With Curves, A Seam is Always Better

I don’t know about you, but I’m a very curvy woman.  My perfect hourglass shape of my younger days has turned into an hourglass-ish with padding shape.  Over the years, I’ve noted that princess seamed tops and dresses seem to look the best on me.  The other night, my flat pattern drafting professor confirmed my hunch.

Last week was the first week of the semester and we were starting out learning how to draft an easy design– the basic block skirt–using only measurements (we measured our dress forms and then put them away).  The basic block skirt consists of two darts in front and four darts in back.  We need more darts in the back because we are going over our backside.

One of the things I’ve learned by being in this program is that there are general rules to design.  Believe it or not, there are standard dart widths and depths.  There is also a standard regarding how far apart they should be located from each other.  Now, I know that there is no such thing as a perfect size 8 because all of our dress forms have different measurements (off by as much as an inch) and are supposedly all perfect size 8′s.  But, I wanted to know how to handle darts for women who are curvier like me.  Do I make the darts deeper?  Is the dart intake wider?  So, I asked my professor what the action plan would be.  Her response?  Seams.

I must have looked confused because she then clarified.  She said that if we are talking about curvy curves, then it is better to make a seam rather than wrestle with a dart.  The seam will enable the fabric to glide over the curves without the issues that would come up with darts (weird placement, bulkiness, etc).  She then told me to think of a beach ball.  A beach ball isn’t made up of a bunch of darts.  No, it is made up of a bunch of seams that enable it inflate perfectly.

The moral of the story is this:  If you are curvaceous like me, the next time you are choosing a pattern, look for the ones that will work with your curves rather than against them.  With curves, a seam is always better.