Vent: Spent 3 years sewing darts the wrong way before a tailor in Chicago set me straight
I always folded fabric so the dart point ended up on the outside of the garment. Seemed logical, kept things flat. Last month I took a blazer to a lady named Rosa in the Loop and she pointed out I was trapping fabric in the wrong direction. Now my bodice linings actually sit smooth instead of bunching. Has anyone else been sewing backwards for years without realizing it?
dart point ended up on the outside" - yeah that's exactly what I did for way too long. Makes total sense when you think about folding fabric to keep things flat on the outside, but it messes up the whole internal structure. I bet a lot of people do it that way at first because it just looks cleaner when you're working on the outside. Once I switched to putting the dart point inside the garment, my linings stopped puckering at the armholes and shoulders. It's one of those small changes that makes a huge difference in how the finished piece actually hangs on the body.