Years ago my youngest DD borrowed a navy colored prom dress that was strapless. She was very "skinny" so wanted me to sew on some straps. I bought some navy ribbon and sewed on some straps. After the prom I tried to cut off the straps, using a seam ripper, but I did not have a very good light in the house (pre Ott light days) so took the dress outside on my porch and put one of those magnifying glass things with the rope around my neck and sat in the sun and could see the stitches perfectly to remove them. I kept smelling "hot" fabric - lo and behold, it was on fire in my lap!!! Thank goodness that the burned place was on the inside and could be repaired fairly easily.