Repairing a bike cover

As any sewer with a family knows, a lot of what goes under the needle started as something very practical or loved that finally wore out. I think that  I spent 25% of my sewing time in the 1990's patching the knees of tiny chinos and jeans or tending to beloved soft toys losing their eyes and tails.

Now it's a bike cover and it brings back the old days of the tearful "Can you fix this?"  It's zig-zag darning-stitch time!

One of my sons is taking a marathon bike trip across Europe before he starts his job in September. Europe has wonderful dedicated cycle routes. He's heading off in a week to explore one.

There was no bike shop in our Geneva area that had a full-sized cover in stock for shipping the bike by plane to his departure point. They offered some smaller covers that required dismantling the whole bike, but he preferred something full-size. So he found a used 'housse' in France full of weatherbeaten tears and splits going for only 20 euros.

This cover is going on the trip, but only after some serious rehab! It looks like it did the Tour de France one too many times. I'm using a jeans needle, a lot of thread, and patches made from worn-out dark blue jeans from my rag pile.