Tag Archives: bike craft

04/6/13

Tutorial: recycled inner tube bracelet

by Jessie Kwak

Over the past couple of days we’ve been talking about crafting with inner tubes. We’ve discussed how to choose and clean inner tubes as well as the various methods of cutting them up.

Today we’re going to take what we’ve been doing and make something fun.

It’s pretty straightforward craft: cut a strip of inner tube rubber, cut a design in it, add a fastener, wear it.

(There's no place in my apartment to take a photo without a bike in the background right now....)

(There’s no place in my apartment to take a photo without a bike in the background right now….)

Voila, recycled inner tube bracelet. Easy, right?

The only tricky part here is adding a fastener.

You could do any number of things, but what I like best is to use is anorak snaps (you can find ‘em in the fastenings section of the fabric store). The line drawing on the package can be a little confusing, so here’s a quick picture tutorial on how to insert them:

Anorak snap photo tutorial | Bicitoro

Have fun, and see you back here next week when we’ll be talking about gluing inner tubes, and I’ll have a perfect spring project for your bike.

11/27/12

Bikes and crafts and Momentum Mag

by Jessie Kwak

Folks, I’ve had a really hard time not telling you all about this, but I didn’t want to say anything lest I jinx it.

But the November/December issue of Momentum Magazine just showed up in my mailbox today, and there on page 23:

Yup! DIY Bike Projects by Jessie Kwak.

(Sorry about the cell phone photos–my camera is officially dead and buried.)

The digital edition isn’t up yet, but you should track down a hard copy anyway–Momentum’s a great magazine, well-designed with tons of fun articles, reviews, etc. Check it out!

11/9/12

Tutorial: bike inner tube earrings, or, Bicitoro visits the papercrafting aisle, with apologies to Ms. Stewart

by Jessie Kwak

I hear that it’s good for your SEO to keep your titles short, but I’m always so drawn to a good old Victorian “or” title. I mean, the amount of nuance that can be drawn out of the juxtaposition of two complementary titles is just boundless. The following text is then imbued with ever so much more meaning. It’s a technique which allows the author to subtly influence the audience’s reading of the text.

Ah, the title. It is merely glanced at by the reader, unnoticed, though it lingers in the subconscious, a vital tool for the reader’s increased understanding of the author’s message.

The same people who talk about SEO also say that you have to get right to the point, capture the reader’s attention in the first snappy sentence, or you’ve lost them forever.

They probably know what they’re talking about when it comes to internet reading. But I’ve noticed that when it comes to sewing and craft blogs, we have an entirely different way of capturing the reader’s attention. In fact, I’d wager that 80% of you haven’t read a single word of this introduction. You just scrolled down to see the photos to see if you want to pin the post to your “Try This Later” board.

So without any further ado, pretty pictures:

There are certain sections of craft stores that are complete mysteries to me. The baking aisle, for instance. I mean, I’m a damn good baker if I do say so myself—I just don’t have much interest in making my food look cute. The fake flowers aisle is another one that is dead to me (I think it smells funny).

I’ve skirted warily around around the papercraft aisle for years, temped by the pretty cardstock but unable to understand why anyone would spend time fiddling around with scrapbooking. (I keep my totally unsorted memorabilia collection in a shoebox in the closet. Sometimes I can’t remember the names of people in the photos. Scrapbookers, feel free to be appalled if you like.)

After I got a custom order for a reflective inner tube belt, I started thinking how fun it would be to come up with a line of them for my Etsy shop. Cutting out each individual star was kind of a pain, and they weren’t as perfect as I would have liked. If only there was a punch for that….

I edged into the papercraft section at my local megacraftopolis. There in the heart of Martha Stewartdom®, I found snowflakes, baby handprints, flowers, curlicues, filigree leaves…. And finally an on-sale butterfly.

Continue reading →

10/26/12

Tutorial: Reflective Angel Wings (Halloween Costume)

by Jessie Kwak

It seems like most folks who are into sewing and crafting also love dressing up for Halloween. I’m kind of the exception, I guess–I’m always the one ten minutes before the party thinking “Don’t I have an old prom dress around here somewhere? I guess I could be…um…a girl in an old prom dress…”

This year, however, I’ll be going to Messmann’s Messquerade, a costumed Halloween scavenger hunt. Messmann’s been throwing this race for years, but this year he’s kindly agreed to throw it as a fundraiser for the North American Cycle Courier Championships, so you should show up and race and party and have a hell of a good time to support this noble cause.

As I was trying to think of a good costume (let’s face it–just a costume, good or not), I had a flash (ha!) of genius. What if I brought my new obsession with visibility to bear on the problem?

And so was born the Reflective Angel Wings:

I went to Michael’s craft store this afternoon and found a pair of closeout white wings. (And a wand!) If you wanted to be extra-crafty, you could easily bend some wire in the shape of wings, since I’m going to show you how to cover them with fabric.

I have had this shiny silver knit fabric hanging around my stash since high school, and I always told myself it’d come in handy some day. Today, friends, is that day.

I tried a couple sheer black knits I have, thinking I’d go for a dark angel look, but they didn’t have quite the interest that the silver did.

Covering a wire set of wings is pretty easy. Basically, you stitch up a tube 4-5″ longer than your wings that angles (angles/angels/angles–gonna have to really proof this before I hit publish) from the widest point to the narrowest point. I did this through trial and error, and tried it on probably three times before it seemed right to me.

When you try it on, it should fit snuggly. Like this:

(You can see the seam along in the back.)

Use a needle and thread to gather the excess fabric on the top of the wing so that it becomes taut. You may have to go around a couple of times. Wrap the tail of the thread around the fabric bunch, then backtack a few stitches to secure it, but don’t break the thread.

Cut off the excess fabric, then tack it down so it’s more or less smooth.

Repeat for the bottom of the wing. When you’re done, it should look like this:

I used 3M Scotchlight reflective fabric ribbon for this project, cut into 1/4″ strips. I used Stitch Witchery tape to secure it down before sewing it. (You know about Stitch Witchery, right? Right?)

When wrapping my second wing, I nearly did it the same direction, but fortunately I caught myself in time. What would I have done with 2 right wings?

When both wings were done, I sewed a bit of oilcloth between them to fasten them together, adding the elastic to the inside like so:

I asked my lovely dress form to model them for me. She was ever so obliging.

(Why, yes–she is wearing a cycling bolero and a reflective inner tube belt! Thank you for noticing. Both are available at the Etsy shop.)

What will you be for Halloween? Will it be cycling-friendly? Or at least cycling-proof?

Do tell!