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50 Times People Failed At DIY So Badly, They Just Had To Share The Results Online
Creating something from scratch is an enriching experience. Whether it’s knitting, crocheting, or getting your hands dirty while shaping a new idea out of clay, any craft-based activity serves as an antidote to the stresses of daily living. It’s amazing to see people rocking their inner craftsperson and creating whatever their minds dream up. But at the same time, every enthusiast knows how easy it is to get caught up in the joy of the process.
Like any art, you get super excited when starting a new project — burning with passion, hope, and expectation — only to see how it turns into a hilarious disaster! Yet, some people set out to go all the way and share their funny mishaps with everyone online. And here are the results — the internet has become packed with unfortunate handmade projects that probably looked great on paper but went way, way wrong.
Our craft-loving team here at Bored Panda has scoured the web to bring you a list of pictures that showcase the most memorable fails of the handmade world. So continue scrolling, upvote the best of these questionable gems, and be sure to share your own goofy blunders down below in the comments!
Then if you’re interested in even more do-it-yourself endeavors that should have never seen the light of day, check out our earlier posts here and here.
This post may include affiliate links.
#1
Probably Should Have Said Something After The First One
RELATED:
#2
The Pillow My Mom Made Me Really Ties The Room Together
#3
My Sister Legitimately Tried To Paint A Picture Of Stevie Wonder For My Dad On His Birthday
#4
My Husband Said: "Stay Still. I'm Going Try To Draw You." Then He Showed Me This. I Laughed So Hard I Almost Threw Up. Look At The Feet
#5
This Clay Sculpture Fell Perfectly Flat On Its Face And Looks Not Happy About It
#6
My Wife Knitted A Hat For Our Bull Terrier, But I Think It Works Better On The Whippet
#7
My 4 Year Old Found Permanent Markers And Is So Proud That He Is Now Darth Maul
#8
My Boyfriend Painted Our Dog
#9
My Mum Tried To Make My Sister A Teddy Bear. I Present Quasimodo In Bear Form
#10
I Named Her Barry B. Benson
I realized 3 things while making this bee. 1) Don’t buy jumbo size yarn. 2) The magic ring is hard to do with jumbo size yarn. 3) Free-handing a project will get you drastically different results. She kinda looks like a bee and a caterpillar.
#11
Tried To Crochet My Mum A Frog And Everything Went Wrong
#12
After Numerous Failed Projects, Finally A Success. A Slipper That Would Fit An Elephant. Now I Just Have To Acquire An Elephant
#13
Make A Beret But Fail So Marvelously It Makes You Look Like An Angry Mushroom From Mario
#14
I Took My Art Very Seriously In High School And Thought I Was Pretty Good. Looking Back At This Piece, I May Have Been In Denial
JayhawkJoey 4 years ago
This reminds me of the Napoleon Dynamite scene about the mustache shading.
#15
All I Know Is That Somewhere Along The Line A Mistake Might Have Been Made
#16
The Top Is Pottery That My Mom Got In Germany, The Bottom Is My Attempt To Make It In My Ceramics Class
JayhawkJoey 4 years ago
I did this! My husband loves it so much, he took it to work for his desk!
#17
They Stand Up On Their Own. i Have Brought Shame To My Knitting Name
#18
I Tried To Paint My Girlfriend
#19
Some Interesting Face Paint I Had Done As A Child
#20
Clearing Out Some Old DVDs And Found This Custom Case I Hand-Crafted Myself
#21
Cat Found A New Scratch Post In My Latest Portrait. Lesson Learned = Never Leave A Clay Portrait In The House With A Cat. Make A Good Horror Sculpture Though
#23
My Friend Got Married Yesterday And Was Gifted A Handmade Quilt
Little Wonder 4 years ago
Omg, i thought they were saying it's too small and was about to be all "Well quilts take forever!" but I see now. Oh no.
#24
My Friend Got His Dreads Cut Off, His Mom Turned Them Into A Cat Bed
#25
My Friend Just Knitted A Fox Cowell Hood. Expectations vs. Reality
#26
Failed Rug. I Did Not Sew It On A Flat Surface So I Couldn’t See I Was Wrapping Each Round Too Tight, And Now It Won’t Lay Flat. At Least The Cat Likes It
#27
So My Girlfriend Attempted To Sew Me A Monkey
#28
Not All My Crafts Turn Out How I Imagine Them
#29
DIY Cat Tent
#30
When You Find Out Yarn Weight And Needle Size Matter In A Pattern
#31
The First Sweater I Ever Made
I knew nothing about sizing and was so nervous it'd be too small so it ended up being HUGE, but also, the neck was so small I could barely squeeze my head into it. I've since taken this sweater apart and make a throw blanket I love with it. Live and learn!
