DIY: Copper Pipe Magazine Rack

Mother’s Day is only a week away and if you are still in need of a clever gift that your mom will absolutely love, why not try your hand at making this super chic copper pipe magazine rack.

Industrial décor is very much on trend at the moment. If you’re able to cut, glue and sew a basic seam, then this DIY is just for you. For the full tutorial with pictures, please visit Little Button Diaries.

Here’s what you will need: 1.7m of 15mm copper piping (cut to measurements below) 8 x 15mm copper pipe joins 15mm Copper pipe cutter (select the size based on the diameter of your piping) Epoxy glue 130 X 35cm Strong fabric

What you need to do: 1)   Begin by cutting your copper to the following sizes: 2 x 40cm; 2 x 30cm and 2 x 15cm. 2)   Start by assembling the frame of the rack. On a flat surface, take the shortest pipes first and glue the joints in place on each end. Then glue the 30cm pipes into these joints to create a sort of square “C” shape. Keep the pipes flat on the surface to ensure they are straight when moved upright.

3)   Now take one of your “C”s and glue the joints and long pipes in place. Glue the final joints in place on the other “C” (make sure they’re straight!) but DON’T glue the long pipes in – if you do it you won’t be able to put the fabric on… and that would be a bit annoying (as well as being a rather useless magazine rack). Once it’s all dry the final piece can be slotted in place, allowing you to remove the fabric for cleaning. 4)   With the frame assembled, it’s time to make the fabric section. Begin by sewing a 2cm hem along both edges of the fabric. 5)   Lay the fabric flat and fold both ends into the middle. Mark with chalk the centre of each fold and then open the fabric out again. Using a bowl or circular template, draw a circle around these central points to create your handle holes (which, once re-folded, will become semicircles). Allowing an additional cm to fold in, cut the hole out, snip around the edges, press flat and sew.

6)   Refold the fabric ensuring the cut outs line up perfectly. Sew the fabric along the join in the middle to create a piece of fabric that is half the length with a semi-circle at each end. 7)   Then sew the edges along your original hem line once more – ensuring you leave a 2.5cm gap at each end to enable you to feed the pipe through. Keeping this 2.5cm gap at the top sew the circles together (optional).

8)   Now place the fabric in place on the rack and hoorahhh! A shiny new magazine rack that can immediately be filled with loads of magazines/papers and torn out bits of information that your mom will probably never have any time to read.