Butterick 5317 - Delightful Darts

I thought inserting darts would be a nightmare - actually they were surprisingly and satisfyingly easy.

I refered to my sewing bible (Vogue sewing) as to the proper way to go about doing things and then improvised a bit. Transfering the exact size of the dart to the material to the pattern turned out to be the hardest part, I used a combination of chalk and pins to get it right and then used contrast stitching to mark it more clearly as the chalk has a habit of rubbing off - only when you're tired though.

 

Then looking at the wrong side of the fabric I pinched together the dart sewing the two sides together by hand.

The darts were then pressed and machined properly into place and the red basting stiches removed. Followed by more pressing. Does anyone else sometimes think that sewing seems to involve more ironing than needles? To keep the points of the darts nice and sharp you don't backstitch, instead you reduce the size of the stitches as you aproach the tip and then you sew off the edge of the fabric, tying the loose ends togther in a double knot to secure.

Voila. Beautiful darts and only slightly burnt fingers.