#32
This Painting My Grandmother Copied
#33
It Has Pockets. 38 Of Them
#34
My Daughter Says I Look Like I Should Be Singing In The Church Choir. My Second Attempt At A Dress, Second Fail
#35
Condom Beanie? Top Is What I Made, Bottom Is What It's Supposed To Be. Oops
#36
I Made A Replica Of My Ear Out Of Boredom
#37
I Tried Making My First Pair Of Pants Today. I Goofed, But The Result Was Hilarious (I Fixed Them And Finished)
#38
My Grandmother Took Various Socks From My Laundry Basket And Sewed Them Into A Pair Of Tiny Rugs. I Have No Clue Why
#39
A Friend Of Mine Tried Painting A Rock Like The One She Saw Online
#40
I’m Known Far And Wide For My Incredible Sculpting Abilities. The Next Michelangelo, They Call Me. I Am A Play Dough Artiste And Joan Rivers (RIP) Is My Muse
#41
These Blue Jeans Were My Favorite. However, Bleach Got On The Bottom Of It. Since I Had Left Over Fabric, I Got The Bright Idea To Create Bell Bottoms Out Of It
#42
My Wife Is A Talented Artist, So She Wanted To Make The White Owl Instead Of Buying It Pre-Made
#43
She's Taken Up Crocheting. I Have No Words
#44
First Time Trying To Make A Bunny Didn't Turn Out The Way I Expected
#45
Beanie Fail. Can You Tell This Is My First Time?
#46
What It Was Supposed To Look And What I Did Crocheted
#47
Tried To Make A Hiding Place In A Book
#48
Tried A New Craft
Little Wonder 4 years ago
You gotta use a glass cutter, and they take forever to sand smooth because if you sand too quickly they shatter. Basically, as much as I love craft and DIY - buy some someone else made!
#49
Fail: Beanie I Was Making, Apparently For A Cone Head. I Started Over After Pic
#50
Decided To Paint My PS3 Controller
#52
The Handle Fell Off At My Moms House, So She Glued A Pair Of Espadrilles To The Door
#53
With Just Two Easy Steps, You Too Can Make A Nightmare
#54
How I Spent My Afternoon - No Regrets
#55
This Marble Decided To Roll Out Of The Kiln And Crack. It’s Sort Of Funny Considering The Surprised Look On The Face
#56
This Is What Happens When You Try To Multitask
#57
I Just Started Crocheting And I Tried To Make My Son A Kitty
Needmorecowbell 4 years ago
But you know what? Your son will treasure it. I have a blanket my mom made when I was born and it is…bad. And I love it.
#58
My First Time Doing A Craft With Fabric Paint Didn't Go As Planned
#59
I'm Trying My Hand At Crochet This Weekend. This Was Supposed To Be A Hexagon. Never Mind, Barbie Has A New Winter Hat
#60
Failed Mini C2C But It Quacks Me Up
#61
My Spot On Paint Job On Fallout Vault Boy
#62
Craft Fail By My Kid. Nope, That Was My Wife
#63
Thanks, I Hate This Handmade "Groot"
#64
This Cushion I Tried To Make On The Sewing Machine Back In High School
#65
My First Time Sewing A Teddy Bear (Right)
#66
Taxidermy Fail. A Little Something In The Eyes
#67
It’s Hard To Use A Sewing Machine
Little Wonder 4 years ago
Wrong material, the one on the left is made of something firmer with more structure.
#68
My Friends 4-Inch (10.16cm) Hulk Perler Bead Project. He Sent Me The Finished Picture Following Immediately By The "After." He Had Over 30 Hours Into It
#69
I Followed The Tutorial But Hers Is A Circle And Mine A Hexagon?
