#and feels like a bargain compared to the last sewing machine they had in there (£150 for an old..heavyweight i think? ugly thing)

[pebblethief]

i am not a smart man but i am a happy one, lookee what i found in the charity shop for £60:

shes so preeeeeettyyyyy. look at that gold scrollwork and fancy faceplate! if my v quick research is correct, she is a 201K3 from 1937!

and came with a little iron box of other feet AND her original instructions:

(with the book i have identified the quilting foot, 3? hemming feet (the 3 front ones?), an adjustable hemmer, a ruffler, and ~the tuckmaker~. as well as some misc extra bits i will figure out later

just checked it and while it definitely needs a careful clean and some fiddling with the tension, she is definitely functional! even her little light works!!

my grandma would be very proud that i remembered how to thread it with zero hesitation (if not this exact model, i was taught to sew on one very very similar)

however. i am not a smart man bc this lovely thing weighs a bulky 30lbs and the charity shop is a mile away. i found a trolley midway home and stole it for a little while but still. oooooft

[dippedanddripped]

In the first few moments of a YouTube video titled “Admitting I Own Fakes In-Front of My Fashion Class…”, Quentin Caruso, better known as Tripping, does just that. “I’m a sophomore in college and I’m taking a class about fashion, and in that class (we) were talking about fakes and replicas,” he explains, adding that he can “throw up some pictures so you guys know I’m not bullshitting”. Asked by his teacher if he knowingly owns any counterfeit pieces, the 19-year-old confirms the sneakers he’s wearing at that very moment – the highly coveted Travis Scott Jordan 1 Lows – are in fact fake. “And how do you feel about that,” she prompts. “I’m fine with it,” he wryly confirms.

Caruso is part of a growing community of fashion-savvy shoppers searching for ways to look runway ready on a high street budget – and, unlike many die-hard hypebeasts, they’re willing to own up to the fact their luxury garms aren’t exactly legitimate. In fact, many take pride in their ability to score a bargain, taking to subreddit FashionReps to discuss new releases, fawn over faux Yeezys, and ask each other for advice on where to pick up the best knock-off Off-White and Supreme styles.

The forum is a democratised, judgement-free zone in which people share a love of high quality replicas or ‘reps’, where members are friendly and even supportive. They help one another to find the best sellers and sites to buy from, while discussing discrepancies between retail items and their counterfeit counterparts – from stitching and logos, to details and finishes. Most users admit they can’t afford head-to-toe designer looks, and at times they even share budgeting tips. "I got into reps cause I didn’t have much money and wanted a few nice pieces," redditor godsip2 shared in August. "Now I have no money at all 'cause I'm addicted to buying reps and can't stop myself."  

While a lack of funds and a taste for luxury streetwear is a driving factor for many, for others it isn’t about the money at all. “Not to brag, but if I want a Dior coat, I can get it retail,” Dennis, 19, tells us. “For the same (amount of) money I can get four reps.” Dennis admitted his breaking point came after a shocking moment browsing resale markets where he saw his ‘grail shoes’ – a pair of Off-White Air Jordan 1s – show up for €3000. “I thought ‘Fuck this, I’m never gonna pay that for shoes that originally retailed for €150.”

It’s been almost three years since he came across the FashionReps subreddit, which he was initially skeptical of. However, since joining he hasn’t just sworn off resale products and full-price retail items, but also introduced his friends to reps. “A €500 sweater wasn’t in their price range,” says Dennis. “When I showed them my reps (compared to) my retail Yeezys, they were instantly sold.”

Historically, counterfeit designer items conjure thoughts of poorly imitated handbags on AliExpress, labels that read, ‘Fashing BALISG’ instead of Balenciaga, and stalls in alleyways, but FashionReps members know where the quality replicas are sold and claim that many knock-offs actually tend to be better made.  “The quality is the same, even better,” Netherlands-based 23-year-old Camiel admits. “I’ve heard of some Yeezys being better and a lot of high-end Louis Vuitton reps being way better than retail.” He believes that “retail Louis Vuitton quality is not so great…”

FashionReps members buy in bulk, spending hundreds of dollars on ‘hauls’ that they break up into smaller packages in hopes of evading customs checks. The risk is part of the thrill, and while some are unlucky and have their packages seized, others rejoice when packages filled with thousands of dollars of ‘drip’ arrive in the mail.

