In order to get good at something (anything, really), you need to constantly challenge yourself. There's no way around it. But these challenges also have to be reasonable. You don't want to throw yourself into something too big too soon. Especially at crafts. Otherwise, you might end up featured on the subreddit r/DiWHY.
"Ever try fixing things on your own? Didn't come out the way they were supposed to? Do you stand there questioning your whole life?" the online community asks in its 'About' page. If so, they are inviting you to post the results for everyone to see. But if you come across someone else's do-it-yourself endeavor that shouldn't have seen the light of day, you're welcome to share it on r/DiWHY too.
It's the place for sh***y projects. The ultimate proof that "just because you can doesn't mean you should."
We at Bored Panda already covered the subreddit here and here, but its 1.7 million members keep delivering, so we have to keep up!
This post may include affiliate links.
The Cry Of A Desperate Man
Cardening, I Can't Possible See What Could Go Wrong With This, Strange Hobby
For our earlier article on r/DiWHY, moderator IAMmojo told Bored Panda that they look after the sub every day and, sometimes, things can be a bit overwhelming when there are many reposts to sift through. "It's not too difficult in general, but certain days there are influxes of [crap]posts and reposts which can get crazy. Even with rules, these will continue to happen. It's why i use Automoderator to handle rejections of any new accounts or low karma accounts as a baseline," they said.
My colleague Jonas was curious to get their opinion about what most DIY fails have in common. IAMmojo said: "If you ask the sub, they will surely mention the hot glue gun as the main ingredient. I think most posts in generally have a humor element to it in common."
But the moderator thinks the possibility of failure should not deter any DIY crafters. "Keep working on your craft! What you make today maybe be the next big thing tomorrow! Not everyone is a skilled artisan, we can only try our best."
Trying To Fashion A Face Mask Out Of A Brassiere
Glove Angel
Guess Someone Actually Watches 5 Minute Crafts
During the pandemic, many people have put their hands to DIY, looking to address the parts of their home they have been meaning to fix and improve for some time. One 2020 study, for example, found that an astonishing 81% of Brits believe this was the best chance they have had to carry out some much-needed TLC.
The study also asked participants what were their biggest DIY fails during the lockdown, and the list comes as follows:
- Laying laminate flooring – 58%
- Tiling walls/floors – 52%
- Fitting small bathroom fixtures (e.g. tap, showerhead, sink, etc.) – 47%
- Plastering walls – 45%
- Laying decking – 43%
- Putting up wallpaper – 41%
- Repairing/fitting doors/windows – 36%
- Painting walls – 30%
- Assembling/fitting small furniture (e.g. table, chairs, shelves, etc.) – 24%
- Fitting new door/window/cupboard/cabinet handles – 19%
Excuse Me What
I Made A Sweater Out Of Dryer Fluff
This Is So Stupid I’m Actually Mad Rn
MyJobQuote, the platform that organized the study, suggests these tips for people who want to make the best out of their home projects:
With the internet providing a wide range of information on just about any topic from various reputable sources, a simple search into Google will be your savior. DIY guides will help you to find the perfect solution to your DIY problems in no time.
If you are a visual learner, you may want to use a video to help you with the DIY task you are having issues with. There are multiple ‘How To' videos available online from industry professionals, especially on video-streaming platforms like YouTube.
Ewwwwwwww
With Just Basic Tools And A Little Paint You Too Can Turn An Old, Unusable Door Into An Ugly, Unusable Table
With Some Hot Glue, Tiny Babies, And A Lot Of Time, You Get Baby Tree
Turning to a tradesperson such as a flooring specialist, bathroom specialist, plasterers, or tilers for help could be a quick and easy solution to your problems. Even though they won't be able to come around to help, they should be able to provide some helpful advice via a phone call or a chat over Zoom/Skype.
Watching a few videos or reading a few articles might give you the false confidence to think you can handle any DIY task. Take caution and apply a safety-first attitude – especially when it comes to dealing with complex aspects such as plumbing and heating as well as electricity and lighting. Leave those to the qualified electricians, heating engineers, and plumbers.
As A Landlord, I Am Constantly Amazed At Some Things My Tenants Do. I Installed New Curtain Rods Before The New Tenant Moved In, But She Still Felt It Necessary To Nail The Curtains To The Wall
"Upcycled" Knife Block...
That was actually pretty cool. Maybe another solution than that string though
Trying but failing is never a bad thing and don't put yourself down. If you think you don't have the confidence or sufficiently understand how to rectify the DIY problem in hand, it may be best to wait until the lockdown is over and then get a reputable professional to sort it out.
Happy crafting!
What
Looks like someone moved the tables to the swingset. This is not how the Dept. of Parks & Rec. wanted it.
Spaghetti Balls??
This Dread Bed
My friend got his dreads cut off, his mom turned them into a cat bed.
