Non-stretch straps on a skating dress

[Live2Sk8]

I bought a used skating dress that has non-stretchy straps.  The person who sold it to me (it was not hers, she was selling on consignment) told me that the sequin straps would have to be re-done because someone had sewed the sequin trim onto non-stretch ribbon for straps.  I sew, and recognized the sequin trim from JoAnn Fabrics and didn't think anything of it.  The trim itself is stretchy, maybe 3/4 - 1" wide.  If I do remove the non-stretch ribbon, I will have to replace it with something as a base for the trim, I guess some soft elastic.

Once I had the dress at home and had detached one end of each strap, I realized why someone might have used non-stretch ribbon as the base.  The dress itself is very stretchy but the style is such that you need fairly secure straps to ensure the dress won't slide down.      Now I am thinking I should keep the non-stretch straps to guard against a major wardrobe malfunction.

Has anyone skated in a dress with non-stretch straps before?  I will of course try it out but I am thinking the stretch of the dress itself will be sufficient for skating movements.

The dress is not handmade but I think the sequin trim and sequin straps were added by someone after they bought the dress.  No idea what the original straps might have looked like.

[Loops]

I'm assuming these are shoulder straps.

Do you need the stretch there?  Do you have time to experiment before you need to wear the dress?  I'd test it out before changing anything.

I just ripped apart a dress I made that, ahem, didn't live up to my aesthetic standards.  I've made the changes I think I need, but now want to skate in it to make sure there won't be any malfunctions on test day......  Good luck to us both!!

[Live2Sk8]

Yes, shoulder straps.  I don't need the stretch there for fit, but I don't know if I need it for skateability or not.  The straps are about 3/4" wide.  I will have to try the dress out on the ice, I guess, before I go to the trouble of handpicking out the zigzag stitching (how fun that will be) that was used to attach the sequin trim to the ribbon.  Now I am thinking that replacing the ribbon with 1/2" wide soft elastic might work and give some stability to the trim while still keeping some stretch.

Good luck with your dress - I hope it works!  And good luck with your test, too. 

[Loops]

My inclination is that you don't need the stretch there.  But malfunctions do happen and you don't know the history of the dress.  Hopefully it'll work as is!  Ugh to unpicking any stitches.