Camiel cites his favourite find to be a Palace red slub-neck, “which you can't tell apart from a real one – which I have one of,” he adds. “The quality is amazing and it's super comfortable to wear, it's my favourite (item) I have gotten so far.” But Camiel hasn’t always gotten away with his thrifty finds.

“In the beginning, I wouldn't wear an item if it had the tiniest flaw. Later on, I noticed that people know (very) little about brands and which items even exist,” he explains. While most people who recognise a rep are likely to ask for the seller or pass on a compliment, Camiel concedes he’s been called out before. “Some high schoolers were at the gym and I was wearing my Nike tech fleece joggers, which have some noticeable flaws, like the black stripe being too short and the cords being too short as well. They called me out on the logo, which I know is perfect. Bunch of clowns.”

For all the people excited about reps, their quality, and believability, there are just as many people out there looking to spot a fake. YeezyBusta, who recently gained prominence for spotting fakes on civilians and celebrities has over 760,000 followers on Instagram. He’s busted the likes of Lil Tjay, Blac Chyna, and Soulja Boy for donning fake Supreme and Yeezys, although his faux-detector has been known to malfunction.

"I got into reps cause I didn’t have much money and wanted a few nice pieces. Now I have no money at all 'cause I'm addicted to buying reps and can't stop myself" – godsip2, FashionReps member

In an episode of Complex’s Full Size Run, hosts tasked the Instagram detective with discerning the difference between fake pairs of shoes from the real thing. After being handed a pair of bone-white Yeezy 500s, YeezyBusta exclaims, “Oh these are real!” Closely inspecting the shoe, he notices “The suede is right…even down to the stitching, the label inside the shoe looks right to me and the insole is right too.” The host, who finds it hard to hide his amusement, blurts out “They’re fake.” Behind his signature black surgical mask, used to hide his identity, YeezyBusta turns bright red.

“I can’t take him seriously,” Tripping admits. In a reaction video to a VICE documentary on YeezyBusta, the fashion student protests his motivation for hunting down counterfeit items so publicly. “It isn’t funny. Does anyone find that funny? To ridicule people online? That isn’t something you should be gloating about.”

Some counterfeit items are so believable that they’ve also slipped past trusted authenticators. The RealReal, one of the world's leading luxury consignment stores, claims that "every item we sell is 100% authenticated by an expert.” However, just last year, Forbes contributor, Richard Kentenbaum claimed the retail giant had sold him a fake Toile de Jouy Dior Book Tote bag for $3,600. What followed was a swift investigation by CNBC, who, after speaking with a dozen former employees and unsatisfied customers, and obtaining internal company documents, revealed that “many of the items on the site were being authenticated by copywriters with limited training.” and those who are doing this work are finding it increasingly difficult to spot counterfeits. Out of 1,400 reviews online for The RealReal, the top complaints are fake items.

It may come as a surprise to learn that this is something FashionReps also stands firmly against. In December, the group came together after Depopuser James’s Closet was spotted selling counterfeit items. Within a day, the subreddit had made efforts to liaise with Depop directly and reported the fake pieces resulting in all the listings being taken down. And this isn’t the only time the forum has rallied against people selling fake items moonlighting as cheap authentic ‘steals’. “People who willingly sell replicas as authentic items are the worst,” Tripping insists. “Knowing that a replica looks so close to retail and not selling it for a lot of profit is challenging for some people.”

Conversely, enjoying replicas as they are comes with its own baggage. Reports indicate that counterfeit fashion is a trillion-dollar industry. "One of the worst stories I read was where they had raided an illegal factory and the children were actually handcuffed to the sewing machines," Ariele Elia, an assistant curator at the Museum at FIT explained in a Complex documentary about the flourishing bootleg industry.

Fashion Revolution, a not-for-profit global movement campaigning for the systemic reform of the fashion industry, notes that there’s an “urgent lack of transparency.” Policy Director at Fashion Revolution, Sarah Ditty, told us that counterfeiting doesn’t usually come hand in hand with good rights and wages for workers. “Factories making counterfeit items are doing so illegally so it’s in their interest to operate completely under the radar and in doing so means we have no idea who the workers are making these products, what they are being paid, what conditions they’re working in, and what sort of poor environmental practices are most likely happening in these factories.”

