Vogue 1241: sew along, day #3

5. To make dart in BACK (4), slash along solid line to square.

By slash, they just mean cut along the line. Don't cut out a wedge or anything.

5a. Staystitch back section closest to center, between upper small circle and armhole edge.

5b. Gather back section closest to the side seam, between upper small circle and middle circle.

Check out the photos under step 6 if this doesn't make sense yet. I didn't take pictures of the cutting, staystitching, and gathering since you just used those techniques yesterday.

6. Fold dart seam, right sides together, matching lower circles and solid lines, continuing to pin side back edges together, matching... Adjust gathers. Stitch... Press fold of dart and seam toward center.
When sewing this seam, the gathers might move around a little bit. To make your life easier, baste this seam, then check to make sure the gathers fall how you want them to, and then go back over with regular stitching.

In this picture, you can see where I adjusted the gathers and then sewed the seam. The dart is on the left side of this picture. There are markings on the pattern to indicate where to start angling toward the dart if it's not obvious.

Here's what the back looks like after you open it up and press. The center back is on the bottom of this picture.

7. Fuse BACK INTERFACING (5) to wrong side of back.

Again, I skipped the interfacing. It's up to you!

8. A note about reinforcing the back center seam at the bottom, where the slit will go.

I didn't do this. It really depends on your fabric and personal preference.

9. Stitch back to front at shoulders.

This should be self-explanatory, but here are some pictures for clarification.

Stitch shoulder seams

Shoulder seams open flat (this photo was actually taken at a later step... you might be able to see the lining peaking out a little under the outer fabric.