a little bicycle mending
September 12, 2009 | 5 Comments
This summer we bought our daughter a cute bike from our neighbor’s garage sale. My husband is planning to take the pedals off and make it a balance bike. My job was to mend the handle bar cover, which was torn.
Using my trusty seam ripper, I picked out the hem and removed the velcro. With a cloth on top and low heat, I pressed it flat and used this as my pattern.
The cotton I chose was too lightweight on its own, so I backed it with some denim. Here’s how I did it:
- Traced around the pattern on both fabrics adding 1/4 inch seam allowance.
- With right sides together, I stitched around leaving a gap for turning.
- Clipped my corners, turned right side out, and top stitched around, closing up the gap along the way.
- Reattached the velcro.
I think it looks better than the original, especially since my daughter doesn’t even know about Strawberry Shortcake.
mend: Simple sewing projects can make me so happy. I love being able to say, “I can fix that!” Cotton fat quarter from my stash, denim from thrifted jeans.
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5 Responses to “a little bicycle mending”
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Julie is a freelance designer and writer. She has a passion for finding new uses for old, loved things, and will sew anything: sweaters, shirts, jeans, pants. Nothing is safe if it fits under her presser foot!
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September 12th, 2009 @ 1:11 pm
It looks awesome! I’m confused by the balance bike concept, though. What’s the point of a bike with no pedals?
September 12th, 2009 @ 3:41 pm
It helps them learn balance and coordination without having to worry about pedaling. Also, no training wheels! They just scoot and glide!
September 15th, 2009 @ 12:09 am
Of course you can fix it!!! And it totally matches!! Nice…
xo Steph
September 20th, 2009 @ 3:54 pm
[...] Julie from Julie-K shows how to give a bicycle a facelift by creating a new handlebar cover. Brilliant! Go to the tutorial. [...]
September 20th, 2009 @ 3:59 pm
This is such a great idea!! I posted a link to your project on Craft Gossip Sewing:
http://sewing.craftgossip.com/tutorial-kids-bicycle-handlebar-cover/2009/09/20/
–Anne