To them, the moral standpoint is clear: “We would definitely encourage people not to buy fake luxury goods or any other counterfeit items because you’re almost guaranteed to be contributing to human exploitation and environmental degradation.” This is an issue that goes beyond fakes: when you look beyond the manufacturing level at the places where fabrics are made, yarns are spun and fibres are grown, even legitimate brands are guilty of obscuring working conditions.

But Tripping insists it's a media smoke-screen. “adidas and Nike were called out for their treatment of workers in the 90s and early 2000s, so now every factory in Asia is associated with bad conditions and child labour.” Tripping also claims that sellers are in fact increasingly transparent about working conditions, their treatment of employees and factories. “They show what their shop looks like, I’ve even asked sellers to show their shops,” he remarked in one of his videos. “And they’ve posted videos on the (subreddit).” One video posted shows a “top quality Yeezy” factory filled with workers. “Actually looks very clean and cool compared to all of the bad warehouse jobs I used to do here in the US,” Redditor highnnmighty comments.

“That’s like asking if I’ll ever go back to my ex, it was a fun time but in the end, you just feel shitted on” – Dennis, on whether or not he will stop buying fakes

Central to what makes FashionReps a great community isn’t the collective middle-finger to resale culture and hypebeasts or the internet-savvy tips, but the irreverent charm and supportive nature of young people who ultimately just want to look cool, and don’t want money to be the reason that they miss out. It’s rare, if not impossible, to find fashion spaces that aren’t hierarchical, based on wealth, social standing, and nepotism, but FashionReps manages to do all of that, and more. Camiel tells me that recently, the subreddit even banded together to target sellers who began taking higher cuts from sales. “I love how we sometimes work together to get something we want.”

Confronted with the fact that buying reps are taking sales away from workers, brands, and designers, Tripping is unfazed. “Once a limited shoe is released, and sold out in seconds, the company has made its profit. The average cost of manufacturing an Air Jordan 1 is $15-$16. The mark up of that shoe is more than 100 per cent. Nike has no problem with this. If you are wearing a replica of that overpriced shoe (on the resell market), you are basically advertising the brand. The culture side of sneakers is bland and fraudulent, replicas are there to stir things up.”

When asked if he’d ever give up replicas and return to buying retail, Dennis scoffed before saying: “That’s like asking if I’ll ever go back to my ex, it was a fun time but in the end, you just feel shitted on.”

[pipedream-truths]

i know we all ignore nora’s extra content anyway (*cough* andreil wedding *cough*) but i have headcanons about this fashion designer allison thing

okay so

allison goes pro. after fighting tooth and nail for the right to play exy there’s no way she’s giving it up after college. also no one expects her to actually do it or succeed so it’s a giant fuck you to all the haters

she’s the first fox to ever play professionally and when she gets signed she asks wymack if she’s made him proud. he tells her he was always proud.

once she’s on her new team (one whose colors are not that god awful orange this time) she notices some things about the uniforms that could use…improvement

initially her critique just gets written off as her being a bitch but now that she’s pointed it out everyone starts to see it, see what could be better. and especially her fellow women teammates pool ideas and research and resources until they’ve got crazily in depth designs that are just so much more functional and clean and appealing. they pitch the designs at a meeting their coach set up just so they’d spend more time practicing in the uniforms than ripping apart the outside of them.

the suits try to say no but theodora muldani happens to be on allison’s team and between allison and thea they don’t stand a chance.

i need a whole separate post for thea and allison’s friendship

so it’s agreed but when the new uniforms arrive the next season and the team is trying them on they still aren’t right? wtf? so allison decides to take matters into her own hands.

well, renee’s hands, at least in the beginning. renee’s really good at making clothes and allison bought her a high power commercial sewing machine for christmas last year so plug that baby in and let’s kick corporate ass

allison does learn how to do it all on her own. she just likes watching renee work, and it’s a way to spend extra time with her when she’s home and not halfway across the world

she starts small because the concern is brought up that if she just starts producing her own team merch it’ll be a contract violation or some other legal shit. so she just does the undergarments for her and her friends. then pretty much everyone on the team is placing an order in. then dan asks if she can do some stuff for a few of the people on the team she’s coaching. word spreads and the media gets ahold of it and starts praising allison’s ingenuity

there are few pos articles about how “women’s place has always been at the loom” and another that cries about her “struggle to stay in touch with her femininity in a predominantly male sport” detailing how she turned to clothing as a last refuge and sanctuary, which ??no?? but most of the media coverage is good for once in allison’s life

at that point her team higher-ups have to finally recognize what she’s doing and fall over themselves to sign agreements that she’s affiliated with them and whatever

she goes to a new team instead

the transition keeps her busy and the buzz dies down, so she has time to really consider and think about what she wants to do

a lot of time actually, because she gets injured in a game and is out for the rest of the season. it’s as she’s ranting to renee about what the point of wearing armor even is if her collarbone still snapped like a twig that she realizes yeah, their armor is really shitty, and she could do better?

