Let’s start with Darts for Shaping Horizontally. Darts can be placed anywhere that you need to have a difference in the length/depth.
Shaping Horizontally with Darts
Jill Wolcott Knits Pattern Tailor is leaning into darts as our first tools. Horizontal darts provide a way to add or subtract fabric in specific places: Bust, Belly (low, middle, high, pregnancy), Back Hump, & Bum, plus hemline and shoulders. Our first dart is a simple Horizontal Bust dart. As I write this I can also think of reversing the dart shaping to accommodate other specific body needs (there is always something).
Darts can be confusing in knits because we create the fabric as we go, so we don’t fold out fabric as we do in woven. The purpose of the dart determines how the horizontal shaping is done.
The horizontal dart in knits adds length where it is needed to travel the extra distance created by the body part it is traveling over.
These drawings are representative and don’t show all the individual differences we experience.
The small length/depth measurements was calculated using my drawing program. The body length/depth was taken from my Size 10 dress form for the Small Bust, Flat Belly, Average Posture, and Average Bum. I extrapolated from the dress form measurements for the equivalent body length/depth.
Can you see that you only need extra length to travel from the top of the curve to the apex unless the garment has other shaping to bring it into the body?
Horizontal Darts
If you have ever worked shoulder shaping, it is the same as one side of a pair of bust darts, on a smaller scale! It is not accommodating the slope of your shoulder, but providing a dart at the armhole to prevent fabric sag at the armpit. Extra length is being added at the neck, while none is added at the armhole. It is the same as a dart at your bust that adds length at the center, but not at the side seam.
Horizontal darts point toward, and add, extra fabric at the apex or fullest part of the bust. Look at the image below showing two pattern pieces pinned to a half-size 10 dress form. The right dart is folded out as it is in flat pattern. The left side has the fabric length added in as we do in knits. The right bodice is fitted and the left is meant to be longer.
Can you see how the bottom is straight even though the dart is worked on an angle? The same dart worked at the bottom would create a curved hem.
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