How to temporarily shorten straps on a dress

How To Temporarily Shorten Straps On A Dress – Easy Method

Shortening your straps has many ways. If you want to shorten your straps temporarily, you cannot cut off the straps completely. Because if you have cut it off, you need to add it later with your dress. I will discuss how you can shorten your straps temporarily. By following the steps below, you can easily shorten the straps on your dress. Whether you are going to a wedding night or any special occasion, this guide will help you to shorten your straps as quickly as possible. Straps are of many kinds. Such as spaghetti straps, non-adjustable straps, and overall straps.

Each of the straps has a different way to shorten. So, you have to follow the instructions to make your straps short. The basic formula of shorten your straps is using a safety pin. You need to fold that excess part of the straps and pin that by a safety pin. Then simply tuck it inside or leave it hanging. This is how you can shorten your straps easily within five minutes. And you are also able to attend any program with confidence.

Key Takeaways

  • You can shorten the straps on a dress within one minute by using a safety pin, an elastic band, making a knot, and so on.
  • Shortening the straps don’t need to be cut off or sewing. Some basic way has made it even easier.
  • You have to measure the excess length of the straps first.
  • Try to keep all the materials needed for shortening straps. Such as needles, threads, pins, and nail polish.

3 Basic Ways of Shortening Your Straps

I have already told you that, you can use a safety pin to shorten your straps in real quick. But, there is some other way to shorten your straps as well. I am going to discuss the others method as well. Shortening the straps is a common problem among girls. And girls are very aware full about their dress and fashion. I am explaining now some basic ways to shorten your straps.

Method 1: Use Safety pins

Use safety pins
Use safety pins

Using safety pins is the simplest and easiest way to shorten your straps temporarily. I am going to elaborate on the process step by step. It will finish in 4 steps and I will let you know about all the steps in this discussion.

  • Take the measure of excess straps: At first, you will need to measure the length of the straps to make sure you are not making it too short. If your straps are too short, then you cannot wear it with comfort. So, measure the length that you want to get shortened. And one more thing you need to be careful about. You should leave an extra length just to be safe from embarrassment. Because when you will notice that your straps in being tight after shortening then it will definitely be an embarrassing moment for you.
  • Tuck the pin through the straps: Pinning is another important part of shortening your straps. Once you have finished measuring the straps, it’s time to pin it perfectly. Take your safety pin and open it to pin it up. Place one end of the safety pin and place another on the dress. Make sure that your straps are in the desired length. Then close the safety pin to keep the straps in place. Otherwise, the straps will not into their place as before.
  • Try it out: After closing the safety pin, it is time to try on the dress to observe that the straps fit enough on your body. If the straps seem to be too tight or too loose then you can easily put off the safety pin and re-insert the pin to make your straps fit enough. So, you know the method now. You can easily adjust the length of the strap anytime or anywhere.
  • Repeat the process on the other side: Now repeat the process on the other side of the dress to finish. So that’s it. This is very simple to shorten your straps using a safety pin.

Method 2: Use Elastic

Use elastic
Use elastic

Well, elastic has also a process to make your straps short in length. Like the previous discussion of safety pins, I am going to inform you about the process of using elastic step by step.

  • Measure: The basic thing is to take the measure first of your straps. You have to make sure the perfect length for the straps that you want to shorten.
  • Sewing: Once you have taken the real measurement, it’s time for sewing now. You need to tuck the elastic with your dress to adjust that. Besides, you need to make some stitches on your dress as well to make sure the dress and elastic are connected well.
  • Checking: Now it’s time to try the dress on to see that is it perfect or not.

Method 3: Use Ribbon

Use ribbon
Use ribbon

You can use ribbon to shorten the straps of your dress. So, let’s know about the process of using ribbon to shorten your straps.

  • Measure: you need to measure the ribbon against the length you want your straps to be. After measuring the ribbon length, match the length with your straps that it is perfectly measured or not.
  • Sewing: Simply sew the ribbon onto the dress. And you can add some extra design to your straps. So that you need to add a ribbon of different colors or patterns. It will make your dress so beautiful.