once she gets a few prototypes made she enlists neil and matt to try it out. andrew doesn’t say anything the whole time until they’re packing up to leave

“add a mouth guard so josten can’t run his fucking mouth during games”

kevin finds out he wasn’t invited and throws a hissy fit which is exactly why she didn’t want him there in the first place. but kevin knows exy better than anyone and will know any weaknesses in the armor better than anyone so she gives him the new version and leaves him at the court for a few hours. when she picks him up they outline every good and bad thing

the new gloves may or may not be called day gloves.

if they are it’s just because there’s a black version called night gloves

so eventually, after it’s been tested a million times and she has a few sets of it, allison’s gotta patent this shit. she’s gotta patent it and gotta unveil it in the most dramatic way possible.

the question: how?

she doesn’t want to just sell all her hard work to some bigger company or have it be attached to whatever team she’s playing for now. or any team for that matter. she wants this new gear to be accessible to all. and affordable. unlike the two hundred fifty “02” kevin day sweatshirt currently on sale at exites that she’s so buying him for his birthday just to embarrass him

she did not expect neil to have the same sweatshirt? apparently it’s part of some inside joke between him and andrew about neil being obsessed with kevin? who the fuck knows what goes on there. definitely not allison.

anyway

by this time it’s getting close enough to the olympics that Court training is getting super intense

like, if not for the whole nest thing, kevin and jean and neil probably wouldn’t leave the stadium

if we’re ignoring the extra content then we’re ignoring that jean doesn’t make Court

thea tells allison kevin had to get his own bed because with both his racquet and the dog in the bed there’s no room for her and she sure as hell isn’t giving up her memory foam mattress

for whatever reason this pathetic story about kevin sparks an idea in allison (probably has to do with her preying on everyone else’s current patheticness)

using all her reynolds bargaining skills and fox brutality along with renee’s charm, she bullies the people in charge into replacing their former super expensive top grade gear with allison’s new stuff. she goes home after days and days of debate and arm-twisting and lying through her teeth and collapses onto the couch. renee has to hold her pretty much until the next morning before she’s recovered enough to even move.

“i feel like a politician babe. wash my face for me, i can feel the political pimples coming out of my pores.”

and of course allison’s new gear is better than any other team’s. she didn’t spend a month schmoozing up to that swedish developer just to be usurped on an international level. and she didn’t learn japanese just to talk to kayleigh and tetsuji’s original developers for nothing either.

what better way to establish yourself than the fucking olympics

“I’m like a fucking superhero babe” she says, feet in renee’s lap, wine in hand, gold medal around her neck

compared to dealing with everyone involved with the Court deal, the rest of it is a piece of cake

she retires not long after the olympics

once she does that, she can focus on her brand

renee suggests she connect with her younger customers

bond with the kids. youth outreach stuff. allison tries to get away with just donating a bunch of armor but renee gives her a Look so allison actually goes and talks to some of them.

she pretty much hates it. the only kids she likes are her foxes’. but she does meet a few little ones who her success has impacted and encouraged and that’s. that’s something.

once it gets so big she can’t manage everything, it’s with great reluctance that she dials an international call to germany.

nicky’s only reservation is the amount of time he’ll spend stateside versus at home with erik, but they work it out and allison leaves him in charge of marketing with a promise to rip off his balls and feed them to erik junior the goldfish if nicky screws up her company

she expands into generalized athletic/active wear, normal stuff that isn’t exy exclusive.

“what other sport is there other than exy”

“stickball” andrew whispers

“AGAIN WITH THE STICKBALL WHAT IS STICKBALL”

poor kevin

bc why do anything if you can’t look and feel good doing it

her parents try to invest in the company.

that’s a giant fuck no. she built this baby from the ground up. it is hers. they didn’t want her and exy before and they’re not getting her and exy now. in no way does she ever want to be tied to them or their money ever again.

she goes into exites sometimes to scope out what the people actually buying her product say about it and there it is. that kevin day sweatshirt. she nearly buys out the exites chain just to make them stop selling it.

allison reynolds gets inducted into the exy hall of fame for her contribution to the sport as a Court gold medalist and for revolutonizing exy armor forever.

