Sewing: Jacket With Spaghetti Strap Trim

The project started when I saw a TV show talking about putting in lots of buttonholes around the front and neck edges of a jacket, and threading the buttonholes with ribbon or something like that.

So I decided to try it with a really long spaghetti strap made out of some scrap satin that I had lying around.

The next step is to sew many buttonholes around the front and neck edges. Space them evenly.

In retrospect, I should have put more buttonholes in this jacket.

Cut some strips of satin on the grain (lengthwise grain is preferable - definitely not on the bias). The strips should be between 1" and 1 1/4" wide. Piece the strips to make a strip about 8 feet long.

Fold the strip in half lengthwise, right sides together, and sew with a 1/4" seam allowance.

Get a piece of cording that is a foot or so longer than the strip. When you sew the strip with right sides together, enclose that cording between the layers. Sew across one short end of the strip, catching the cording at that end. Do not let the cording get caught when you are sewing the long seam.

When the sewing is completed, tie the extra cording (at the end that was NOT sewn across) to a doorknob or a piece of furniture. Holding the strap taut, work the fabric over the sewn-across end, and keep pulling it until the strap is completely turned right-side out.

Cut the sewn-across end off of the strap, and trim the end of the cording. The cord is now ready for use in some other project. Only a little piece has to be trashed.

And the jacket embellishment is complete.

This is very subtle form of wearable art, and I had no problem wearing it to the office.