[Kerrilyn]

Mm my bust darts aren’t looking too good. I did move them on the pattern to line up with the bust apex and the body/ waist ones look fine. But the under arm one ends funny and doesn’t sit nice. Like a dimple. I had to shorten this one about an inch otherwise it would have ended right at the bust apex/ nipple and definitely would not have been a good look. What should I do to fix it? I am using a medium weight linen. Looking at the pattern again maybe I should lengthen it slightly so it ends in a similar place above the other dart. How close to the apex do I dare go?

[Masha Richart]

Did you taper off the edge of the dart slowly and tie the ends of it by hand rather than backstitching? If not, that might be the problem. Maybe if you take a photo we might be able to troubleshoot.

[Kerrilyn]

Thanks for taking the time to reply, roundtheworldgirl. Yes I did this. I ended up removing them and redoing, making them slightly longer and curving them slightly so they were narrower at the point. They sit much nicer now, well one always did.

Now to decide whether to line or not!

[meleliza]

The conventional wisdom is to end the dart further away from the apex the bigger the bust. My problem with that is that a larger dart needs more length to taper off nicely. I end mine much closer to the apex than any books suggest. It’s more of a vintage look and it looks better than a dimple! Another trick is to curve the very end of the dart slightly inward before you get to the end. After all, bodies are curvy rather than pointy.

If you have a shapely bustline, this can all take some practice. I always have trouble underneath because my underbust is super narrow in comparison to the rest of my, so it’s a pretty drastic tapering. I do better with little gathers than darts some of the time.