[13thsongbird]

If there’s one thing I am in constant need of in my wardrobe, it’s long-sleeved shirts. T-shirts, blouses, sweatshirts, what have you – any category you could describe, I assure you, I don’t have enough of them. Part of this is simply that I don’t go clothes shopping super often anymore (“I could make that!”, blithely forgetting to ask whether I will have time to make that…), but it is also because long sleeves are notoriously difficult for me to find in RTW. As stated at the top of the blog, I’m a tall gal, and at 5’11” my arms are proportional to my body and my shoulders are decently broad. This leads to a loooooot of chilly wrists. And nobody likes chilly wrists!

Okay, my wrists may still be slightly chilly – but it’s an improvement!

So when Seamwork’s November issue dropped, I was very excited. Know what else I am in need of in my wardrobe? Henley tops! I love the interest a placket gives to an otherwise simple t-shirt, and the relaxed fit has always been a favorite of mine – so the Elli Henley was like an answer to a prayer I didn’t know I’d prayed. I used one of my points to snap up the pattern straight away, and then on further perusal of the issue I ran across their tutorial to hack the Elli into a casual knit dress. Ka-ching! Compared to my collection of long-sleeved and winter-appropriate dresses, my collection of long-sleeved shirts seems positively bountiful, so I knew that while I definitely needed to crank out a handful of shirts, I also had to try at least one dress.

Luckily, I’d found the most delicious ponte on one of my periodic dives into Chic Fabric‘s bargain bin – definitely poly, but soft and beefy with a very cool burnout texture that contrasted matte and satiny patches over the fabric’s surface. I’d been seduced by the heft and the large-scale pink floral print, and while I didn’t know what I was going to make with it when I bought it, it immediately flew into my head when I thought of the Elli dress. So far, so good! I printed out the pattern, pieced everything together, then traced off a size 14 and followed the tutorial to lengthen  the front and back to midi dress length, adding 1″ of length at the bust so the waist hit me in the right spot (#longtorsoprobs) and 22 1/2″ total to the bottom, also marking for a 14″ slit on each side. I roughly laid things out on my fabric to make sure I would have enough, started cutting, and then – I stopped. The holidays were creeping up, I was supposed to be working on presents, and my selfish sewing got pushed to the side. It wasn’t until after Christmas that I was able to finish cutting out all my pieces and start putting Elli together.

See here: me, when I finally got to return to my personal sewing after the holidays!

Putting together the dress was simple enough – I used my regular machine set to a narrow zig-zag for all the seams, and a straight stitch on a slightly longer stitch length than I would usually use for the placket. My fabric was thicker and slightly less stretchy than what the pattern was designed for, so I had to get a little physical wrestling all the layers of the placket under my presser foot, and the banded neckline could have been maybe half an inch longer to make up for the lack of stretch (there’s a little bit of puckering), but overall things came together quickly and easily. In the course of a single late-night sewing session, I had a dress, and I was quick to slip it over my head and see how it fit.

It was… not great. I didn’t take pictures but trust me when I say I thought I looked like I was wearing a tube sock. The Elli is designed to have none to negative ease in the bust and hips, with slightly more ease through the waist, and is somewhat loose-fitting through the shoulders. Add to this that I have a sway back that I almost never make adjustments for (oops) and my ponte was much more structured than the pattern was drafted for, and you get a mess of pull lines, pooling fabric, and a less-than-flattering dress. I was bummed, and Elli got put in time-out for a little bit while I chewed over what I could do to salvage her. I loved the fabric, and I still wasn’t willing to let go of the dress I had in my head. Days later, I put the dress on again, and found that while I still wasn’t completely happy with the fit, it wasn’t nearly as bad as I remembered, and I jumped back in with some safety pins and a new zeal.

That slit tho!

In the end, I only made a couple adjustments: I straightened out the hip curves to reduce excess fabric, and put two fish-eye darts into the lower back to take in the fabric  that was pooling there. I did consider trying to fit the sleeve cap more closely to my shoulder, but in the end decided I wasn’t looking for a bodycon dress that hugged my every curve. The ease of a henley is what I was after, after all! This also let me accept the minimal drag lines and folds around the bust – short of adding even more darts into what was supposed to be an easy knit dress, I would never be able to eliminate them all, so I took them as part of the henley dress package and moved the hell on. About half an hour to hem the side slits, bottom, and sleeves, and I was finished!