Forbidden Jello Lamp
I Have No Words For How Strange And Mildly Disturbing This Is
Cow Tag Earring
Was it done as a form of activism for the humane treatment of cows? Because it's different in this case.
My Heart Aches For The Waste Of A Beautiful Antique
My mom has this gem, it's older than me and works better than me. What a waste
My mom gifted ours to a neighbour. It was a gift from her father. I almost cried when she told me. Now I have to wait for the neighbour to die and ask her daughter if I can have it back. :D
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There are so many of these sewing machines still out there that they have no intrinsic value as sewing machines. So I don't mind people upcycling them to suit a more modern lifestyle.
Exactly, I have one of these and they're worth nothing (even though they're great and people should use them) so I'd rather one ended up like this rather than in landfill
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To be fair, there are so many of these in the wild they are almost worthless
I have one that was straight-up tossed in the trash. It needed a good cleaning and the proper oil and it's been working fine for me for years. If the internal bushings were actually worn out from use, it would NOT be worth all the trouble of attempting to replace them, and a lamp would be a fine fate, especially since I think that hole is there anyway.
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I hate when people say things like "OMG it's such a waste!" how many of those things would have been thrown away? It would have definitely been a waste then, so why not say anything about that?
Exactly! There’s legitimately SO MANY of these antique sewing machines out there, there’s more of them than there are people who want them. They either get tossed out or just sit on a shelf collecting dust. This person turned it into something useful. That’s not a waste.
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I hate to see this. I restore these beauties as a hobby and they are worth more as a working machine than this monstrosity.
Really? Cause I can pick up 10 of these in a week for no more than 25 euros a piece and they're working. They are really plentiful still.
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I have to have a little chuckle at all the comments. I can find any number of these in working state for next to nothing. There are so many of them still.
Aw I learned to sew on my granny's Singer machine - just like this one. This makes me kinda sad
Mine too those require minimal repairs and still sew my aunt had a pedal foot I wish I knew what happened to it. Not that I've ever sewn on it . But it would become a hobby if I had it.
Not a waste! It’s up-cycling whereas most just sit being unused in basements or antique stores.
My mom had an old treadle machine like this...now worth a fortune if UNTOUCHED and made into a stupid lamp.
Hmmm. . .wonder if she knew the sewing machine itself, in good working condition, would have been worth $400.00. . .
I'm pretty sure that's the exact same model I learned on. It was my mom's that she bought second-hand in the 40s.
Not bad! Better than sitting in a landfill. Most of these old machines are simply too slow.
They could at least have used a vintage style light globe. That looks like it needs a lampshade.
I actually caused a friend the loss of a huge sale. She had a french antiques store in Canada. I was in the store, when this woman walked in and was very interested in a 200 plus year old stunning buffet. Price tag in the $10K range. Well she started going on about punching holes in it and putting in lights. I lost it. " Are you mad? If you want a modern buffet with holes and lights in it, go and buy a modern buffet, don't buy and then destroy and devalue to nothing an antigue!" She left without making a purchase. I apologised to my friend. She said " Thank you , I wanted to say exactly the same thing." We had a good laugh about the woman with more money than taste and class.
They aren't worth much usually. Many were hooked up to electricity, getting rid of the pedal. Brings the value down to almost nothing. An original with the pedal has some value. They all have a serial number, you can check that and figure out the age and then find the value. I buy and sell antiques, very rarely waste my time on these. They look cool, I guess. Waste of space imo.
Ugly, but over here, they're nothing special. You can't sew with the, properly, they just gather dust. Most just toos the machine and use the table.
I have wanted a treadle Singer in its cabinet for years, but haven’t found one I can afford. This just sickens me. To take what was probably a working antique and f**k it up like this is just sacrilege. F*****g heathen.
I actually got two (maybe three in the near future) mandolins that are more or less declared "Decoration" but work fantastic after I restore them a bit.
Is it at least powered by the machine? I mean, can you sit there, put your feet on the pedal and make light?
Is this so you can see you stitching better or did you just ruin a great conversation piece!
A waste, but these things are so well built they are for sale EVERYWHERE in the US. Everywhere. All over.
That sewing machine was worth way more than $100 before they ruined it. A couple hundred more. Now its just vandalized garbage.
I don't know where you are but they're not worth anything much in the UK, sadly
Load More Replies...Time To Ruin Some Artwork For The *~aesthetic~*
The Paint Job In My Apartment Hallway (Its The Whole Building)
Faux Library
Big Brains
This Is How My Father Has Decided To Rig Up The Router
Bring The Great Outdoors In!
Someone Decided This Is How You Should Show Off Your Plants.... And Dolls
Making A Tie-Dye Carpet
It's Probably Very Dependable
Harry Potter, But With Human Teeth Instead Of Glasses
Who Needs A Frame Anyway
So Do You Have To Take Your Pants Off To Rob The Bank?
