As a phrase it means, risk and danger.
When the phrase came to me I was really thinking about what was on the laundry line. That was before I had to get Gibson down; he was dangling by his paws after climbing up the fabric.
I think it's the clothes pins he's after.
Then I thought of the line I stitched today.
And of writing a line of...poetry?
I made notes right on the fabric during a class today.
Mantua-makers seam.
All of this is not to be confused with a train of thought.
Which might be derailed.