Back in 2008/2009, I was Founding Editor of Interweave’s online magazine, Knitting Daily. I wrote posts about knitting, cats, and life, with tutorials, community engagement (the comments were a very hopping place to be at times!), and just a lot of fun.
One of the most popular tutorials I came up with was the Bust Dart Series, posts that taught folks how to insert vertical darts into their sweaters for a better fit. It has been ten years since my last post for Interweave, and I still get emails asking where the Bust Dart tutorials are. (You all are the most loyal readers ever. Thank you.)
Not the best pic I’ve ever taken….
Over the years, most of my work has disappeared from Interweave’s site, as they made room for new editors and new content. I have been working on re-doing and updating the Bust Dart information in the hopes of putting it together into a single downloadable PDF…and then two weeks ago, I found that Interweave had put some of the posts back up. Yay!
SOME. Not all. I have spent a lot of time going over the posts and tutorials to see if everything is all there, what is linked and live and what isn’t. The Bust Dart series is incomplete, and it is not the only one. None of these posts/tutorials/patterns are listed in any index or linked together in any way. Even the search results do not contain all the posts I have since located. However, on the theory that something is better than nothing…
Bust Dart Links
Here are the Bust Dart posts which I have found so far on Interweave’s site. I know that there are at least three missing sections to the Bust Dart series, and I am digging in my archives of notes and drafts to find that information. Each post linked below comes with a little summary of what you will find there. Please do let me know if you find more posts or links!
Thank you for asking, and asking, and asking….for more than 10 years. I am the luckiest writer ever.
~ Sandi
The Return of the Bust Darts ~ originally published June 9, 2008
This is basically backstory: How I first put darts into a cute top called the Tomato, and an overview of the events surrounding the original posts. No how-to, and the links do not work. Interesting for context only.
Intro to Bust Darts: Vertical and Short-Row ~ originally published June 11, 2008
This is actually useful! (YAY!) Definition of darts and basic overview of how they work; the differences between vertical and short-row darts; when to use them in your garments.
Bust Dart Placement ~ originally published June 13, 2008
Instructions on where the darts ought to go, using a loose tee-shirt and some clips to demonstrate on poor Bertha, my erstwhile assistant at the time. (Bertha is in semi-retirement in my basement at present.) FYI: Previous post mentioned/linked to (Where the Darts Go) is not there. No math, just shows where the darts go, literally.
Getting Started With Your Bust Darts ~ originally published June 16, 2008
How to choose size based on high bust measurement; and then, again, general steps on how to knit darts into your top-down sweater. Again, no math.
We do the math for you ~ originally published June 19, 2008
The Actual Math. FINALLY. This contains the basic formula for figuring out stitch counts, number of decreases/increases, and so forth. If you just read the text, you can work the numbers easily.
Now. About that Worksheet. There is an Excel worksheet linked several times in this post; there is even an image of the worksheet on the page that says “click to download worksheet”. Except that the image is only an image, not a real working downloadable widget. (It used to be…) As such, you may not be able to download the worksheet in the usual way. I found that if you press whatever magic combo of keys and clicks it takes to use one of the following commands: Open Link in New Tab, Open Link in New Window, or Save Link As… If you click on the image of the worksheet and use one of those three choices, you will get an actual download window so you can actually download the file. Note: It downloads as a zip file (compressed archive, for the Most Esteemed and Honourable Non-Nerds amongst you) to wherever you tell it to. Click (or double-click on some systems) the zip file and voilá, an actual Excel worksheet.
All five calculations in the worksheet, including the programmed-in formulas, Actually Work! With only five bits of information, this is a very rudimentary worksheet; it was meant to be part of a larger set including the waist shaping calculator (maybe on the site…) and a sleeve cap calculator (not on the site), but I have been working on an expanded version of the basic bust dart worksheet at least, so maybe this will give me the kick in the arse required to just program the new one. (“Just”.)
Oh, and the links in the post text to Excel worksheets take you to a post named Bust Dart Math…where the only thing on it is another image of the non-functional, non-downloadable worksheet (unless you use the method above, I mean).
Bust Dart Worksheet ~ AKA Bust Dart Math, same post; originally published June 20, 2008
There you go. I apologise for all the run-arounds you people have been through trying to find this information. And I apologise for being away for so long…life really happened to me there for a few years, and maybe sometime I can tell you stories about my adventures during the years I was away.
wiseheart knits 