Well, I love Liberty of London. If you love patterns, florals, or sewing, no doubt you do, too, but the hefty price tag is usually a deterrent for me buying any. (At $35-40 a yard, you better get a lot of use out of whatever you end up making…) After seeing a few bikes covered in fabric on the internet and finding out I would only need about a yard of fabric, I was sold on finally using a Liberty print for something.
All of my friends have bikes, so I often feel kinda weird sitting silent during the many bike discussions. Now although I will never care about bicycles to the same extent as many people in here in SF, I at least want one for shorter (read: not my 6 mile trek to work) trips like biking to the beach and for groceries. And I want it to be pimped.
Photoshoppery on this Public Bike helps me visualize if this will look good. After doing this with a couple of patterns, I’ve most likely decided on Grey Hall Drive from Liberty of London? That is, unless I find a cool cheaper one. (Or with the help of dear readers.)


I originally thought along this line, since Sydenham Palace is a map, and therefore makes sense on a bicycle. Especially one as beautifully illustrated/color-paletted (yeah I just made that a verb) as this one! But I’ve already decided to use this fabric for pillowcases when I get around to making an awesome bedspread set based around sea blues and deep greens.


But if I can’t find a good way to protect the fabric (cleaning something matted to the frame would be difficult..oh so difficult), I may just go with a Bianchi with no modifications besides switching to a nicer saddle. Classic, not covered in brand stickers, nice frame, nice color combination, since pale aqua is my favorite color I love it. The red tires are cool but a little difficult on the eye so if I could change that, I would.

And, for extra credit: a beautiful Italian style-bike made in Germany. I love the chain cover and the brown saddle! But it’s not sold in the US and also is a fixie (I can’t do single speeds no matter how simple it looks), so no chance of me owning one.
