Bloomer ride prep (and Victorian pockets!)

We are preparing for the Bloomer Ride on Saturday, to follow on from the Bloomer Making Workshop last week.

We’re inviting people to join us for a ride into London’s rich cycling history. We’ll traverse the city by bicycle, weaving together some of the fascinating lesser-known stories about inventive women who made, wore and patented extra-ordinary ‘convertible’ cycle wear.

Highlights will include a visit to the site of London tailor ‘Holding & Son’ who specialised in late C19th cycle wear, the Patent Office where many women lodged innovative cycle wear patents in the 1890s (and still exists today), one of the popular Cycling Portrait Studios of the period as well as a watch and clock shop, sewing machine and clothing manufacturers where we’ll talk about the influence of new technologies in the development of cycle wear.

You’ll also get to see and hear experiences of people who will be riding in (home made) bloomers.

And you’ll get a Victorian pocket! We are hand making lovely tie-on pockets for each rider. Not only are these objects historically significant – they were worn predominantly by women inside their skirts enabling them to own property at a time when they mostly were property – but they also operate as functional devices for the ride. At each stop, riders will get a token that represents the tale being told.