Bike Leg Bands / Straps - DIY

I like to bike. I like to bike with my friend Mike. (Oops, I guess I've been reading too much Dr. Seuss.)

Actually it's more like this: I like to bike. I like to bike with my daughter BellBell. Except she doesn't push me up the hills. She sits in her comfy trailer and adds resistance to my work outs.

So one random day for no reason other than I could (true story) I decided to make bike leg bands for my biking gang. What, you didn't know I joined a gang? Well, I did. And now you're wondering what leg straps are for? It's so your pants don't get caught in your bike chain and put holes in your pants. I speak from experience unfortunately.

I already had a pair that belong to my husband (who generously lets me use his bike and his leg straps since I don't have my own). I used it as an example. It's the one with a reflective stripe on it. I didn't happen to have any reflective stripe stuff in my craft supplies (who does?) so I did without. I did happen to have lots of unused webbing. Some was nylon and some was something else, but it was all 1" wide. I bought it to make handles for tote bags, but never got around to that project.

Here's what you need to make your own bike leg straps:
  29" of 1" wide webbing (color of your choice)
  11" of 3/4" wide sew on velcro (none of that sticky backed stuff)

Steps:

1. Cut two pieces of webbing 14.5" long (I didn't pick a random number that's how long the "professional" straps are).
2. Using a red hot stove burner (or a match), slightly melt the ends of the webbing so it won't unravel.
3. Cut two pieces of loopy velcro 5" long.
4. Sew loopy velcro onto outside of leg band.
5. Cut two pieces of hook (the rough stuff) velcro 3" long.
6. Sew the hook velcro on to the inside of the leg band.
7. Done!!! I made 6 sets in part of one morning. A really quick and satisfying project.

My other tip for pants safe biking would be to replace your bike seat before the suddenly exposed staple snags your pants and puts a hole in your seat. Yep, experience is a hard teacher sometimes.

Race Medal Holders

A friend asked me to make one of these as a surprise gift for her husband who loves to run. She choose the quote "Always earned. Never given."

I used boards I already had cut and only had to buy the pegs and the hangers for the back.

Gift for a teen who loves to run and choose not to run a big name marathon on Sunday even though his training partners did. Go Chandler!

My eval: 

• loved that I was able to make this for someone else. Their family has helped my family in many ways.
• and it gave me an excuse to do something for Chandler to tell him I really admire his courage in making the right choice
• it's nice to be able to use all my crafty "stuff" in meaningful ways
• happy I was able to find a runner and make a few modifications (remove the frame using point editing)

Improvements for next time (the perfectionist in me hasn't died yet): 

• pick a dark background color and use light lettering
• could still be changed if the new owners want to paint over the vinyl and then remove the vinyl (reverse stenciling)
• install 2 hangers on the back so it will hang even when medals (weights) are added
• I think I'll retrieve the one I didn't do that on and fix it
• put the hangers on before gluing the pegs in
• add felt pads to the bottom corners so it hangs more evenly on the wall
• or finally learn how to use the key hole router bit I own

Trivia (or not):

"run medal holder" (note to self)

used silhouette studio image "sports badge set" design #30246 

Arm Wrestler font