabric taken up into the dart, which creates the volume for the bust. As the bust size increases, so does the amount of fabric in the dart takeup which, depending on the angle and placement of the dart, results in extra bulk on the wrong side of the garment. To combat this we’ve removed the excess included in the dart takeup, which is standard in larger bust darts in the industry.

Essentially you’ll be sewing these darts the same way you would for any dart, from the dart leg notches to the dart point. I know a lot of people have been confused about how to sew these darts, so with that in mind we’ve prepared this tutorial for you.

To begin, take one of your fronts and lay it face up with the dart point marked.

Fold the upper portion of the front down and align the dart leg notches and the cut edge along the center of the dart. 

Stitch a line from the dart leg notches to the dart point. The cut edges of the dart will end up having a 1/2" seam allowance, but you'll run off that as you near the dart point.

Now I like to finish the raw edges of the dart by serging the seam allowance. Leave a thread tail at the dart point so that you can anchor the serging threads in place.

To anchor the threads, first thread the serger tail into a large-eye ballpoint needle, then bring the needle through the serging stitches towards the side seam.

Pull the tail through, then bring your needle back through the stitching in the opposite direction to anchor the tail in place.

Now press the dart takeup towards the hem of the dress. That's all there is to it!

Here you can see how the front looks, nice and smooth. This is a great way to reduce unnecessary bulk in your garments and get a great, professional finish. And once you understand the mechanics behind it I hope it's no longer confusing!

Have you ever sewn a dart like this? Let us know!