How to Shorten Non-Adjustable Straps Temporarily?

It’s very natural that the straps are not fit enough for your dress. It may be too long or too short. Today we are talking about how to shorten our straps. So, in this context, you will learn the method of adjusting or shortening your straps.

  1. Knotting: The most used term is to knot the excess straps. It will make the straps shorter. But, all time this is not going to be that perfect. So if you don’t have any time you can use the process of knotting in a very short time.
  2. Create Loops: If you are not able to shorten your straps or the length is not adjusted, then you can sew loops into the end of the straps.
  3. Threading: Then you need to thread the excess of the strap through the loop.
  4. Trigger Snap: You can do another process while shortening the strap. This is called trigger snap.
  5. Inserting: You can insert one end of the trigger snap into the D-ring of your dress.
  6. Threading: Then thread the other end of the strap through the trigger snap this time.
  7. It will give you an adjustable loop that you can wear your dress at any time with perfect short straps.

How to Shorten Overall Straps?

How to shorten overall straps
How to shorten overall straps

You need to learn that as well to shorten straps in overall straps. Overall straps are something that contains hooks or galluses on it. So it is a bit complicated to shorten the overall straps. So, let’s know the steps to shorten your straps:

  1. Cut off: The most common way is to cut off the straps to the desired length with a sharp scissor.
  2. Use iron: Besides, you can use an iron or hot knife to melt the excess part of the straps.
  3. Use a sewing machine: If you have access to a sewing machine, then you can easily be sewing the straps down at the desired length.

So, use any one method between them which seems to be easier for you.

How to Shorten Spaghetti Straps?

How to shorten spaghetti straps
How to shorten spaghetti straps

If you are a fashion freak, you would definitely have heard about the spaghetti straps. This kind of strap is used most worldwide. Now it’s time to learn the shortened methods of spaghetti straps.

  1. Pining: Pin the number of straps you want to shorten.
  2. Marking: Mark the length of the excess strap and measure it as well to make sure that you have marked the strap fluently.
  3. Measuring from the back: You need to measure the strap from the back as well. Normally, other straps don’t need to be measured from the back. But spaghetti straps don’t have seams. That’s why you have to measure it from the back.
  4. Rip the seam: In this step, you need to rip off the seam of these straps. Most of the spaghetti straps are sewn twice. One is in the front of the dress and the second time is down from the edge.
  5. Finishing: So now you should cut off the excess straps length to finish shortening of spaghetti straps. Line up the strap and pin it and start sewing.

How Do You Make Your Straps Shorter Without Sewing?

You can make your straps shorten without sewing. Yes, I know that it’s very interesting to hear. This is truly possible. Not every time you need to sew. Even sewing is a lengthy process as well. You need plenty of time to fix your straps to sew. So in this discussion, I am going to explain the all way to shorten your strap without sewing.

  1. Elastic: You can use an elastic band to make your strap short enough.
  2. Use Safety pin: Besides, you have already come to know that, the safety pin is one of the common and most used methods to shorten your straps. And it is very popular and easy as well.
  3. Knotting: Using a knot could be a solution as well. You can easily make a knot in the excess part of the straps. You can do the task within 1 minute. So no need to extra afford to shorten your strap temporarily.
  4. Hair tie: Another great way to shorten your strap without sewing is using of hair tie. You just need to attach the hair tie to the strap with your desired length. It is a great way for those who haven’t a safety pin or an elastic band. It is way simple and takes very little time to finish shortening your straps.
  5. Small Buttons: The last method is to use small buttons or snaps. You can easily shorten your straps by using this. Just attach these to the straps or you can simply knot in place to make your straps shorter.

How to Shorten The Straps Without Cutting?

How to shorten the straps without cutting
How to shorten the straps without cutting

Suppose, you are in a hurry to attend a program. So you don’t have enough time to cut off your dress and shorten the straps. But there are a lot of ways to shorten your straps without cutting. Let’s start the discussion now.

