Darts or no darts

[tsloop]

I just came back from the tailor and it got my friend and I to duscussing darts. He thinks that darts on the back of a shirt makes them look more tailored, where as I personally think that sometimes they break up the lines of the shirt and without them the shirt looks "cleaner." I was wondering if you guys have any opinions on the subject. The tailor wanted to take the darts out of the back of my Brioni shirt to make it fit and look better and I am looking for suggestions.

 

[Will]

On a dress shirt, they're always under a jacket so why bother changing? On a sport shirt, let the designer set the style and either buy it that way or not.

When having them made, no darts is my personal preference.

Will

 

[faustian bargain]

darts are useful if you've got boobs...er, pecs. (and/or lats.)

seems like, if you don't need them due to body shape, you shouldn't have them. --unless it's an extremely fitted shirt, or if it's a shirt that got taken-in.

/andrew - knows that darts are good in a pub, too

 

[acole]

Depends on your build and the shirt pattern.  I don't think they're a problem with solids or small checks...but with bold stripes or windowpanes the interruption of the pattern becomes very noticeable, especially if these were well-matched at the existing seams by the original shirtmaker.

I'm a stocky guy, yet a lot of the OTR shirts out there still fit me like a *&^# sail (yes, Brooks Bros., I'm talkin' to YOU).  Whatever darts may do to the "line" of a shirt, it pales beside the distracting effect of a yard of extra material stuffed into the waistline.  If I took these shirts to a tailor, I'd definitely consider getting them darted--along with raising the armhole height by a couple of meters...

 

[tsloop]

well im a pretty thin guy and the tailor said he could make it fit right without the darts and this is on a white shirt with blue stripes and they are definitely very noticable.

 

[Brian SD]

Could someone please explain what darts are? I have never had to deal with them but have definitely heard of them before.

 

[bengal-stripe]

Could someone please explain what darts are?

A dart (in tailoring) is a curved seam that takes some excess fabric inside the garment to give the item more shape. One example is the dart that almost all, except the American sack, coats (jackets) have in the front. They are located nearest the centre, begin below the chest and go down to the pocket. This seam gives more shape to the waist (narrowest point of the body).

The darts talked about in this thread are two back seams in shirts. They begin below the shoulder blades, take in most excess fabric in the waist and then peter out again over the hips. The shirt is less of a straight hanging sack, but has more the shape of an hourglass (always presuming that your body is also hourglass shaped).

 

[Brian SD]

Ahh, thank you much. Now I can understand why one would have reason for worry if they are putting darts in a patterned dress shirt.

 

[Shirtmaven]

Darts on RTW shirts are eaiser and quicker then cutting side seams. Also better chance of not screwing up the shape of the armhole. You are limited to taking in only about 4".

In a MTM or bespoke shirt the darts work best on men with sway posture. (back curves in). or men with extremely atheletic build.

I kind of like the look of darts on a patterned shirt.

 

[Renault78law]

I wanted to revive this old thread to ask if anyone knows how to make darts. Is this something I could to myself, or should I let a tailor handle it? Does it require a sewing machine?

 

[globetrotter]

no darts for me, please

 

[Renault78law]

I guess maybe I could try doing this: http://www.styleforum.net/cgi-bin....l=dart% Do you cut the fabric only in the back? Or the front as well? I have a feeling that I'll probably need to take in the sides and sew darts to get the effect I'm looking for.

 

[Leo Jay]

I have some RTWs I might want darts put into if the cost is reasonable? Can anyone recommend a tailor and let us know what they charged per shirt?

 

[imageWIS]

A very good tailor should be able to remove a substantial amount of the shirt fabric form the sides, and with proper knowledge of fabric shaping should be able to make the shirt look as close to MTM / bespoke (at least in terms of body fit) as humanly possible.

Jon.

 

[stache]

I wanted to revive this old thread to ask if anyone knows how to make darts. Is this something I could to myself, or should I let a tailor handle it? Does it require a sewing machine?

Yes you would need a sewing machine. I would say only attempt a dart if you are interested in learning how to sew.