I’m thrilled with this dress now. Not even 24 hours on from finishing it, I’ve been wearing it for the majority of the hours I’ve been awake since then, and it’s everything I wanted in a winter dress. Could I have made the sleeves just an inch longer? Sure! Do the ends of the fisheye darts bubble just a little bit on my ass, and not respond to pressing Yeah! Are the sleeves just a hair tighter than is ideal? Maybe! Is the fabric slightly sheer so you get a decent impression of whatever underwear (or fleece tights) I’m wearing underneath? Yup! But it’s warm, it’s comfortable as hell, and I was able to work through my fit issues to end up with an infinitely wearable dress. Plus, it’s covered in enormous flowers! With the sub-zero windchill that has descended upon NYC in the last 48 hours, I am loving how springy this dress makes me feel, while still knowing I’ll be snug and warm inside its long-sleeved embrace. To be sure, I’ll be choosing a much stretchier and/or drapier fabric for the many Elli shirts I plan on making soon, but for my first time making a pattern – and without making a muslin – I’d call this a rousing success.

Bubble butt! And not in the good way… but not too bad!

Is something on my shoe??

That stank face 🙂

Trying for a sexy librarian vibe here I think?

On a different note, part of the reason I know how cozy this dress is, is because I wore it out into the cold last night after finishing it! Friends and I had purchased tickets before temperatures fell for the one-day in-theaters showing of They Shall Not Grow Old, Peter Jackson’s collaboration with the Imperial War Museum in honor of the centenary of the end of WWI. Had the tickets been for any other movie I would have cancelled, but yesterday was literally the only day it was being shown in theaters in NYC, so I gamely bundled up and braved the cold and I am so glad I did! If you have any interest at all in history, or human beings, you should see this movie. Almost the entirety of the film is archival footage from WWI, carefully restored and much of it also colorized, and the audio commentary is entirely taken from BBC audio interviews with veterans recorded in the 60s and 70s. The result is a movie that looks like it could have been shot a decade or so ago, not over 100 years – the quality of the images is obviously nowhere near today’s HD, but the frame rate of the playback has been matched as closely as possible to the frame rate the footage was shot at, over-exposed film or film blackened by age has been digitally enhanced so you can see every detail, and suddenly these men are real people again up onscreen. Coupled with the voices of these same men, decades later, reminiscing about what the war meant for them and how they lived as soldiers, it’s an incredibly powerful experience and one that I’d highly recommend. There are some graphic moments – trench foot and gangrene could have done without the enhancement, in my opinion – but Peter Jackson has stated that his aim was to create a documentary of the war as it was lived by the average British soldier, and I think he did a splendid job. The part that got me the most was probably the long litany of men at the very beginning, telling how young they were when they enlisted and how easy it was to lie about their age – boys of 14 and 15 were told to “go outside and have a birthday and come back” if they came in to enlist and didn’t think to lie about their age first thing. It’s easy to treat history as a far-off, dusty thing, but World War I was something that happened, in real time, to real people, and given that we live in what we know even now will be historic times someday, I think it’s both important and comforting to remember that.

The Elli Henley Dress If there's one thing I am in constant need of in my wardrobe, it's long-sleeved shirts. T-shirts, blouses, sweatshirts, what have you - any category you could describe, I assure you, I don't have enough of them.

[coats-viy]

West Elm Inspired DIY Leather Tufted Headboard

As a person of a certain age (cough, cough, late 20s), I often want nice things but my taste outpaces my bank account. Can anyone relate? This headboard from West Elm has been on my radar for a while now and is so deliciously beautiful. I WANTED it, tried to bargain with myself why I should get it, and thought of things I could give up in exchange. But in the end, my boyfriend talked me off yet another figurative cliff and I challenged myself to make the best knock off version I could. Enter: my DIY Leather Tufted Headboard.

West Elm inspiration headboard

How to make your own DIY Leather Tufted Headboard

Since our previous bed was a low platform style, we needed to purchase a new frame in addition to replacing the headboard. After researching beds vs. bed frames only, I ultimately went with this IKEA Hemnes bed because it got us a new frame and with the low price tag I didn’t worry about covering the headboard.