Run Out Of Clips? Use An Old Glasses Case
It's ok I guess, chip bag is gonna be eaten soon anyway and most probably this person couldn't find clip to seal it right away.
I Heard You Guys Like Hot Dogs In Epoxy. Here's My Dad's Trophy Dog That He's Had For Nearly 20 Years
For Sale In The Neighborhood
Replica
This Looks Exactly Like A Mirror Covered In Insulation Foam
Note: this post originally had 66 images. It’s been shortened to the top 40 images based on user votes.
Dolls and items involving animal/insect/people parts make me question humanity.
So many "Whys?" This is a bit disgusting, disturbing, gross, WTF, ...... so many levels of wrong! And the book destroyers!!!! What is wrong with humanity????
I could start making a list but we'd run out of internet... ;-)
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What I learned today: people need a resin license or something. Preserving scary nonsense is a bigger hobby than I realised
Art is like beauty. In the eye of the beholder. Creative, yes, out there, yes, disturbing, meh, some of it. Good on taking the plunge
LeilaOdins: You are a very nice person to give them the benefit of the doubt.
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I dunno. I'm not a fan of this whole "upcycling" nonsense. Where I come from (the West of Scotland), if someone throws something out, there's usually a damn good reason for it.
Seems like the foam mirror "shabby cheek" description should have gone with the knitted toilet seat cover.
I cant believe people actually spent time making these monstrosities. Boggles the brain.
the only one I like (the others are unbelievable) its the rug one but I hope the rug was not in good shape
I am going to try answer why. I will only be able to touch on a few possibilities though. 1) They have nothing else going on in their lives 2) They have EXTREMELY poor taste. 3) They have an extremely poor sense of humor and think what they made is fun or funny. 4) The fact that some if these items are for sale tells me the person thinks there are suckers waiting to be offered a "unique" item no body else in their right mind would have 5) um.... nah...I got nothing.
One can't help but wonder what kind of special morons exist in the world where they think it's "normal" to make things TO SELL out of old teeth, bits and pieces of human and animal parts, dolls with their faces cut out....man, I never want to meet any of the people who do these things as (their sick idea of) "crafts"!
#22 - those works were painted when downloads were painfully slow. #32 - that dress would most certainly come in handy in case of an 'accident'.
Yep, 99% terrible. One really good. So it was a good article. It matched its name
Joanna....which one did you like.... I'd love to know which entry here was good.
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Some of these do look genuinely good. The rest however, if I have a nightmare, I know whose to blame.
So many conformist commenters here, so little sense of humor or the ability to tell when something was created with the intent of yanking chains.
Dolls and items involving animal/insect/people parts make me question humanity.
So many "Whys?" This is a bit disgusting, disturbing, gross, WTF, ...... so many levels of wrong! And the book destroyers!!!! What is wrong with humanity????
I could start making a list but we'd run out of internet... ;-)
Load More Replies... What I learned today: people need a resin license or something. Preserving scary nonsense is a bigger hobby than I realised
Art is like beauty. In the eye of the beholder. Creative, yes, out there, yes, disturbing, meh, some of it. Good on taking the plunge
LeilaOdins: You are a very nice person to give them the benefit of the doubt.
Load More Replies... I dunno. I'm not a fan of this whole "upcycling" nonsense. Where I come from (the West of Scotland), if someone throws something out, there's usually a damn good reason for it.
Seems like the foam mirror "shabby cheek" description should have gone with the knitted toilet seat cover.
I cant believe people actually spent time making these monstrosities. Boggles the brain.
the only one I like (the others are unbelievable) its the rug one but I hope the rug was not in good shape
I am going to try answer why. I will only be able to touch on a few possibilities though. 1) They have nothing else going on in their lives 2) They have EXTREMELY poor taste. 3) They have an extremely poor sense of humor and think what they made is fun or funny. 4) The fact that some if these items are for sale tells me the person thinks there are suckers waiting to be offered a "unique" item no body else in their right mind would have 5) um.... nah...I got nothing.
One can't help but wonder what kind of special morons exist in the world where they think it's "normal" to make things TO SELL out of old teeth, bits and pieces of human and animal parts, dolls with their faces cut out....man, I never want to meet any of the people who do these things as (their sick idea of) "crafts"!
#22 - those works were painted when downloads were painfully slow. #32 - that dress would most certainly come in handy in case of an 'accident'.
Yep, 99% terrible. One really good. So it was a good article. It matched its name
Joanna....which one did you like.... I'd love to know which entry here was good.
Load More Replies... Some of these do look genuinely good. The rest however, if I have a nightmare, I know whose to blame.
So many conformist commenters here, so little sense of humor or the ability to tell when something was created with the intent of yanking chains.
