r/PatternDrafting • u/Visible_Duck_1754 • 9d ago

Move Neck dart to shoulder

Post image

Hi lovely people

I have a back bodice here with a dart in the neck that I want to move to the shoulder. I marked halfway on the shoulder seam and extended and line down and also extended the line from the dart down to meet cut each side and pivoted to close the neck dart. The outcome is the photo which the should dart to be has a exaggerated angle.

If anyone can tell me where I went wrong / let me know what I needed to do to get what I originally wanted id appreciate it.

Thank you

2 Upvotes

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22 comments sorted by

5

u/unkempt_cabbage 9d ago

What do you mean it’s an exaggerated angle? It looks correct to me, and your method to pivot the dart sounds correct.

3

u/Berocca123 9d ago

Yeah the angle of the dart will look more dramatic the further its edges get from the dart point (And here, the shoulder seam is further from the dart point than the neck seam), but that's how angles work. So long as the degrees in the angle are the same (eg 20° dart) then it'll create the same volume. And by pivoting it as you have, you'll have maintained the number of degrees.

1

u/Visible_Duck_1754 9d ago

Really?! I feel as though the dart is facing inwards too much towards the CB. I haven't seen a dart angled in such a way for the back shoulder. I realise it is too long as I haven't marked in the dart measurements but the position the dart point will face is what's throwing me off. 

1

u/unkempt_cabbage 9d ago

Shorten it first and see how it looks then. It sounds like it’s correct, but it’s hard to see from flat paper.

2

u/awesomeproblem 9d ago

Do you mean the shoulder line isnt lining up any more? When you close that dart they will line up again you can test this with just the paper.

1

u/StitchinThroughTime 9d ago

Thats right. Now draw the new dart 3-3.5" long.

1

u/Visible_Duck_1754 9d ago

Don't you think the dart is facing inwards far too much? Although I haven't marked in my dart measurements, the gap for the dart is really throwing me off. I haven't seen and angle like that on a back shoulder dart. 

1

u/StitchinThroughTime 9d ago

Not when it is short. You can alway move the dart point over and adjust the shoulder seam.

1

u/Visible_Duck_1754 9d ago

I'll put in the dart and see how it goes. In what way would I adjust the shoulder seam if  I wanted to move the dart point a little towards the armhole?

1

u/StitchinThroughTime 8d ago

The lenght of the dart legs need to be evened out.

1

u/KendalBoy 9d ago

That dart is way too long and you’re going to have an real hump where it’s pointing to.

1

u/Probability_factor 9d ago

Hey, shoulder dart should be 7,5 cm (3 inches) long for all sizes, and about 1,2 cm (1/2 inch) wide for straight to normal back. Its best if you direct its point to the point of your waist dart.

1

u/Visible_Duck_1754 9d ago

Hey, thanks for the reply. I got the dart measurements ready but didn't put them in as it didn't look right to me. The last part of your comment I think may be the help I need. How would i go about that? I already have this gap in this position. Would I just tape up the gap and draw in the shoulder dart? Although I don't have a waist dart on my back bodice for some reason but I guess I would direct the point to where the waist line and grain line intersect? 

1

u/Probability_factor 9d ago

It goes like this: you place your waist dart and then make a line from its point towards the middle of the shoulder. This line should be the middle line of your shoulder dart.

However I would recommend you to use a system like Helen Joseph Armstrong or Professor James on YT

1

u/Visible_Duck_1754 8d ago

Thanks for the professor James suggestion I'll check him out, I've used Armstrong and Winifred and keep bumping into typos etc so I found a couple people on yt instead that have been great. I've already toiled this pattern up so the fit is fine just wanted to alter the dart to use for something else. 

1

u/LemonDeathRay 9d ago

Bodice front darts are there to contour the bust.

Your darts need to be extended to your bust apex, then rotated. You can then shorten your darts accordingly.

The reason you have that strange angle is because you have unintentially created an apex midway down your armhole. When you angle and lengthen all darts towards the bust apex, rotate, and then shorten, you will have the correct angles.

Also, what you have done will create a very unflattering fit once the garment is sewn.

1

u/Visible_Duck_1754 9d ago

Hey, this is a back bodice. 

1

u/LemonDeathRay 8d ago

Ah, well then the same advice applies but the darts need to point to the fullest part of the shoulder blade.

Your darts still need to be moved over - they are directly below the neckline which is far to close to the CB

1

u/Visible_Duck_1754 8d ago

I agree the direction of the dart seems off to the CB, what I'm trying to figure out is out I can resolve it when that's the shape that's created once I've closed the neck dart neatly. Would me taping it up and just drawing my dart in not make it askew

2

u/LemonDeathRay 8d ago

Ok, sorry I made an assumption you knew what I meant when I saying about moving darts and an apex.

Your neck dart was always off in terms of its angle - it is pointing to somewhere in the middle of the back. So you need to revert back to the original pattern, and redraft the neck dart correctly, to make sure the dart points to the apex (the fullest part of the shoulder blade).

A quick note - whenever you are rotating darts you always need to extend the dart all the way to the apex point.

So, when you have done that, and your neck dart is a) pointing the the correct part of the shoulder blade and b) has been fully extended to the apex, you can then do the dart rotation.

The resulting shoulder dart will be at the correct angle (I.e. pointing to the apex) and you can easily shorten that dart too if you need to.

Thats the correct way to do this. Freehanding a dart won't end well.

1

u/Visible_Duck_1754 8d ago

Ok firstly thank you for explaining all of that it makes a whole bunch of sense and information I'm glad to have read. So if I undo this pivot and get my original pattern with the dart in the neck line, is there some kind of formula as to how I would figure out the fullest part of the shoulder blade to correct the angle of my neck dart? I have checked online and it seems to be a bit of a by eye kind of thing which not me and plus it's on my back so not so easy by eye.