leaf pin – knitbyahenshop

It’s another Tour d’Davis craft post! Several years ago, we were team Oregon Trail. Last year, we were sheep. This year, we did our costumed bicycle tour of town as Hobbits! We enjoyed breakfast, second breakfast, elevensies, and ales while frolicking in the Shire:

Hobbit craft!

Every team member wore three handcrafted items: a cloak, a leaf pin, and a pair of furry sandals. Pro tip: take photos from above to create the appearance of hobbity sized humans!

I sewed the cloaks for our team on my sewing machine, making a drawstring hem for the ribbon at the top of each. These costumes only had to last the day, so they were very simple brown cloaks! They were about 3/4 length because we needed to be able to ride bicycles (aka horses) in them.

Next up: leaf pins. Allie designed them out of felt, pipe cleaners, and glitter glue. We made our own and fastened them to our cloaks.

And last but not least: furry feet! Most of the team used fake fur glued to flip flops. I had to be a weirdo hobbit and use MY OWN HAIR. I happened to be getting a hair cut that week—my hairdresser thought it was funny and asked to see photos of the final result.

I used my sewing machine and some scrap fabric to sew a tube of fabric around my sandals, then used hot glue to attach the hair. I know they are a bit much, but hey! Hobbit Realism.

We were each responsible for our own hobbit clothing, and that mainly meant one thing: a vest! Vests from thrift stores. Vests from costume stores. Vests over white peasant shirts. Say yest to the vest.

*Picnic Break* (tea, scones, and picnic blanket were provided throughout the tour!)

The Shire

We also created our very own Shire, decorated for the festivities. After all, it was Bilbo Baggins’ Eleventy-First birthday! Bunting and signs greeted all of our welcome visitors. We served them delicious vegetarian shepherd’s pie at this spot:

And since no hobbit meal would be complete without a pint to wash it down, several halflings converted the garage into the Green Dragon Inn, complete with Lisa’s amazing, hand-painted signage!

And last but certainly not least: a hobbit hole! This geodesic dome (which took a lot of teamwork to set up) got the Shire treatment with green tarps, a window, a sign, and Allie’s handmade bright yellow door. The door knob came from a jar lid!