In this week’s session, I focused on bodice dart manipulation techniques and constructing French darts for larger bust sizes. We explored various dart placements including shoulder, armhole, bust, and French darts, discussing how to choose and combine darts based on body shape and desired fit. I demonstrated step-by-step how to manipulate darts and create a fitted bodice block for larger bust sizes.

Demonstration Steps:

1. Explained the importance of dart placement for different body shapes and sizes
2. Demonstrated closing shoulder darts and transferring to waist
3. Showed how to manipulate armhole darts
4. Explained bust dart construction and smoothing techniques
5. Demonstrated creating a French dart on a fitted bodice block
6. Discussed how to handle excess fabric when darts are very large

Questions & Answers:

• Q: Why are the darts so large on this example?
• A: The darts are large because we’re working with a size 16 dress form with a DD cup size. Larger bust sizes require more volume in the darts.

• Q: Can you spread a large dart volume across multiple smaller darts?
• A: Yes, you can distribute the volume across multiple darts. We’ll cover this technique in more detail next week.

• Q: Should we make up each bodice block to find the best dart combination?
• A: That’s a great idea. We’ll be cutting these into muslin samples to compare different dart placements on the dress form.

• Q: How do you handle excess fabric in very large darts?
• A: For very large darts, you can cut out the excess and add seam allowances instead of folding, to reduce bulk.