IKEA Hemnes queen bed

Here are the rest of the supplies:

Headboard to cover

Alternate– Skip covering an old headboard all together and use pegboard as your base layer. You’ll then mount directly to the wall using z-clips.

Peg board- cut to the same size as your headboard

You’ll only need this if your headboard has cut out areas like mine or if you’re using pegboard as the base layer. If you are using a solid wood headboard, skip this step.

Pro tip– Home Depot will not cut peg board so try a local lumber yard or cut on your own saw.

Drill and wood screws

High-density foam

I went with 2” thick but this is what determines how deep the tufted indents can go, so feel free to go thicker if you’d like. They make up to 5″!

Alternate– If you’re budget conscious, try using an inexpensive foam mattress cover instead.

Batting

Basting spray or spray adhesive

Leather fabric

I purchased a nice vinyl alternative. You’ll need at least 2.5 yds. for a Queen bed but you may want to order more for wiggle room.

Pro tip– Fabric.com lets you order samples at a low cost so I ordered a few options to look at in my room with my other furniture and textiles.

Alternate– If leather isn’t your thing, you can replicate with any upholstery fabric.

Button kit

Florist wire

Heavy duty staple gun

This low-cost version from JoAnns was great.

Heavy duty staples

Upholstery needles

Step 1

Lay your headboard flat and work in an area that you can flip and move the headboard as needed. You’re going to need to be able to get to all angles!

Step 2

Since my headboard had cut out sections I started by attaching a piece of pegboard over the top to give me a flat surface. I recommend using peg board since it already has pre-drilled holes which will be handy when adding the buttons to tuft. Easily secure the pegboard with a few wood screws on all sides.

Step 3

Cut your foam to size. This can easily be done with a box cutter. Use a straight edge and take it slow and it cuts very easily. I then used a spray adhesive to attach the foam to the pegboard. It doesn’t need to be too secure, just enough so you can move the headboard around without the foam falling out of place.

Alternate– The sewing store will sell high-density foam (the green foam) and it is great but it is also really costly. I’ve seen other DIYs use inexpensive mattress pads from Target or somewhere comparable (the tan foam). Since my headboard was too tall for either option alone, I knew I would have to piece the foam in sections. While I was slightly nervous about this, it turned out to be completely fine, especially since the leather vinyl is a thick upholstery material. If you use the mattress pads be aware that they have ridges on one side. This made me a bit hesitant but again turned out fine. Just make sure to put the ridges against the pegboard to keep the flat side out.

Step 4

Spray the face of the foam with your spray adhesive and lay the batting across the face leaving enough room on all sides to wrap around the edges. Once the adhesive has dried, flip the headboard onto its face and pull the batting tightly around all edges and staple to secure in the back. You’ll want this layer to look clean and taut since it is the last layer before fabric. But don’t stress, since the leather vinyl is a thick upholstery fabric it will cover up any minor inconsistencies on the face.

Step 5 (Optional)

(Only if you feel like sewing or making things harder)

If you noticed, the inspiration headboard has leather panels which create 2 seams running vertically and one horizontally. The 5 buttons are then all placed along the horizontal seam. While I initially did not think I was going to add this nuance, once I got to this point and was feeling pretty bad ass I challenged myself to add the seams. (If you’ve already decided to not add panels feel free to skip ahead) Now it’s time to do a little math…or look at the diagram below.

When planning for my seam, I knew that I didn’t want it to sit too low since the buttons would then be covered by pillows. This took a little bit of experimenting against the wall of my bedroom and measuring my pillow height (yes, it’s neurotic but I did it!). For me, since my headboard is 46” tall that meant having my buttons 8.5” from the top.

With my buttons 8.5” from the top I sewed two panels together, running my full width, with the top one being approximately 15” giving me enough extra fabric (15″-8.5″= 6.5” extra) to pull around the top edge and attach to the back. You can make your seam pattern how ever you’d like, just be sure to leave enough room to cover the sides! To make the vertical seams, I folded and sewed 2 seams that were 20” apart. See the diagram below for all the seam placements. Once all the seams are in, press them open with a hot iron.

Pro tip– I like to do a lot of mini-tests with scrap fabric before sewing or ironing. Work out the kinks on your sewing machine, figure out the heat setting on your iron. It’s always easier to do it on scrap pieces and adjust before going straight to the final product.

