dart manipulation: new creativebug workshop

I’ve been waiting eagerly to share this with you! My latest workshop for Creativebug is called Dart Manipulation, and in it I show you how to move and manipulate darts as a design element.

Does that sound like I’m speaking a foreign language? It’s pretty simple, really. There are a few basic principles to patternmaking, and dart manipulation is one of the first and simplest concepts. But even if you don’t aspire to become a patternmaker, this is a simple technique that you can use in your own sewing.

Let’s say you have a basic dress pattern that you really like, and you love the fit of that pattern. Once you understand the basics of dart manipulation, you can make simple changes to that pattern and develop new looks from it without buying and fitting a new pattern! For example, in my workshop I’m wearing and working with the Lisette Passport Dress. That dress is designed with an angled dart at the waistline, but for the workshop I moved the dart to the side seam. During the workshop I move it again, this time to the neckline (the dress I’m wearing for the workshop has the neck dart and is made from the pattern). I also explain how you can move the dart almost anywhere you want, or you can change the dart into gathers or a pleat (which basically means that you baste the dart while you’re constructing the dress and then take out the basting when you’re finished) for completely different looks.

This workshop is simple and straightforward, but I hope it will open your eyes to the basics of patternmaking and will give you a starting point for trying some of your own design ideas. And once you understand this concept, patternmaking might not seem so intimidating anymore!

By the way, dart manipulation was the first concept that I learned in my first patternmaking class, and it resulted in my love affair with patternmaking. That’s exactly what I was talking about in my Creativebug trailer!