  1. Use Nail Polish: I think there are no girls that don’t carry nail polish with them. So if you want to shorten your straps in the middle of a journey, you can shorten the straps a few times by using nail polish. Firstly, you need to put some nail polish on the straps where it meets to dress. Now fold over the excess straps and give it a press. As if it got sticky actually. The same process will be applied on both sides. It will help the nail polish to get dry completely. Then you can use the dress with the perfect straps. 
  2. Thread and Needle: You can also use a needle and thread to shorten your strap. Start threading your needle with a big piece of thread. Then, tie a knot at the end of the thread and put it inside the strap. This is how you can shorten your strap using thread and needles.
  3. Sewing: You can sew a loop to the end of the strap. When you want to shorten the strap temporarily, you will thread the excess through the loop. This is a very easy and simple way to shorten your strap in a quick time.

Effective Tips for Shortening Straps Temporarily

You all came to know about all the ways to make your straps short. You can easily shorten your straps with your own hand. After all, I am going to make the path even easier and simple for you. Keep your eyes on this and take your skills to the next level.

  • You have to measure or mark first. If you are not sure about the strap’s length is going to be cut off or sewed, you cannot do it properly.
  • You have to pin it properly to keep your excess straps in place. If you haven’t pinned it, you cannot shorten your straps to the desired length.
  • Choose any one method to shorten your straps. After knowing about all the methods you have to select one which will look easy to you. If you are working with multiple methods, it causes distraction to your work.
  • Gather all the tools or materials you needed to make your straps shorter. Such as needles, thread, safety pins, nail polish, and all other things.
  • Try to avoid cutting while shortening your straps. Because you have to be an expert if you want to cut off and shorten your straps. You can use the sewing method instead of cutting it off.

FAQs

How long does it take to shorten the straps on a dress?

Actually, it depends on the method that you are using to shorten your straps. If you running out of time, then you can use the basic method to shorten the straps. Using a safety pin to shorten the straps literally takes 1 or 2 minutes. If you have enough time then you can choose lengthy methods like sewing, cutting off the straps, and so on. But, the usually lengthy process takes around one hour to shorten the straps on a dress. It is depending on your skills and the method that you are using.

What is the easiest way to shorten the straps on a dress?

The easiest and globally used method is using a safety pin to shorten your straps temporarily. It is way easy to do and it takes only one minute to be finished. And another is to tie a knot in the strap.

How do you shorten a dress strap without sewing and cutting?

There are a lot of ways to make your straps short without cutting and sewing. You can use an elastic band, hair tie, Nail polish, thread, and needle and make a knot. So, this is the way to shorten the straps on a dress. And by this method, you can shorten the strap in a very short time. So, those methods are time savers as well.

Final Thoughts

Temporarily shortening straps could be a prominent solution to get the perfect fit rather than changing this dress permanently. It is very normal that your straps are not that fit enough to wear. Whether you are going to a wedding or other family program, you always want to wear the best-fit dress for you. But, when you realize that the straps are a bit loose then you all are thinking off shorten it permanently. There are several methods to shorten your straps temporarily. I think this is the best way to solve this issue within a few minutes. When you want to shorten it permanently it will take more time to fix. Some tools like a safety pin, needle, and thread are good enough to shorten your straps temporarily.

Many people thoughts that, if you shorten your straps temporarily, then the dress is not able to provide its raw look. But it is not true. It will be the same after shortening your straps. So, don’t worry about that too much. I have told you already about all the possible ways to shorten your straps. So, follow those steps and methods to shorten your straps with your own hand within a short time.

Author

Hey I’m Sherry Howes an expert in sewing, knitting, crocheting, and embroidery. With a passion for fiber arts and a talent for crafting, I Have spent years improving my skills and sharing knowledge with others. Whether teaching a class or creating a new project, I’m always excited to share my love of crafting with the world. I like researching new techniques and trends in the crafting arts community.

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