Good old bike seat cover

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Good old bike seat cover

04/01/2011 by Hasenschneck

Ok, so at the moment this blog isn’t really about Spring Cottage at all. But it’s a great place for me to remember all the things I want to make and do. A couple of days ago, I was waxing lyrical about the Pickles website with their lovely wreath-making tutorial. Having a bigger delve on the site today, I found something quite close to my heart – well, not actually my heart at all. More like my bottom.

My lovely bike has a Brooks leather seat, which is marvellously comfortable and beautiful to behold but, like many vintage inspired things, is not quite as practical as its more modern counterpart. I’m willing to put up with this but, I was also quite happy to find this pattern for a seat cover that you can make out of waxed cotton fabric or oil cloth. Not that anything with a seam would protect your bike seat in a real downpour, but if you slipped it on after returning to a sodden bike, it would save your bottom from a certain amount of wet-throughness, unless your ride home was particularly long. Much more elegant than the old plastic bag that normally travels around with me, so I think this just has to be added to my ‘to do’ list. And a perfect thing to make out of a remnant of oilcloth, or if you find a wonderful bit of fabric going cheap somewhere, like this bright, cheery and also rather retro Mexican oilcloth which only costs £4 for half a metre.

Postscript: Visit Viva La Frida where the finished results of my handiwork have been featured.

Posted in Crafts and other handiwork | Tagged bike seat cover, Crafts, handicrafts, hobby, oilcloth, postaday2011, Sewing, Textile | 6 Comments

6 Responses

on 04/01/2011 at 11.53 | Reply mollyandtheprincess

I look forward to a pic of the finished seat cover! And I love the Mexican oilcloth, thanks for sharing the link.
- on 04/01/2011 at 12.26 | Reply Hasenschneck
  
  Hey Molly, hmm, might be a bit of a wait…
on 04/01/2011 at 12.22 | Reply Charlotte's Plot

Hi there – I found your lovely blog via Blotanicals and saw that you and I are both newbie members. Have you got your dog yet?
- on 04/01/2011 at 12.28 | Reply Hasenschneck
  
  Hi Charlotte, Thanks for your comment. Yes, it took ages to get Blotanicals approval for some reason. No dog yet, but I’m on the case… I’m going to pop over and have a look at yours now. Saskia
on 22/01/2011 at 15.06 | Reply Emma Pardo

lovely Saskia and thanks for the info on oil cloths, so very little good stuff, there used to be a shop around me that a map of paris on oil cloth, never saw anything as nice as this site. x e
- on 22/01/2011 at 18.49 | Reply Hasenschneck
  
  Hi Emma, Thanks for commenting. Actually, I’ve discovered quite a good source of interesting textiles. I was going to write a post about it before Christmas but didn’t because I wasn’t sure people would be interested, so I might resurrect that idea. I hope you’ve kept all the lovely Christmas cards L has made over the years, by the way – there’s a cottage industry there for you, I think. X