sewing question--does this type of dart have a name?

[vivavintageclothing]

A question for you sewing experts out there: does the type of dart on the bodice of this 1960's cocktail dress have a specific name? I'd love to know, if so. Thanks for your help!

 

[DeCoDiVa]

GREAT LINES

Great lines and from a 1960's Singer Sewing Book these are called a diagonal bust dart. But you can clearly see that this concept is taken up a notch with a couture treatment of the top-stitching and (..is that a covered button?) Are there cleverly concealed pockets?

 

[vivavintageclothing]

Thanks DeCoDiVa! "Topstitched" is a good way to describe the dart. The dress does not have pockets--what you are seeing is a floating panel, lined with silk, that covers the whole front of the skirt section. Kinda cool!

 

[Rue_de_la_Paix]

Hi,

Not sure, and I don't have my sewing books handy...my first thought is it is an "arrow" dart, or arrow placket dart. "Bust dart" alone is just a sewn line of stitches, and this has more detail.

 

[joules]

I'm with Barbara. Wish Claire, Holis, etc. was around. Bust darts from waist, but more to it; that is a kind of top-stitched arrow placket.

 

[vivavintageclothing]

Thanks! It looks so cool . . . maybe if it doesn't actually have an "official" name, Barbara and Joules just named it!

 

[MyVintageCocktail]

My Coats & Clark's sewing book calls these French darts, darts that are "diagonal, going from side seam at waist or hip to point of bust." I would call it a topstitched French dart, then. The topstitching is not an integral part of the construction, but an embellishment done once the dart has been created. I don't see a placket there--the effect may give the appearance of one, but unless the dart seam is somehow open at the surface and closed underneath (like a tucked or pleated construction of some sort), placket really isn't applicable.

That dress is gorgeous, btw, and appears so well made! Those flyaway-panel dresses always seem to sell for nice money!

 

[joules]

I was hoping you might show up too Anne! Makes sense.
It must be some kind of tricked out French dart then.

 

[vivavintageclothing]

Thanks Anne! "French darts"--I could have used that term many times over the years, most often on 60's dresses like this one. So, now I know what to call them!

 

[MyVintageCocktail]

I think the Singer book is also right in calling them "diagonal bust darts," but it would seem that French dart is a whole lot easier to say! LOL....

 

[Circa Vintage Clothing]

I agree with topstitched French dart - today I was listing '60s patterns on my soon-to-be-launched webshop and found a similar treatment. That's the name the pattern gave it.

Nicole

 

[DeCoDiVa]

Singer reference & support

Thanks for the support Vintage Baubles.

To:vivavintageclothing
I can give you an accurate bibliography and reference with page number and a diagram if you need it.