𝑨 𝑩𝒆𝒂𝒖𝒕𝒊𝒇𝒖𝒍 𝑫𝒂𝒓𝒕 𝑴𝒂𝒏𝒊𝒑𝒖𝒍𝒂𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝑫𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒔

Yaaay...

What a beautiful new week it is. How are you doing today? Hope you're smashing your goals and meeting up with deadlines for your projects?

Well, I am and it's been a wonderful feeling!

Let's talk about Dart manipulation.

Dart manipulation is the process of transferring dart across sewing lines.

We have different types of dart, they are;

Tip neck dart
Shoulder dart
Tip shoulder dart
Mid armhole dart
Bust dart
French side dart
Waist dart
Middle or center dart
Mid neck dart

All of these dart can be manipulated to achieve a dart manipulation style.

Prior to now, I usually call this style : color combination, but I've come to realize that dart manipulation is actually different from color combination.

Color combination are just style lines, which doesn't touch the apex or require you closing and transfering dart but you must do all of that when making a dart manipulated dress.

Okay, I was inspired to make something from my creativity. I didn't recreate anyone's style but sketched from scratch and brought the design to reality.

Immediately I was good to go with the desi I sketched. I started drafting.

For a beautiful outcome, one must know how to combine different fabrics and matching colors.

I made use of mint and teal green. Perfecto! I also decided to use a floral applique to spice things up.

The first step is to draft a basic bodice and begin to alter the draft.

Altering the draft requires lot of dedication and patience. Lots of paper tape will go to waste as well but trust the process, it will come out beautifully.

The style line must pass through the apex and you must close one of the bust dart and transfer to the waist or any other dart of your choice as seen in my picture.

The next thing I did was to transfer the pattern onto my fabric as seen here too.

You can decide to alter your sleeve and neckline, for me I used a basic sleeve and an asymmetric neckline.

It took me a lot of patience to achieve this as I had to join many pieces together to make a whole outfit.

I also pressed each seam line to give it a smooth and neat effect, and that required lot of time and hard work too.

It took me four hours to achieve this dress as simple as it seem. It's not an easy outfit to achieve, but it is worth the effort.

When I presented the outfit, I got lots of compliment on it and it made me happy that my effort wasn't in vain.

So be the judge.. The sketch and the outcome, how did I do?

Here's the outcome of my dart manipulated dress.

An uplclose view.

The back view in harmony with my sketch.

The full dress and more.