#70
Cat Sat On My Damp Custom Pottery Order
#71
"I Can Paint That On There No Problem"
#72
I Tried To Sew My Daughter A Doll For Her Birthday. Evidently I'm No Good At The Hand Sewing Thing
#73
It's Supposed To Be A Clay Pug
#75
My Crafting Skulls/Skills Need Some Work
InvincibleRodent 4 years ago
I'm guessing that's partly because on the original, the eyes and the nose are holes, whereas in the remake, they're applied on top. I'm guessing the original person had dedicated tools for the job...
#76
My Mom Tried To Make A Cute Bear With The Towels At The Hotel For The Cradles. "I Need To Practice A Bit More" She Said While Removing It Before Any Baby Could See It
Erica Ventura 4 years ago
It looks like someone being held hostage with a bag over their head!
#77
This Accurately Depicts My Co-Worker's Roller Coaster Of Emotions After Working On This Sculpture For 5 Years. Before vs. After
Little Wonder 4 years ago
Okay so I checked the source - it wasn't destroyed as such. They made a mould of it, and the master sculpture gets broken to get the mould off. So it looks more heartbreaking than it is, but even so I bet it was hard to see all that work in bits!
#78
DIY Bowl Melted From A Vinyl Lp
#79
This Was A Test Of Patience And Uhm, Well, I Lost
#80
I Bet This Smells So Bad. Those Don't Look Like New Shoes
Zedrapazia 4 years ago
Actually were well done handcraft, it's probably uncomfortable but looks impressive! Also, it's just Jeans fabric, people, it can be washed. Should smell fine.
#81
Tried To Patch Up A Hole In My Corduroy Pants With A Bit Of Leather And Some Thick String. Total Fail. Any Advice For How To Patch Up Corduroy Pants?
Patricia Kersting 4 years ago
You can get an iron-on patch at a fabric store and — um — iron it on.
#82
Pinata Creation Was Not A Success. The Product Was As Far As It Went
Lessons learned - don't use corn flour as a flour substitute, don't have thick paste, don't choose a difficult shape as your first project, don't put it in the sun to dry (it popped the balloon before we were ready for it to pop). Ugggh. Oh well, live and learn.
#83
Hand Paint Fail. Tried To See If A Cool Drip Effect Would Look Good. Well It Doesn’t. You Live You Learn Right?
#84
My Worst Ceramics Fail To Date. Everything Cracked And Well, You Can See The Glaze
Nancy Walker 4 years ago
I love it! And I would love to buy it, if you haven't gotten rid of it!
#85
This Top Was A Fail
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What do you think ?
My Full Name Is Way Too Long 4 years ago
I mean at least they tried? :) Try, fail, try again, you know.
Natalia Maciel 4 years ago
Practice! That is the key. Not letting mistakes stop you and learn from them
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LillieMean 4 years ago
Everyone starts as a novice. I tried to crochet facial cleansing pads. I even had the yarn recommended in the instructions. The first one turned out to be half smaller than in the picture. I tried again with a bigger hook and the same thing again. Then I gave up and crocheted two more layers and now they are the right size. Such mistakes are inspiring because you have to be able to laugh at mistakes.
Beth 4 years ago
None of these are fails. I see someone who took their time and effort to create something. No one failed here at all.
K-Hey 4 years ago
Thank you! I get that it's emotionally safer to put yourself out there as a funny fail, but let's all not be so down on ourselves! These were great, and as other people have said, everyone has to starts somewhere- and personally, I find it more satisfying to trial and error, than not try at all.
Load More Replies... My Full Name Is Way Too Long 4 years ago
I mean at least they tried? :) Try, fail, try again, you know.
Natalia Maciel 4 years ago
Practice! That is the key. Not letting mistakes stop you and learn from them
Load More Replies... LillieMean 4 years ago
Everyone starts as a novice. I tried to crochet facial cleansing pads. I even had the yarn recommended in the instructions. The first one turned out to be half smaller than in the picture. I tried again with a bigger hook and the same thing again. Then I gave up and crocheted two more layers and now they are the right size. Such mistakes are inspiring because you have to be able to laugh at mistakes.
Beth 4 years ago
None of these are fails. I see someone who took their time and effort to create something. No one failed here at all.
K-Hey 4 years ago
Thank you! I get that it's emotionally safer to put yourself out there as a funny fail, but let's all not be so down on ourselves! These were great, and as other people have said, everyone has to starts somewhere- and personally, I find it more satisfying to trial and error, than not try at all.
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