Kurta without zip and center darts

Dear Rozmina,

Thanks so much. To make the kurta without a zipper or any waist darts, you need to align the straight center back line of the pattern with the fold line of your fabric. This means that you ignore the center back dart of the pattern.

You also ignore the front and back pattern waist darts when you sew the garment. If you are sewing a women's kurta I suggest that you sew the side bust dart to make it fall nicely without any ripples.

Since you are not sewing in a zipper on the center back or the sides, you need to add some ease on the front and back pattern side seams so that the garment can be worn easily. On the front pattern make sure to close the side bust dart and tape it in place. Then add a few cm to the top of the side seam and also extend the hemline out by the amount you like at the side seam and connect the marks for both the front and back patterns.

To give you a better idea, I will give you an example of the changes that are required to the pattern in order to style it as a loose fitting A line dress or (kurta).

• After closing the side bust dart on the front pattern. Extend the armhole out at the top of the side seam by 1 cm on the front pattern.
   
• On the front pattern extend the hemline of the skirt out by 5 cm. (here we are using the straight skirt block pattern) Connect the marks. This will be the new side seam for the front pattern.
   
• On the back pattern extend the armhole line out at the top of the side seam by 1 cm like the front pattern.
   
• The hemline should be extended by 5 cm plus the distance between the straight center back line and the center back dart line, level with the bottom of the back pattern armhole. This could be a small amount of just a few mm. Measure this distance. Lets say it is 4 mm. So for the back pattern you need to extend the hemline out by (5 cm + 4 mm = 5.4 cm) Doing this will ensure that the front and back pattern side seams will have the same angle and length.
   
• Since the side seams are at an angle they will hang lower and will not give you an even hemline. To fix this, first extend the lower hipline and cross the new side seams on both patterns.
   
• Then, measure the distance from the center back or center front lower hipline down to the hemline. What ever this distance is, you need to measure and mark it from the lower hiplines on the new side seams for both patterns.
   
• You will see that the mark falls a bit higher than the hemline. This is what we want. Draw a curved line from the new mark merging it gradually with the previous hemline, at the previous side seam. Do this for both patterns.
   
• Then you add the seam allowances. Make sure that the front side bust dart is closed when you do this. When you want to place the patterns on the fabric, open the side bust dart on the front pattern so the pattern lays flat on the fabric.

Make sure to test the pattern on muslin before cutting your main fabric.

I hope this explains it.

Happy sewing,

Nehzat