Step 6

Once I had secured the batting I stood the headboard upright and planned where to place my buttons. Since the West Elm version was my inspiration I wanted to stick with 5 buttons across the middle running along my horizontal seam. Draping the fabric over at this point was very helpful to visualize the button placement.

You could easily choose to do a diamond shape tuft or even 2 lines of buttons for a more modern look. That’s the great thing about pegboard being the base layer- all the holes are already drilled so the pattern is totally up to you. And at this point, if you’re covering a solid headboard instead, you’ll need to plan your button locations and drill holes through the back of the headboard at those locations.

Pro tip–  Since your batting is only a base layer feel free to mark up all over it. I marked up 3 variations of button placement, took a minute to step back and ultimately decide what felt right.

Now that it’s finished, I do still love the placement when we’ve removed the decorative pillows but they could have gone a bit higher to allow me to get some more decorative pillows piled up (maybe it’s for the best!)

Step 7

Making buttons—this could be an entire blog post to themselves. Now, this was hands down the hardest part of the project… not to scare you off! But really, it was HARD. Check out how my hand was looking post buttons.

  The button kit will come with not enough instructions and not many pieces.

Use the fabric stencil to cut out a piece of fabric the correct size.

The goal here is to wrap your cut fabric circle around the curved button front and squish that face down into the silicone form. Pro tip– On the stencil, the outside circle is the size of fabric you need but the inside circle shows you what will be on the button face. Important if you are working with patterns!

Once that is done, you gather the excess fabric, mash it into the concave back and hold it shut with the back of the button. 

The only way you can do this though is to use the pusher piece against the back of the button to apply enough force to sandwich it all together.

After much struggle, it’s magically a button.

If this sounds like a Game of Thrones level mental game, IT IS. This shit is hard. But give yourself time, maybe a glass of wine, and you CAN make all the buttons. I believe in you! I also looked for a button set meant specifically for upholstery fabric and came up empty. If any of you know of one, please please let us know!

Step 8

If you’ve decided to use a flat piece of fabric and not seam it, lay it on the face of your headboard (you can tack it down with the spray adhesive) and start pulling the excess taut around the edges and securing in the back with staples. Make sure to work a little bit on each side so that you are evenly pulling the fabric in each direction. I like to work from the center out and definitely leave the corners for last.

However, if you did seam your fabric it is a slightly harder since the seams will need to stay level and will ultimately affect your button placement. Therefore, before I started attaching the fabric, I loosely secured 2 buttons in their correct locations to hold the fabric in the right spot while I pulled it taut. To attach the buttons, thread floral wire through back of the buttons and an upholstery needle and slowly push through the leather face. This should be relatively easy since it is going through the seam. Once you have pushed through the leather the batting and foam should be no issue. Fish the needle through until you come out one of the pegboard holes in the back. Now you can loosely twist the wire in the back to secure the buttons.

Alternate– You could also use upholstery thread to attach the buttons but after a few tests (told you I like testing things!) the wire felt the most secure and let me really pull the buttons tight at the end and get a nice tufting effect.

Once your two buttons are in place follow the diagram above to attach all the fabric taut all the way around, leaving the corners for last.

Step 9

While the corners look daunting, they really are not. We just need to cover the order in which to fold and secure. (As demonstrated with my scrap fabric and screen)

At this point, all the sides should be well secured with fabric left loose at the corners.

First, pull the fabric from the side up and over the top.

Secure with one staple right into the top.

Now you will have almost a triangle of fabric. Fold the triangle down so that it creates a clean fold that runs along the corner of the headboard. And remember to experiment a few times folding it correctly before securing with staples.

Secure the fold with a staple.

Step 10

Following the same method as above, attach the rest of your buttons. I started with the two I already had loosely placed. At this point, you can really pull the wire from the back and create that tufting effect. How tight you pull and secure the buttons in the back determines the tufted depth. Measure and add the final 3 buttons using the same method as before.

And viola, DIY Leather Tufted Headboard! You’ve done it! Give yourself a pat on the back and pour yourself that second glass of wine. Kudos!

I decided to add two simple 3″ shelves behind the bed for storage since the room isn’t wide enough for bedside tables.

  What do you guys think? Anything you’d change?

Original article source  http://andthenwetried.com/2017/06/west-elm-inspired-diy-leather-tufted-headboard/

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