Dart (sewing)

Darts are folds sewn into fabric to take in ease and provide shape to a garment, especially for a woman's bust. They are used frequently in all sorts of clothing to tailor the garment to the wearer's shape, or to make an innovative shape in the garment. Fabric may be thought of as flat, and a dart has the effect of removing a wedge shaped piece and pulling the edges of that wedge together to create a shallow cone.

This effect can be seen quite easily with a paper pattern by pulling together the edges of a dart intake as it would be sewn.
Since fabric is generally more flexible than paper, the fabric will shift around the apex of the cone and form a softer, but still curved, shape.
In a garment, a dart ends in a point at a full area of the body.

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Source: Wikipedia · Image: Wikimedia Commons · CC0