Here’s an easy way to keep your straps in place under a sweater or shirt. I’ve found this especially helpful with keeping tank tops and bra straps in place!
Items you’ll need:
- Ribbon or twill tape
- Fray Check
- Snaps
- Thread
- Sewing Needle
Try to keep your stitching invisible from the right side.
Anchor your tape down to a seam if possible.
Keep Those Straps In Place!
To make the stays, first cut a piece of ribbon. I recommend twill tape or grosgrain ribbon that matches your fabric as closely as possible. For sweaters, I like to make my stays kind of long and use 1/2″ ribbon so it will hold a tank top strap in place, but if you’re doing this for a blouse to hold a bra strap, you might want it to be thinner and shorter. Figure out how long you want your stays to be, and then add 1/2″ (1.3 cm) to the length. Cut the ribbon and treat it with Fray Check to keep it from raveling.
Now sew one end of the ribbon to the shoulder of your garment. On the sweater pictured here, I have sewn it close to the collar edge and put the snap on the outer shoulder. If you’re sewing onto a more delicate top, you might want to sew to the outer shoulder side first and have the snap closer in towards the collar so you don’t have a bump in the middle of your shoulder where the snap is going to be located. Also consider where your bra or tank top straps are going to fall in respect to the top your attaching the stays to. You’ll be able to judge better based on the top you’re sewing onto.
Once you have the stay anchored down, fold the free end under and sew a snap to the end. Now sew a snap to the shirt or sweater so that the stay can be snapped down to it.
Repeat this process for the other side of your top and you’re done!
