I usually sew home decor items, so I don’t normally deal with dress darts. Now I am making a blouse out of white, see-thru chiffon. What do I use to mark the darts on the fabric before I sew them? Is there some sort of chaulk “pen” or something I can buy? Something that will not show thru the fabric when I am finished making the blouse? Thanks for your help. Sorry to be so clueless.
Sue
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You could use snip marks in the seam lines to mark the ends of the dart, and a tailor tack to mark the point.
You could also do a long, loose basting stitch along the stitching lines. You would then snip the loops on the pattern side, and as you separate the halves of fabric snip (very carefully) in between so that thread is left in both pieces of fabric.
There are pens you can buy that are water-removable or that fade in the air, but I would be afraid to use them on the fabric you're describing.
Valerie
Dear one: This is obviously a special garment and I would recommend that you bite the bullet and mark with tailor's tacks. Also, for your cutting and marking, be sure and work on a piece of tissue, top and bottom.
When I was a girl, I was warned about using red and other dark colors with which to baste. This is a good point for as light a pastel as you can see. Galey
You might want to take a look at the video tip called "Accurate Darts without Permanent Marks". Just go to the Threads home page, and click on "Video Tips" ... there are a couple of places you can do that but the main one is on the left-hand side of the page where the "Index" of options is; that will take you to a page that lists the video tips available. Just scroll down the page until you find the title you want, click on it, and choose your preferred down-loader - and a small screen will pop up on your screen. It takes a few minutes for the video to down-load, but some of these are very helpful, and worth the time it takes. The technique demonstrated on this one uses pins and narrow tape to mark the darts.
I often use white classroom chalk on very sheer fabrics. I whittle a point on the chalk, pin through the pattern and both layers of fabric, and then rub the chalk against the pin where it comes through the wrong side. It brushes out easily, doesn't stain, and is always available.
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