Welcome to Episode 4 in the How to Sew A Skirt Sew-along series. The subject for today is: How to mark darts

A quick recap of what we have completed so far in case you have missed a step and need to review :

How to mark darts on your fabric accurately

Many of the traditional sewing tutorials will tell you that you need to ‘thread trace' pattern markings onto your fabric. To do this, you sew directly through the pattern into the fabric to transfer the markings and then pull the pattern away leaving the marking stitches in place. Nah – sounds like too much hard work, I'm not a fan of hand-stitching.

I've got a much better, quicker, more accurate and easier way to show you that involves no sewing at all.

Cut all the way down one side of the dart leg and a little way past the point of the dart.

Fold back the dart along the other leg carefully and crease. Be careful to do this accurately, right to the point.

Fold the dart back the other way, and out of sight, creasing sharply.

Place the pattern piece accurately on the fabric with the wrong side facing up.

Mark the legs and point of the darts using your favorite fabric marker. You can use Clover Water Soluble Pencils , or one of the popular disappearing ink pens from Collins or from Singer.

Remove the pattern piece and check the lines are clear.

Snip a little into the ends of the darts. This will help you to line them up later.

Replace the pattern piece back on the fabric and mark any other darts. Tape the dart back into place when done so you can use the pattern piece again.

See – easy and accurate! Tracing out your darts neatly and accurately will make sure you get a good finish in our next step – sewing the darts.

Our next steps

Join me soon for the next step in our Sew A Skirt series –Sewing darts perfectly.

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Authored by: Deby at So Sew Easy



